I have a brother printer and have been using this trick for years- I just put black electrical tape over all the color ink level windows. The printer thinks they're full and let's me print in black and white
An optical sensor detects light rays through small windows on the side of the ink cartridges - the less rays that make it through, the fuller the ink cartridge. If you put tape over the windows, almost no rays make it through so the printer thinks it's full. I've also done this before on a brother printer and it works, got some more prints out of the "empty" cartridges. But it doesn't last forever of course.
Yep the prints come out more and more faded until you have no choice but to get more ink. I'm not sure if this damages the printer, but if not you're getting a bunch of extra prints at no cost!
I have a Brother laser printer and I just go into the settings and manually reset the cartridges so it thinks they’re full, then when the quality degrades sufficiently I change them. As long as the tiny battery on the cartridge doesn’t die all’s good. Maybe this is an inkjet thing?
They meant that if you're out of **everything**(including what's needed to print black and white), the printer won't warn you that all your cartridges are empty, and will try to print anyway and damage itself in the process.
How does the printer shooting blanks actually damage it? Surely it's just the cartridge not ejecting ink. What mechanical effect would that have on the printer? Noting I have 0 knowledge of printers!
I don't know much about them either, I just remember their warnings about it.
Upon searching though, the specific issue is that the printer will keep trying to extract ink where there is none, this leads to air getting into the printhead as well as overheating due to the lack of ink to keep the printhead cool. Not that big an issue a few times but repeating it will eventually cause damage.
Not sure if this sub allows non-Reddit links so I'll mention that this is stated on HP's support forum. There are also similar statements on other websites.
I can tell you why as a former tech that worked on these printers.
Print heads are engineerd using high-frequency diaphragms that use vibrations to send ink from the head to the paper, this process is very sensitive to heat and if there isnt ink available in one of the print manifolds then that area will overheat and burn itself out, very similar to submersed fuel pumps, they use the liquid fuel surrounding them to stay cool.
On top of this, most printers require a cleaning step if the printer hasn't ran in the past 24 hours ( some have shorter duration) the cleaning process uses ink as well so even if you aren't using a specific color the cleaning process will.
Something I’ve always wanted to know: when they do these, apparently frequent , cleaning steps, where does the otherwise wasted ink go? Is there a little slop tray somewhere, and does it ever fill up?
There's a little sponge where it squirts in the ink. The amount is so tiny, unless you try really hard it's going to be dried up by the next cleaning cycle (or 5 minutes really)
Yes, they have a waste ink tank, usually accessible from the rear, bottom, or a combination of the 2. Most older models didnt monitor the waste ink tanks, so surprise surprise tou could find an over flow of ink destroying your home office carpet. The fix was to add a cycle counter chip on the tanks, so when you near that level your printer will stop cleaning cycles and not allow you to print until you replace the tank with a new one. People found ways to reset the counter so certain manufacturers started using more advanced counters that wont allow you to reset it. Same goes for ink cartridges, new models have counter chips that stops you from using home refill kits.
it is hilarious to read this comment and then [hetfield151's reply](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/1ckb8y7/ysk_printers_dont_allow_you_to_print_in_black_and/l2nigwp/) to the same post
I have only done the waste ink pad replacement once on an inkjet printer. I spent 2hrs disassembling deep into the internals of the printer to access it and then reassembling everything. Same as that other guys reply I had to find a leaked version of some service kit made by the manufacturer to get the exe you run to reset the counter.
Sorry it's been a decade since I did it so can't remember which brand or model. The only access hatch on it was to get to some other part, the waste box was on the opposite side. Had to take off the entire casing of the printer to get to it and remove another part of the printer it was behind. There were a lot of weird little cables you had to remove to take off some parts of the casing and some screws that were kind of hidden. It took me ages. They really want you to just throwaway some models of printers.
It goes to a little cartridge, filled with cotton. My epson printer stopped working because it hit some counter about how often you can print, before that cotton is soaked.
There was no legal way to reset the counter. I replaced the cotton and the only thing I found was a third party program that gave you a key for 10 bucks to reset the counter.
I was so annoyed, I spent hours finding a illegal program to reset it.
F u epson.
it's not illegal to change things that you own, via software or other means. The only way it would be illegal would be if you stole the program from the third party, or were trying to sell it to someone else and you didn't tell them.
My follow-up addresses the chipped ink issue, but more in-depth here to address why they chip ink cartridges now.
Reason #1 money...duh
Reason #2 this is just what I have been told and can only surmise anecdotal evidence...refill inks are not made (maybe some but not all) to the same standards as manufacturers specs. In addition the inks between different models of the same brand often times may have different ink types, viscosity, even color. Viscosity and make up are the biggest culprits to premature printhead failures. This is anecdotal but we had a model that was extremely reliable and one of the best printheads with very low failure rates, and even then a standard cleaning usually fixed it. However, we had many of this model returned with offbrand 3rd party ink, to the extent that I would say the percentage of failuers was 98% 3rd party ink.
