@ifixcoinops A decade of searching for secret codes to get my HP laser printers to print after their planned obsolescence left only Brother, yeah. I think I have five Brother duplex wireless printers at this point. They're fine. They print really well and the toner always works.

@ifixcoinops @carpetbomberz Any cultured person would buy a Kyocera. (I'm *joking*!)

@ifixcoinops I agree but also please don't jinx my Brother MFP b&w laser printer :)

@ifixcoinops

I found out how popular Brother printers are after posting about how awful HP printers are. I'm definitely going with a Brother next.

https://mstdn.social/@IAmDannyBoling/110436802998398861

@ifixcoinops
I have a Brother, they're fine. 👍​

@ifixcoinops at least one of the major printer makers has gone over to a model where the only way to get ink is to subscribe to regular deliveries, everyone I know who’s done this winds up with more ink than they need, sometimes a lot more but if you stop the subscription then the cartridges you’ve already paid for stop working.

@ifixcoinops @rauschma never go full SaaS

@ifixcoinops also brother has actually working linux drivers.

@ifixcoinops Completely correct. Brother is the only good printer company today, and their printers aren't even expensive! It's a win all the way around. Honestly if I get word they're being bought out or something, I will probably buy several printers before the deal closes and put them in the closet.

@ifixcoinops
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS
I HATE PRINTERS

printer companies are actually just Evil.

@ifixcoinops I can relate soooo much to the "I wouldn’t want one, even for free".
Has any other industry got worst at each iteration, each "innovation" ? (Cars maybe ?)
And yet, people keep buying a new printer of the same brand as soon as the previous one goes "magically" dead.

@ifixcoinops

Just my $2.56: Wanted to be clear about the term "innovating". They're "innovating" new ways of collecting your data and extorting money. The tech really hasn't been improved...the printers print, scan, fax, etc. These devices have been doing that for years. The only innovation has been in "how much can we squeeze out of customers".

@ifixcoinops I would class my cheap brother laser printer higher than "fine" - never once have I gotten a jam, the ink cartridge has lasted for years as much as I print, and it's just consistently good quality prints. That makes it *great* when compared to not only other printers, but most other electronics

I'm curious what else brother could do to boost some people's opinions from "fine" to "good" if it's not bells and whistles

@ifixcoinops@retro.social I know I'm echoing what most of the replies are saying, but I love my Brother because of how simple it is. Toner lasts forever, print quality is ... okay ... and it just works.

If I need something fancy printed I send it to FedEx for documents or Walgreens for photos.

But stuff like my RPG character sheets, return labels, forms for the doctor's office? Heck yeah, Brother!

@ifixcoinops “innovating” but really rent-seeking bullshit

@ifixcoinops I once worked for a laser printer company and Brother poached from it so aggressively it resulted in a lawsuit. *Maybe* they stopped being evil like that in the last 20 years but I can't in good conscience ever recommend people give Brother their money.

@ifixcoinops Brother is the most aptly named printer brand because you recommend them in the same tone of voice as a Looney Toons character saying "O, brother."

@ifixcoinops oh cool, so like cars

@ifixcoinops someone posted this elsewhere on the fedi around Oct 22, and yup.

@ifixcoinops for a surprising number of products, "fine I guess" is exactly as good as they need to be & we'd live in a less crappy world of tech if more companies understood this...

@ifixcoinops the least bad option. They don't have a shit installer for drivers. And the price isn't insane. It's wild how bad some printer vendors are.

@ifixcoinops Ironically, it turns out *not* innovating by 2023 is rather innovative.

@ifixcoinops We gave up on our Canon multifunction inkjet and got a cheap Canon b&w laser and couldn’t be happier, though the setup was a pain. I believe that Brother are the best, but Canon has worked well for us, and it was cheap.

@ifixcoinops That's why I bought one. I have been doing tech support for 20 years (before I quit to do something that isn't as soul-crushing) and while helping out some friends set up their HP printers, found HP's software and UX inscrutable. Canon's ink is too expensive. Epson installs a Data Collection Agent for some reason. Enough.

Just get a Brother. They're fine.

@ifixcoinops This is hilarious. Brother also makes a perfectly good sewing machine that lasted me several years for $99.

