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Comment by taylorfinley | Hacker News Reader

There's a tool to obfuscate your printer's unique code, found here: https://github.com/dfd-tud/deda

If I'm doing anything that requires this type of tool, I wouldn't want to just obfuscate the code, I'd want it completely removed it altered.

I wonder if changing the background of your printout to 100% yellow would defeat this. The BBC article insinuates there are other schemes that are lesser-known than the dots, though.

Or letting your printer run out of yellow ink.

When I had a color printer it would refuse to print if any of the five cartridges started to run low. The cartridges were very expensive too.

All modern printers do this. Most annoying thing ever!

Most people are served best by a B/W laser printer. Never dries out and runs forever. Then for special stuff print at work/order/go to printshop.

I currently have a color laser which also works fine and is cheap but is just far too big (Oki MC625)

Agreed on the B/W laser printer suggestion, The Giver is just HP propaganda. I ditched their color printer after a few months and bought a Cannon B/W printer[0] for ~$75.

It's been a few years now and while I don't print enormous amounts, I regularly do need to print out forms or documents. I still haven't used up the original ink cartridge it came with.

There's also a Linux driver provided by the company for this model.

[0]: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/d...

There's also a Linux driver provided by the company for this model.

Are Linux drivers still a thing? Both our current and previous printers could be used without setting up any drivers through AirPrint. The new printer also scans without any drivers through AirPrint. I'd assume that Linux can also print driverless through AirPrint?

Drivers still exist but you can and should avoid them: https://openprinting.github.io/driverless/

Thank you so much! I really like the look of it and a nearby store has one. Picking it up tomorrow!

Most people are served best by not having a printer at all.

Exactly. The rare occasion I really need to print something I do it in the library or in even rarer cases at work. (My previous employer was stricty paperless and the printer was only accessible for legal and marketing documents.)

IMO you generally want to send the authorities as much wrong path as possible.

But then once they realise they are being fooled thats a datapoint in itself.

And who knows, maybe tools like that print microcode inside the microcode. If it does I hope it’s not the full text of gpl licence.

What you want is a printer bought at goodwill/recycling center with cash or from hamfest free trash pile. Those dots made sense when printers were $500-1000 in ~1995.

I wonder whether it would be possible to just build your own printer. That is, rip out the electronics from some common model and replace with an Arduino that just sends the correct signals to the hardware to print.

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