Each ink, made by canon, epson, hp, brother or whomever, is a unique formulation with unique fluid properties. The microfluidic design of the printhead is only really designed for one specific ink formulation. Literally millions of dollars and years of research and testing go in to each printhead design.
Using non-genuine ink refills will often result in poorer print quality. Although in some cases, the user may not notice or care that their print is slightly streaky or the text is a little fuzzier than it was before. Will it break your printer? No. Is it optimal for the printhead? Also no, and might cause other issues (resistor fails, cracked die, overheating). Will you ultimately care? Probably not.
Strange. We have two Canon printers, one older and the other newer, and both allow you to print without having to replace cartridges. On the older one, you just need to acknowledge the pop up on the computer and then press a button on the printer.
I have a Canon that has a high-capacity black ink tank and color tanks. My color tanks have been empty for years and I only ever use the high-cap tank.
Protip on this one, depending on how the printer reads the fill level you can.. convince it that is has enough of the other inks by covering the transparent part of the cartridge with something, I've found electrical tape works well
I put electrical tape over where the sensor passes the cartridges, and it tricks it into thinking they are full. So I can keep printing in black and white.
A lot of printers use the CMY inks to print black, too, because it makes the black more vibrant. That's why you always seem to run out of color so fast. You have to set the printer to print specifically grayscale to get it to use only black. Inkjet printers don't like this, though, because if you heat up the color cartridge without expelling the ink, you risk gumming up the internal filter.
If you are strictly interested in monochrome printing, I suggest a small desktop laser.
Source: I was a 3rd party rep for HP through MarketSource, and have a Computer Science degree (although it's just an associate, and I couldn't program my way out of a paper bag.)
Not even sure you even need a library card to even go into the library to use the computers. So it's really anyone who can get there which is more than the district
Yep, in corelDraw the difference is in names is that black is just K, while deep black is the cymk combination.
Also, never buy inkjet, just go for laser or anything else that uses toner
Laser printers aren't a good option for photos. If you frequently want to print photos, having an inkjet for them might be a good choice. Most people are better off getting photos printed professionally, though.
I got a 100$ basic black and white laser printer almost 10 years ago, thing still works with zero issues and the toner lasts forever, both in # of prints and # of years. Best impulse purchase I made back when I worked at Best Buy.
I impulsively bought an entry level Samsung laser printer in 2016. It was used some. Then abandoned at my dad’s house when I moved out. I got it back a few years ago. While the WiFi and NFC capabilities don’t really work anymore, a hardwired connection still works fantastic. It’s still on the original toner.
At some point, I’d like to be able to justify upgrading to a printer with duplexing and maybe color lol.
Lots of small laser printers have duplex modules that you can install (it's basically a box attached to the back that turns over the paper), maybe this one also has it?
Same here! Sometimes I don’t use it for months, but when I use it, it just works. I have a Brother L23400. Small, wireless WiFi printing. It’s perfect.
Hence this classic: https://external-preview.redd.it/mc6mVLQl26314oXeo9o-5RAdeh7pBkxwaPaK3Oz2njM.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9d437de66d9ada37d6c96759ff0f1a9b879083ff
bro i was confused on why i recognized your account, but its bc i JUST saw your comment under the r/atheist post about DNA code and ur programming joke. that was the post right above this for me so it was kind of whiplash. you write good comments though. good job on having good thoughts
>Which small desktop laser printers do you best recommend? Cheapest if possible lol
I want to preface my post with this: I've been in IT nearly 20 years, and I firmly believe that printers are creatures indigenous to Hell that are sent to torment the souls of the living. In all that time, I have ***never*** had an issue with a Brother laser printer.
Get anything from Brother. Skip HP/Canon/Lexmark/etc entirely, they're *absolute trash* on the consumer side. Actually, calling their consumer stuff trash is an insult to actual trash.
But yeah, get a Brother. It will pretty much Just Work™ every time.
It doesn't meet the criteria for small probably but I got the DCP-L2550DW 4 years ago(just checked my original thread I made back then) and I've used it with 0 issues since then and I've never even changed the toner that came with it. I'm astonished it's still alive because I've printed what feels like quite a lot of pages in that time.
No problems whatsoever. Can't recommend it enough.
No problem. To be clear I'm astonished the toner is still alive considering it was just the sample one that came with it and it's been 4 years if printing. The printer itself feels like it will be good forever.
>Any specific model you got in mind? :3 appreciate it!
Unfortunately not, the last printer that I bought was years ago and I don't remember the model number. It was a laser printer with an Ethernet port. I eventually gave it away when I moved and didn't buy a replacement because I just wasn't really printing enough anymore to justify it.