@ifixcoinops That's because the innovations were not to improve productivity they were to improve company profits.

@ifixcoinops a long while ago, in college, I had decent success using Kyocera printers using Linux. Don't remember trying all the features but at least I was able to print color PDFs with minimal fuss (Linux, cups) and no external drivers. I have no idea what their products are worth today, YMMV.

@ifixcoinops Every word of this is True.

@ifixcoinops

Brother has resisted, mostly, the #enshittification of their #products.

#HP, on the other hand, acts like they invented the concept.

@ifixcoinops

Innovation for innovation's sake is a terrible scourge on modern products and services.

Constantly changing things to appear new and justifying an upgrade, trying to convince, cajole, or outright scare customers into throwing out the good old thing for the shiny new thing.

What happened to the Instant Pot? They got deep into debt to design a new version with loads of things nobody asked for and the old one still worked so nobody bought the new one and they filed for bankruptcy.

@ifixcoinops fun fact: We have a Brother MFC Device at work and it's a good machine. Would recommend it too, when someone would ask me for advice.

@ifixcoinops Very interesting observation, and definitely matches my experience with Brother. How many other devices/tools would still be great if they would just stop "innovating" (if you can call it that)?

@ifixcoinops Truth. Brother laser. Basically a cube that prints and occasionally wants new paper.
That is all we ever wanted!

@ifixcoinops an Epson will die if my wife tries to save money by recycling the blank side of a previously printed sheet. BUT the ink tank is a winner. Does Brother do that?

@ifixcoinops
If it aint broke don't

@ifixcoinops an even more confounding thing is that Brother have done the *exact opposite* thing with their sewing machine line and are currently scrabbling to win back customer trust because of it..

https://dice.camp/@Faintdreams/111426213148846989

@ifixcoinops They don't have a shortage of nylon gears etc either. But you are exactly right. They aren't the quality that pre-carly HP printers were and never were themselves. They're just not as crappy as e.g. hp, lexmark, epson, canon...
Lexmark led the way to the bottom and epson jumped the shark 20 years ago too.

@ifixcoinops I just recommended a Brother laser printer to someone because it works and it's affordable.

@ifixcoinops I have an HP all-in-one that no longer has drivers available for recent versions of Windows and MacOS. It’s almost as though the driver was pulled from the driver pack being supplied to Microsoft and Apple. It works out-of-the-box with Linux so I run Debian on an old Thinkpad laptop specifically for using the old HP as a scanner.

@ifixcoinops 100% true. need to buy 1 or 2 more, so i will never be forced to buy something enshittified until there will be no more paper. i think kyocera printers are similar, at least thats what people told me, but yeah, not a consumer brand.

@ifixcoinops Have to say, always buy Epson and they are generally fine.

@ifixcoinops I had to install 2 different apps and create an account to print from my HP, and it's still a lottery everytime we have to print anything

@ifixcoinops I cannot find any Brother printer with tanks

@ifixcoinops @BorrisInABox Lol it’s true though, they’re just reliable devices that haven’t changed a thing in the past few years and work because they’re simple and do the one thing they’re supposed to do.

@ifixcoinops Innovation = “how can we, as a manufacturer, turn a one time purchase into to a recurring source of revenue”?

We’re all tired of it already.

I don’t want the Tesla of printers. I want the 1977 Toyota Corona Station Wagon of printers.

Do one thing. Reasonably well, but startlingly reliably.

@ifixcoinops Our little Brother laser mono printer has been running for years, often as a student's printer.
It just works.
We do have a Canon multi function inkjet device for colour and scanning. With bottle fill.

@ifixcoinops I remember reading that brother may have also sold out and some newer models have different kinds of drm. Interestingly no commenters mention this, do y'all have old models or was what I read just bull?

@ifixcoinops Yes!

Our Brother wireless laser printer is 12 years old. It's old enough to have drivers that work out of the box with "stable" Debian Linux. It prints what we send it. That is all.

Meanwhile, my in-laws have a fancy HP Inkjet. It ran out of ink. "Not a problem, I'll bring the cartridge home from the one at work", said father-in-law. Denied! The cartridge refused to print in a different printer.

@ifixcoinops it feels like their iOS app is still in beta and part of me cannot get enough of it