this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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Don’t put the gun within reach of the printer, come on
I keep it in a voice activated safe plugged into the 110
I'm sure Canon has snuck in code that can replay your voice...
Hey now, don't bring a gun into a Canon fight!
Recipe for disaster
The more I hear from big tech companies the more I want to reject it. I don't even own a printer.
Go for older laser printers. They’re bulletproof, cheap on toner, free of DRM, and even if they only come with an LPT port you can always build your own print server that gives you all the bells and whistles like AirPrint.
Bulletproof? Sounds dangerous. What do I do if it makes a weird noise?
Keep a cannon by the canon.
Can confirm. I’m a tech worker. No smart devices. Laser printer. Very close to going back to a flip phone.
I am looking at some smart locks, but they’re able to be used as dumb locks with PIN code and physical key also. And they have a usb power port on the outside you could plug a battery into.
I’ve gone down the smart home route a decade ago and only did non-cloud integrated devices with physical controls also. But it’s a part time hobby to maintain it.
Almost all such phones are actually smart phones in a flip phone Edgar Suit. Especially if it has maps or YouTube or any kind of an App Store. I see a crapton of flip phones that run Android, which has all sorts of Google spyware piggybacking along.
I think there may be only two or three dumb flip phones or feature flip phones left on the market, and IIRC two are locked to specific networks.
If you want a bona-fide dumb phone, you might be limited to something like the rotary un-smartphone.
Go check in Aliexpress: there are tons of non-smart phones, especially the stuff marked as "senior phone", and they're pretty cheap too (like $15 for a mobile phone that just does calls and SMS).
If you want the stuff that's not glitzy and heavy on marketing you need to get it from where the factories are, not were the brands are - basic mobile phone tech is a thoroughly solved problem and highly integrated nowadays and well within range for even smallish electronics manufacturers to design themselves.
Also check HMD, the Finnish mobile maker who bought Nokia's mobile business, who also have several non-smart models (including old Nokia models).
Edit: ~~No idea if any are flip-phones though.~~ Here's an example flip phone
I had a Sharp SH-03L for a while, it's a business version of one of their flip phones that didn't even have a camera.
The OS was actually android 8.0 but really stripped down to basically only do the whatever apps a flip phone has.
I was able to sideload apks through ADB, but ironically, I actually wanted the google stuff to work since a lot of the apps required it to log in and other things.
The thing was pretty cheap though, paid like $15 for it
Why would I get a laser printer? I don't want a printer.
Because it shoots lasers
Because they are like two fifty on the flea market and will run on one cartridge for 10 years. I print all my tickets everytime, I’m that old
How else will I print out MapQuest directions?
literally so you can leave it unplugged in a box, and drag it out once a year to print a tax form or something. Toner should be shelf stable.
You guys have to print out tax forms?
I have a 70+ year old friend that paper files. She doesn't trust the free file places available here (USA). I don't blame her.
Ysk - You can order the forms for free on the IRS (& state) websites.
I print things for her on my 1999 laser jet if she needs something printed.
Many years I paper filed just to inconvenience them slightly for not offering free file.
I am British, most people don't need to even think about taxes here as its all automatic. Only really something you might need to look at if you are self employed or its your job to deal with it.
Yeah but if its that easy the rich people can't have armies beneath them that game the system for them so they pay nothing. Do you see how this is better for society?
No, printed just to keep a hard copy
What is the point of that?
Same as keeping a soft copy.
Tax was just as example. Maybe there's a form somebody wants signed with a pen instead of electronic, I don't know.
Anyway if you are going to get a printer, but only do a handful at any time avoid buying an inkjet
I would probably take a picture of it, but if for some reason I absolutely needed to print a copy (which I haven't in over a decade) I would just go to the library to print it.
Old habits die hard
...why? CUPS is print server. You don't need anything else.
He's talking about the hardware and you're talking about the software.
About 3-4 years ago I took a bit of a dive into the firmware of IoT devices. The utter lack of security and the amount of information being hoovered up to the mothership made me swear to never build anything “smart” into the renovations of my current home. Sure, there will be automation. There will be CCTV. There will be solar with battery backup for essentials. There will be conveniences of all kinds. But virtually all will be air gapped, incapable of remote rooting, and under my full control.
Hell, even my laser printers are HP models over two decades old - an HP 4050DTN and an HP 5000DTN - that are totally devoid of any DRM or “smart features” and can trivially take generic overstuffed cartridges that can do 20,000 sheets at 5% coverage.
Remember, the “s” in IoT stands for “security”.
And the 'p' for privacy.
I worked for Cisco during the time IoT was being pushed into everything. You don't want to know how bad it is. If I was malicious I could have easily written several backdoors into their products without anyone knowing. I wrote kernel code in their IOS operating system. There are no checks on that shit and the entire switching team does next to zero peer review on kernel security.
Yes, there products that (at the time) touched upwards of 95% of all packets sent over the Internet.
The only upside to this state of things is that it keeps alive my fantasies of one day being a Watchdogs-style techno-sorcerer that can wirelessly hack anything that runs on electrons and a WiFi signal.
... Although the nightmare is that people far more evil can probably already do that.
ZigBee and Z-wave create their own network not connected to the internet, pair that with Home Assistant 🇪🇺 and done, sane smart home implementation.
Will have to look into that, thanks.
One of my key implementation requirements, however, will be resiliency, which means simplicity will be a core feature. The more “moving parts”, the easier it will be to break.
It's not easy to make it any simpler. You've got to control those devices somehow.
That printer is a 2000's HP LaserJet
FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS
I will bulk purchase grey-market bootleg toner from shady overseas websites before I go back to a inkjet…
If you're lucky it might be cut with something cheaper like pure cocaine
It's fine, you only ever need to replace it like once a decade or so
Is there a community for those of us with late 90s early 2000 HP laserjets? Somewhere we can discuss maintenance, feeding, and overall care?
There used to be but the moderators forgot to sign up for HP Smart® Instant Ink™ and used non-authorized ink (first party ink ordered directly from HPs website) so it got shut down 😔
There’s one guy in my department who does all the smart home shit, but I absolutely don’t see the point in it. Didn’t even connect the washing machine to the wi-fi as you can’t set it going without having loaded it first anyway.
I could see having lights on a somewhat sophisticated timer. Like having bedroom lighting that simulates dawn, fades on etc. Maybe making a thermostat a little bit more sophisticated. I'd like to live in a world where I could trust the power company to tell me when electricity is abundant and scarce but we're gonna have to win Civil War 2 before we get that. My toilet and faucets do not need any digital technology at all.
I've got smart shutters that open and close automatically based on time, smart awnings which lower or raise based on the sun, to allow air flow when the shade isn't needed, smart lights that can be turned off all together with a button near my door when I leave, movement sensors in a few rooms that turn on the light but only at certain times of the day (essentially I don't want my corridor light to flash me when I go to the bathroom during the night), energy meters and smart plugs that allow me to optimize my electricity costs.
It's not for everyone but it's quite useful.
I've got this set up in home assistant, with smart bulbs that don't access the internet at all. Its really nice, goes from an orange red in the morning to full white back to orange red. Eventually will get all of the bulbs in my house set up with it but for now I have it only in my room
Automation: https://github.com/basnijholt/adaptive-lighting Bulbs: https://kaufha.com/blf10/
I think of this often
https://github.com/dylanaraps
Tell me you’re a NRA fan without telling me you’re a NRA fan.