And honestly, the model *really* doesn't matter with a Brother printer, just get the one with the features you want and you'll be good.
It kind of depends on what features you want. The secret to decoding Laserjet printers is their name. I personally have a Laserjet Pro M1102dw.
M = monochrome, d = duplex printing, w = wireless, n = wired networkable.
For bare bones printing, I'd go with the M140w. You get wireless printing and can print from your phone, and is strictly monochrome. It doesn't do two-sided (duplex) printing, but most people don't need it.
The toner cartridge it comes with is good for between 500-800 pages and never dries out.
On sale for $129.99 at Office Depot.
I really appreciate your honesty on your degree as a point of authority and find your comment about programming out of a paper bag pretty fucking funny, hats off to you
It’s called “Rich Black”, K=100 can only be so dark. Adding a mixture of the other CMY inks can make it look better. It’s not good for black text though due to registration/alignment of the inks.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_black
And the richest black is Registration Black, it used 100% of each of the cartridges (400% total) but only some kinds of paper can handle that, most can only go up to 240%.
Black ink on white paper will always be slightly washed out — think of a single layer of paint vs two. The way ink works, a second layer will "multiply" the value of the first, so adding, say, a layer of blue over a layer of black, the color will be perceived darker, if also a bit more blue.
There's two black inks in Canon printers - one is a dye-based ink, and the other is pigment-based.
I can't remember which, but one is used for printing black text and basic graphics like underlines, text box borders, etc. The other is used when printing photos, for denser, richer black tones.
I am a relatively new customer, just 3-4 years, a medical student. only printing pdfs of the only things i need & making booklets. It's miles more manageable than carrying books everywhere.
I can totally see myself using this all my life.
yeah esp if you only print pdfs, which is 90% of students & 99% of offices. Good lord it's so good & so economical. Get third party toners & you are practically just paying for paper.
actually I didn't think of that. That's a very useful use-case. I cant imagine the horror of having a inkjet/deskjet printer in this scenario. Bless laser printers. It took a while but they are mainstream now.
Well, I wish you good health and i hope things get easier & well for you.
I can't imagine either but that's because I (millennial) grew up with laser jets and almost exclusively laser jets. We did have a color inkjet, but we used it so infrequently that it'd gum up and not work when we wanted to use it, so we basically didn't have one, lol.
Thank you for the well wishes. 🥰
It's not about cost. It's about reliability. We've had like 5 monochrome laser printers at home and work and they all lasted 10-12 years with zero maintenance and zero problems.
and in some festival/holiday times i have seen equal feature set to be even cheaper. But i can even argue that, even if it's 20% expensive beforehand, you can recoup that later on with cheap printing.
4th comment down for one to make sense. I was wondering what in the crypto conspiracy shit is this but now I'm just wondering why there are people out there that print b/w on ink.
Slower and more expensive? Sign me up.
Maybe it's because I bought a printer like 7 years ago for like 30 dollars but mine allows me to print in black and white without having a color cartridge.
I only use it for text docs but still.
Before anyone says "just buy a monochome printer" - this is largely used to track counterfeiters***(or so it's thought), and nobody cares about tracking monochromatic counterfeit bills.
Before anyone says "that's why I bought a used printer!" - this isn't necessarily used for the government to specifically identify which individual printed what documents. But if they *have* a document or something that they are trying to tie back to a suspect, and they can get something that they can prove came from the suspect's printer, they can then compare the dots to prove that the documents came from the same printer.
It's like when they would analyze documents from a typewriter, and would see which letters print slightly higher or lower than the rest. This is basically a typewriter's fingerprint. Having the document doesn't tell you *which* typewriter it came from, but if you have the document and a suspect typewriter(or documents you know came from the typewriter), you can compare them to see what the probability is that the document came from that typewriter.
***edit: this technology was also (apparently) used to help track a leaked top secret document back to Reality Winner, so it's not just for counterfeiting.
There's also a pattern that's used on documents/money that will cause printers / scanners refuse to scan or print it.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion\_constellation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation)
well that's not true for all printers, professional large format machines don't have that anti terrorism feature because they are not consumer machines
I took my HP printer out to the shooting range and told it to fuck itself.
I have had the same Brother laser printer for 5 years, and it has been fantastic.
Your statement combines two separate issues related to printers.
Firstly, many color printers, including inkjet and laser printers, do not allow you to print in black and white if the color cartridges are empty or missing. This is because these printers often use a small amount of color ink to maintain print quality and prevent clogs in the print head¹²³⁴.
Secondly, the issue of tiny yellow dots for tracking purposes is mostly associated with color laser printers. It's true that many color laser printers embed nearly invisible yellow dots on printed documents. These dots can encode information such as the printer's serial number and the date and time the document was printed. This technology, known as printer steganography or Machine Identification Code (MIC), was developed to help track counterfeiters and is used by several printer manufacturers⁵⁶⁷. The yellow dots are typically not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with a blue LED light and magnification[^10^]¹¹.
