6d ago

Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals [see comments]

www.tomshardware.com Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

RepairTuber Louis Rossmann taken aback by Brother’s quiet turn to the dark side.

Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

Brother deny the claims:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/brother-denies-using-firmware-updates-to-brick-printers-with-third-party-ink/

via https://startrek.website/comment/15279250

Hardware @lemmy.world

Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

www.tomshardware.com /peripherals/printers/brother-accused-of-locking-down-third-party-printer-ink-cartridges-via-firmware-updates-removing-older-firmware-versions-from-support-portals

219 40

Hacker News @lemmy.bestiver.se

Brother may be locking out 3rd party printer cartridge via forced firmware upd

www.tomshardware.com /peripherals/printers/brother-accused-of-locking-down-third-party-printer-ink-cartridges-via-firmware-updates-removing-older-firmware-versions-from-support-portals

29 2

Technology @lemmy.zip

Brother accused of locking down third-party printer ink cartridges via forced firmware updates, removing older firmware versions from support portals

www.tomshardware.com /peripherals/printers/brother-accused-of-locking-down-third-party-printer-ink-cartridges-via-firmware-updates-removing-older-firmware-versions-from-support-portals

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251 comments

Oh FFS. Not Brother as well. I used to recommend them to everyone. Who is left with unshittified printers?
- Epson inkjets with refillable tanks probably.
  
  Depending on the frequency of your printing, they can suck as well. Chronically clogged nozzles are maddening.
  
  You can run a power clean cycle which should help, then just replace the foam pads they saturate with ink for the cleaning
  They're not perfect but they're still the most consumer friendly option on the market at this point
  
  After talking to support 15 times, they never suggested replacing anything, and power clean wasn’t enough. I’ve long since destroyed the thing out of malignant rage and turned to libraries and copy shops, but it’s good to know that there might have been a solution.
  
  Wait until copy shops start raising their prices cause nobody has printers anymore and you have no choice but to use them
  
  Still cost me less than a new printer every two years if they multiplied their prices by 10.
  
  yup and your not using a printer every single day.
  
  a personal printer/ink is far more expensive.
  
  Not for me, 40€ toner cartridge gets me 10k pages, already have over 80k pages printed so the printer paid itself multiple times compared to a copyshop
  
  Aliexpress syringe cleaning kit
  
  Yeah, that's true. That was a pain in the ass when my wife needed good color accuracy.
  
  This. My partner’s office is stuck with “it has to be inkjet and not toner", and on January their printer got clogged…
  
  Inkjet is great, for photo printing regularly. For absolutely every other situation a laser printer is better.
  
  ink jet ones are so messy, and it waste a ton of ink.
  
  I have the 2850. Been using it for a couple years now. Print maybe once a month. Nozzles get clogged periodically but you run the automated cleaning process and it's back to working again.
  
  I don't print that often but I do have a calendar event to tell me to print something monthly. This could be a nice side project for someone to write a program that sends a print to your printer on a schedule to keep the heads clear. Wastes paper but at least the heads won't dry out.
  
  I reuse old paper when I do this.
  
  That printer is a nightmare. But financially makes sense.
  
  Did they ever make the excess ink parts user replaceable?
  That they weren’t in some models kept me from getting one when I was in the market a few years ago.
  
  The printer has the same ink problems, clogged, runs out easy, can't print b&w when missing a color. But I can buy random ink.
- I don't know if it matters, but I just bought a Canon laser printer. Didn't see anywhere about forced subscription options for toner.
  
  we bought laser canon printer to, toner cartridge doesnt use color, so if you want color you would need an ink printer, its better to print a library or a printer shop anyways. we are using an MF class one?
  
  I have a color canon laser printer scanner.
  
  That's actually what I bought, too.
- I've got a Lexmark laser printer, and while there are cheaper subscription toners, you can pay the higher price for normal toner, and buy compatibles, for now at least.
  
  you seem to have gotten a smart printer, new ones have that one, we got a canon laser.
- I don’t at all feel vindicated, but my Brother printer is the worst printer I ever owned (this was 20 years ago admittedly). Absolute hunk of junk with nothing but problems. I’ve always wondered why they were so well recommended online.
  
  Could have been a Friday afternoon one. The one I have is a workhorse that could print on bark using toner made of charcoal and dust.
- Kyocera.
  Also Japanese, and plenty of cheap generic toners available online. They even publish Linux drivers.
- use a laser printer? preferabally the ones that doesnt use updates or any newer versions.
- ill have to recommend buying old refurbished printers

251 comments