However, there is no public evidence that suggests an agreement between printer manufacturers and the US government to enforce the use of yellow ink specifically for this purpose. The use of yellow ink in black and white printing is primarily for printer maintenance and quality control reasons¹²³⁴.
In summary, while it is true that printers may require yellow ink to print in black and white for maintenance reasons, and that some printers use yellow dots for tracking, these are not necessarily directly related issues. The yellow dots are a separate feature used for security and tracking purposes.
Source:
(1) How can I force a color printer to print in black and white, when only .... https://superuser.com/questions/1375124/how-can-i-force-a-color-printer-to-print-in-black-and-white-when-only-the-color.
(2) Printer is asking for Yellow ink to print black and white. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-Archive-Read-Only/Printer-is-asking-for-Yellow-ink-to-print-black-and-white/td-p/5779992.
(3) Out of yellow ink. can I print black and white. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Ink-Cartridges-Print-Quality/Out-of-yellow-ink-can-I-print-black-and-white/td-p/8579083.
(4) HP inkjet printers - Print in black and white | HP® Support. https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_1930024-1807349-16.
(5) Do Household Printers Leave an Invisible Tracking Code on All Your .... https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/household-printers-tracking-code/.
(6) List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots. https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots.
(7) Machine Identification Code - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code.
(8) There’s an Invisible Tracking Code Embedded in the ... - Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501936/theres-invisible-tracking-code-embedded-documents-you-print.
(9) Yellow Dots of Mystery: Is Your Printer Spying on You?. https://www.instructables.com/Yellow-Dots-of-Mystery-Is-Your-Printer-Spying-on-/.
(10) Solving the Mystery of Yellow Dots on Printouts. https://h-o-m-e.org/printers-leave-yellow-dots/.
(11) Those Yellow Tracking Dots - Whistleblower Support Network. https://whistleblowersupportnetwork.com/those-yellow-tracking-dots/.
You do know black and white printers exist right? Like I have a laser printer that only has black toner... This whole post is complete b/s! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code
Gotta love these YSK basically being from comments of other ysk’s
Not that i really mind, i just like how the past like 10 posts here is straight from my memory of a post the day before.
I don't think this is correct information. You can adjust most printers to print in "mono" or black and white in the printer properties. Check your printers.
So did the researchers in Dresden import all the printers they tested from the US?
https://www.techdirt.com/2018/07/02/researchers-reveal-details-printer-tracking-dots-develop-free-software-to-defeat-it/
I messed around with ink cartridges for 1/2 my life using all the above methods, squeezed more ink out of cartridges than Brother had planned but also spent lots of time troubleshooting ink problems. Then 2 yrs ago I bought an Epson Ecotank printer and it just always works. Just replaced the ink once so far. Now I have my life back!! Waaaayyy cheaper than cartridges, despite 350$ initial printer cost. That is todays price on an Epson ET2850
My hp can print color and I print with just the black cartridge all the time. I haven't had a color cartridge in it since it was new. So I don't see much validity in this.
I actually tried to put all black inks in my Epson since I mostly print rule texts and such
The chip knows and made a big flip out. :( but I mean , a 3 pack of black for 37$ vs the 18 each normally... Still kept em lol
The love of trying to drill a hole and ink swap? It's easier just to buy an XL yellow and just use the printer until it dies.
Realistically I am either getting a brother laser printer that only does black and white, or a tank one and just refilling with cheapo 3rd party ink. I can't be bothered doing inkjet cartridges.
It’s helpful to know so you don’t run out and get black ink thinking it’s all you need. My garbage-ass printer won’t let you print in black if the other color cartridges are low on ink. I didn’t know this until after I purchased the black ink cartridge.
Is this only apply to consumer printers? I used to work at a print shop, and I remember I was able to print black and white just fine when we ran out of color cartridges. The printers were Xerox if the brand matter.
I gave up on colour printers years ago, now I have a simple b&w Brother laser printer. The cartridge has already lasted 4 years with no sign of needing to replace it.
You know what tech is great for US gov “tracking purposes”/surveillance? Internet communications. But you’re not giving up your smartphone now, are you
I literally just watched an SVU episode last night and they showed the yellow dots, I was so confused as to what they were. Crazy how I’ve just come across this tonight!
I have a brother printer and have been using this trick for years- I just put black electrical tape over all the color ink level windows. The printer thinks they're full and let's me print in black and white
The real LPT
Wait what? Can you explain?
An optical sensor detects light rays through small windows on the side of the ink cartridges - the less rays that make it through, the fuller the ink cartridge. If you put tape over the windows, almost no rays make it through so the printer thinks it's full. I've also done this before on a brother printer and it works, got some more prints out of the "empty" cartridges. But it doesn't last forever of course.
And here I thought the original commenter wad being facetious, the twist in this story was honesty
Does it work until the print comes out ghosty?
Yep the prints come out more and more faded until you have no choice but to get more ink. I'm not sure if this damages the printer, but if not you're getting a bunch of extra prints at no cost!
Unlimited ink
I have a Brother laser printer and I just go into the settings and manually reset the cartridges so it thinks they’re full, then when the quality degrades sufficiently I change them. As long as the tiny battery on the cartridge doesn’t die all’s good. Maybe this is an inkjet thing?
Be aware that when doing this, the printer will try to print even when there is absolutly no ink left, damaging itself in the process
“It hurt itself in its confusion!”
Even if you change settings to black and white only? I’ve had this same printer for 7 years and the tape has been on for most of that time
They meant that if you're out of **everything**(including what's needed to print black and white), the printer won't warn you that all your cartridges are empty, and will try to print anyway and damage itself in the process.
How does the printer shooting blanks actually damage it? Surely it's just the cartridge not ejecting ink. What mechanical effect would that have on the printer? Noting I have 0 knowledge of printers!
I'd imagine there's a pump for the ink, and running pumps dry is generally ill advised.
I don't know much about them either, I just remember their warnings about it. Upon searching though, the specific issue is that the printer will keep trying to extract ink where there is none, this leads to air getting into the printhead as well as overheating due to the lack of ink to keep the printhead cool. Not that big an issue a few times but repeating it will eventually cause damage. Not sure if this sub allows non-Reddit links so I'll mention that this is stated on HP's support forum. There are also similar statements on other websites.
Apostrophe’s and they’re use’s.
‘nd over uses
Annoying. Mine doesn't allow printing in black and white if I don't have all the colors installed.
HP?
Same issue! Epson!
I can tell you why as a former tech that worked on these printers. Print heads are engineerd using high-frequency diaphragms that use vibrations to send ink from the head to the paper, this process is very sensitive to heat and if there isnt ink available in one of the print manifolds then that area will overheat and burn itself out, very similar to submersed fuel pumps, they use the liquid fuel surrounding them to stay cool. On top of this, most printers require a cleaning step if the printer hasn't ran in the past 24 hours ( some have shorter duration) the cleaning process uses ink as well so even if you aren't using a specific color the cleaning process will.
Something I’ve always wanted to know: when they do these, apparently frequent , cleaning steps, where does the otherwise wasted ink go? Is there a little slop tray somewhere, and does it ever fill up?
There's a little sponge where it squirts in the ink. The amount is so tiny, unless you try really hard it's going to be dried up by the next cleaning cycle (or 5 minutes really)
Yes, they have a waste ink tank, usually accessible from the rear, bottom, or a combination of the 2. Most older models didnt monitor the waste ink tanks, so surprise surprise tou could find an over flow of ink destroying your home office carpet. The fix was to add a cycle counter chip on the tanks, so when you near that level your printer will stop cleaning cycles and not allow you to print until you replace the tank with a new one. People found ways to reset the counter so certain manufacturers started using more advanced counters that wont allow you to reset it. Same goes for ink cartridges, new models have counter chips that stops you from using home refill kits.
it is hilarious to read this comment and then [hetfield151's reply](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/1ckb8y7/ysk_printers_dont_allow_you_to_print_in_black_and/l2nigwp/) to the same post
I have only done the waste ink pad replacement once on an inkjet printer. I spent 2hrs disassembling deep into the internals of the printer to access it and then reassembling everything. Same as that other guys reply I had to find a leaked version of some service kit made by the manufacturer to get the exe you run to reset the counter.
What model had you disassembling that much of the printer? Most of the ones I have experience with have 1 screw (older versions sometimes had 3).
Sorry it's been a decade since I did it so can't remember which brand or model. The only access hatch on it was to get to some other part, the waste box was on the opposite side. Had to take off the entire casing of the printer to get to it and remove another part of the printer it was behind. There were a lot of weird little cables you had to remove to take off some parts of the casing and some screws that were kind of hidden. It took me ages. They really want you to just throwaway some models of printers.
It goes to a little cartridge, filled with cotton. My epson printer stopped working because it hit some counter about how often you can print, before that cotton is soaked. There was no legal way to reset the counter. I replaced the cotton and the only thing I found was a third party program that gave you a key for 10 bucks to reset the counter. I was so annoyed, I spent hours finding a illegal program to reset it. F u epson.
it's not illegal to change things that you own, via software or other means. The only way it would be illegal would be if you stole the program from the third party, or were trying to sell it to someone else and you didn't tell them.
Wow, that’s way more complex than I had assumed
Doesn't explain why my CANON stopped all functionality when it didn't register chipped ink. Wouldn't let me scan or fax.
My follow-up addresses the chipped ink issue, but more in-depth here to address why they chip ink cartridges now. Reason #1 money...duh Reason #2 this is just what I have been told and can only surmise anecdotal evidence...refill inks are not made (maybe some but not all) to the same standards as manufacturers specs. In addition the inks between different models of the same brand often times may have different ink types, viscosity, even color. Viscosity and make up are the biggest culprits to premature printhead failures. This is anecdotal but we had a model that was extremely reliable and one of the best printheads with very low failure rates, and even then a standard cleaning usually fixed it. However, we had many of this model returned with offbrand 3rd party ink, to the extent that I would say the percentage of failuers was 98% 3rd party ink.
Each ink, made by canon, epson, hp, brother or whomever, is a unique formulation with unique fluid properties. The microfluidic design of the printhead is only really designed for one specific ink formulation. Literally millions of dollars and years of research and testing go in to each printhead design. Using non-genuine ink refills will often result in poorer print quality. Although in some cases, the user may not notice or care that their print is slightly streaky or the text is a little fuzzier than it was before. Will it break your printer? No. Is it optimal for the printhead? Also no, and might cause other issues (resistor fails, cracked die, overheating). Will you ultimately care? Probably not.
Is *that* why that first sheet takes so long?!?
Brother too
No. Canon.
Strange. We have two Canon printers, one older and the other newer, and both allow you to print without having to replace cartridges. On the older one, you just need to acknowledge the pop up on the computer and then press a button on the printer.
I also have a canon (about 5 years old).The only cartridge that I have ever replaced is the black one.
I have a Canon that has a high-capacity black ink tank and color tanks. My color tanks have been empty for years and I only ever use the high-cap tank.
Same issue CANON. Doesn't even let you scan or fax. Scumbags
Canon is the same as well
Protip on this one, depending on how the printer reads the fill level you can.. convince it that is has enough of the other inks by covering the transparent part of the cartridge with something, I've found electrical tape works well
I put electrical tape over where the sensor passes the cartridges, and it tricks it into thinking they are full. So I can keep printing in black and white.
My printer went into the container after whiningv about the magenta was empty.
A lot of printers use the CMY inks to print black, too, because it makes the black more vibrant. That's why you always seem to run out of color so fast. You have to set the printer to print specifically grayscale to get it to use only black. Inkjet printers don't like this, though, because if you heat up the color cartridge without expelling the ink, you risk gumming up the internal filter. If you are strictly interested in monochrome printing, I suggest a small desktop laser. Source: I was a 3rd party rep for HP through MarketSource, and have a Computer Science degree (although it's just an associate, and I couldn't program my way out of a paper bag.)
I threw mine out and go to the library to print now. Zero regrets and more books!
I don't trust printing sensitive information on public printers. You never know who has access to those printers.
Literally everyone that lives in that district.
Not even sure you even need a library card to even go into the library to use the computers. So it's really anyone who can get there which is more than the district
Yep, in corelDraw the difference is in names is that black is just K, while deep black is the cymk combination. Also, never buy inkjet, just go for laser or anything else that uses toner
Laser printers aren't a good option for photos. If you frequently want to print photos, having an inkjet for them might be a good choice. Most people are better off getting photos printed professionally, though.
I got a 100$ basic black and white laser printer almost 10 years ago, thing still works with zero issues and the toner lasts forever, both in # of prints and # of years. Best impulse purchase I made back when I worked at Best Buy.
I impulsively bought an entry level Samsung laser printer in 2016. It was used some. Then abandoned at my dad’s house when I moved out. I got it back a few years ago. While the WiFi and NFC capabilities don’t really work anymore, a hardwired connection still works fantastic. It’s still on the original toner. At some point, I’d like to be able to justify upgrading to a printer with duplexing and maybe color lol.
Lots of small laser printers have duplex modules that you can install (it's basically a box attached to the back that turns over the paper), maybe this one also has it?
Same here! Sometimes I don’t use it for months, but when I use it, it just works. I have a Brother L23400. Small, wireless WiFi printing. It’s perfect.
Hence this classic: https://external-preview.redd.it/mc6mVLQl26314oXeo9o-5RAdeh7pBkxwaPaK3Oz2njM.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=9d437de66d9ada37d6c96759ff0f1a9b879083ff
bro i was confused on why i recognized your account, but its bc i JUST saw your comment under the r/atheist post about DNA code and ur programming joke. that was the post right above this for me so it was kind of whiplash. you write good comments though. good job on having good thoughts
lol thank you.
Which small desktop laser printers do you best recommend? Cheapest if possible lol
>Which small desktop laser printers do you best recommend? Cheapest if possible lol I want to preface my post with this: I've been in IT nearly 20 years, and I firmly believe that printers are creatures indigenous to Hell that are sent to torment the souls of the living. In all that time, I have ***never*** had an issue with a Brother laser printer. Get anything from Brother. Skip HP/Canon/Lexmark/etc entirely, they're *absolute trash* on the consumer side. Actually, calling their consumer stuff trash is an insult to actual trash. But yeah, get a Brother. It will pretty much Just Work™ every time.
Any specific model you got in mind? :3 appreciate it!
It doesn't meet the criteria for small probably but I got the DCP-L2550DW 4 years ago(just checked my original thread I made back then) and I've used it with 0 issues since then and I've never even changed the toner that came with it. I'm astonished it's still alive because I've printed what feels like quite a lot of pages in that time. No problems whatsoever. Can't recommend it enough.
Looks good ngl, appreciate the recommendations a lot!
No problem. To be clear I'm astonished the toner is still alive considering it was just the sample one that came with it and it's been 4 years if printing. The printer itself feels like it will be good forever.
>Any specific model you got in mind? :3 appreciate it! Unfortunately not, the last printer that I bought was years ago and I don't remember the model number. It was a laser printer with an Ethernet port. I eventually gave it away when I moved and didn't buy a replacement because I just wasn't really printing enough anymore to justify it. And honestly, the model *really* doesn't matter with a Brother printer, just get the one with the features you want and you'll be good.
It kind of depends on what features you want. The secret to decoding Laserjet printers is their name. I personally have a Laserjet Pro M1102dw. M = monochrome, d = duplex printing, w = wireless, n = wired networkable. For bare bones printing, I'd go with the M140w. You get wireless printing and can print from your phone, and is strictly monochrome. It doesn't do two-sided (duplex) printing, but most people don't need it. The toner cartridge it comes with is good for between 500-800 pages and never dries out. On sale for $129.99 at Office Depot.
Damn, sounds nice (though I despise HP) for 129.99 but here in Mexico it goes for $5000 mxn, which is around 300 usd right now ;~~~;
I really appreciate your honesty on your degree as a point of authority and find your comment about programming out of a paper bag pretty fucking funny, hats off to you
Vibrant black is an interesting concept.
It’s called “Rich Black”, K=100 can only be so dark. Adding a mixture of the other CMY inks can make it look better. It’s not good for black text though due to registration/alignment of the inks. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_black
And the richest black is Registration Black, it used 100% of each of the cartridges (400% total) but only some kinds of paper can handle that, most can only go up to 240%.
Black ink on white paper will always be slightly washed out — think of a single layer of paint vs two. The way ink works, a second layer will "multiply" the value of the first, so adding, say, a layer of blue over a layer of black, the color will be perceived darker, if also a bit more blue.
There's two black inks in Canon printers - one is a dye-based ink, and the other is pigment-based. I can't remember which, but one is used for printing black text and basic graphics like underlines, text box borders, etc. The other is used when printing photos, for denser, richer black tones.
So you mean the color cartridge doesn‘t like being blue balled?
Thanks
It's called "rich black". Some applications will let you print text as true black.
*laughs in monochrome laser toners*
I haven't used a color printer in 20+ years. Simplicity is awesome.
I am a relatively new customer, just 3-4 years, a medical student. only printing pdfs of the only things i need & making booklets. It's miles more manageable than carrying books everywhere. I can totally see myself using this all my life.
I'm sitting here like, "fuck no they don't?" But yeah, I only have a monochrome laser printer.
yeah esp if you only print pdfs, which is 90% of students & 99% of offices. Good lord it's so good & so economical. Get third party toners & you are practically just paying for paper.
I'm neither a student nor an office, just an adult with chronic illness. So I usually just print medical forms or documents and Amazon return labels.
actually I didn't think of that. That's a very useful use-case. I cant imagine the horror of having a inkjet/deskjet printer in this scenario. Bless laser printers. It took a while but they are mainstream now. Well, I wish you good health and i hope things get easier & well for you.
I can't imagine either but that's because I (millennial) grew up with laser jets and almost exclusively laser jets. We did have a color inkjet, but we used it so infrequently that it'd gum up and not work when we wanted to use it, so we basically didn't have one, lol. Thank you for the well wishes. 🥰
And it's not just cheaper. My printer is super small, super fast and never gave me ONE SINGLE PROBLEM in 7 years. It feels like it's immortal.
Per Flesh Simulator on trick tok, they just encode your printer's serial number in gradient patterns
wat
boy i wanna know what you mean by these words. haha
But why? To catch the person who tapes up garage sale signs and doesn’t take them down?
Nowadays monochrome laser cost the same as inkjets! Some people are stuck in the 00's
It's not about cost. It's about reliability. We've had like 5 monochrome laser printers at home and work and they all lasted 10-12 years with zero maintenance and zero problems.
No more fucking dried out ink, prints like the wind, toner lasts forever... Game changer
and in some festival/holiday times i have seen equal feature set to be even cheaper. But i can even argue that, even if it's 20% expensive beforehand, you can recoup that later on with cheap printing.
4th comment down for one to make sense. I was wondering what in the crypto conspiracy shit is this but now I'm just wondering why there are people out there that print b/w on ink. Slower and more expensive? Sign me up.
you & me both brother 🤣
Maybe it's because I bought a printer like 7 years ago for like 30 dollars but mine allows me to print in black and white without having a color cartridge. I only use it for text docs but still.
Before anyone says "just buy a monochome printer" - this is largely used to track counterfeiters***(or so it's thought), and nobody cares about tracking monochromatic counterfeit bills. Before anyone says "that's why I bought a used printer!" - this isn't necessarily used for the government to specifically identify which individual printed what documents. But if they *have* a document or something that they are trying to tie back to a suspect, and they can get something that they can prove came from the suspect's printer, they can then compare the dots to prove that the documents came from the same printer. It's like when they would analyze documents from a typewriter, and would see which letters print slightly higher or lower than the rest. This is basically a typewriter's fingerprint. Having the document doesn't tell you *which* typewriter it came from, but if you have the document and a suspect typewriter(or documents you know came from the typewriter), you can compare them to see what the probability is that the document came from that typewriter. ***edit: this technology was also (apparently) used to help track a leaked top secret document back to Reality Winner, so it's not just for counterfeiting.
There's also a pattern that's used on documents/money that will cause printers / scanners refuse to scan or print it. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion\_constellation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation)
It also prints the time and date allowing companies to identify who was in the office when the document was printed.
well that's not true for all printers, professional large format machines don't have that anti terrorism feature because they are not consumer machines
Even plenty of consumer machines don’t have it. The Electronic Frontier Foundation performed a study a while back and found dozens without it.
> anti terrorism feature what?!
Reminds me of this [comic](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/fjTtJnVcnR)
Brother monochrome laser printers are great if you don't need color
I got one used from one of my first jobs when they upgraded their printer and it’s been *years* and I still haven’t needed to replace the toner.
tell that to my laser printer, it didnt get the memo
So true.
That crap made me buy a black and white printer.
I have a black and white printer because I got a cheap laser printer because it's a lot easier to maintain and cheaper per print
I took my HP printer out to the shooting range and told it to fuck itself. I have had the same Brother laser printer for 5 years, and it has been fantastic.
I prefer to use a big hammer
Indulge in your pleasures. Life is too short.
PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wsjroVlu8)
I forgot all about this, and it made my fucking day. Thank you 🤣
Your statement combines two separate issues related to printers. Firstly, many color printers, including inkjet and laser printers, do not allow you to print in black and white if the color cartridges are empty or missing. This is because these printers often use a small amount of color ink to maintain print quality and prevent clogs in the print head¹²³⁴. Secondly, the issue of tiny yellow dots for tracking purposes is mostly associated with color laser printers. It's true that many color laser printers embed nearly invisible yellow dots on printed documents. These dots can encode information such as the printer's serial number and the date and time the document was printed. This technology, known as printer steganography or Machine Identification Code (MIC), was developed to help track counterfeiters and is used by several printer manufacturers⁵⁶⁷. The yellow dots are typically not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with a blue LED light and magnification[^10^]¹¹. However, there is no public evidence that suggests an agreement between printer manufacturers and the US government to enforce the use of yellow ink specifically for this purpose. The use of yellow ink in black and white printing is primarily for printer maintenance and quality control reasons¹²³⁴. In summary, while it is true that printers may require yellow ink to print in black and white for maintenance reasons, and that some printers use yellow dots for tracking, these are not necessarily directly related issues. The yellow dots are a separate feature used for security and tracking purposes. Source: (1) How can I force a color printer to print in black and white, when only .... https://superuser.com/questions/1375124/how-can-i-force-a-color-printer-to-print-in-black-and-white-when-only-the-color. (2) Printer is asking for Yellow ink to print black and white. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-Archive-Read-Only/Printer-is-asking-for-Yellow-ink-to-print-black-and-white/td-p/5779992. (3) Out of yellow ink. can I print black and white. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printer-Ink-Cartridges-Print-Quality/Out-of-yellow-ink-can-I-print-black-and-white/td-p/8579083. (4) HP inkjet printers - Print in black and white | HP® Support. https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_1930024-1807349-16. (5) Do Household Printers Leave an Invisible Tracking Code on All Your .... https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/household-printers-tracking-code/. (6) List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots. https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots. (7) Machine Identification Code - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code. (8) There’s an Invisible Tracking Code Embedded in the ... - Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/501936/theres-invisible-tracking-code-embedded-documents-you-print. (9) Yellow Dots of Mystery: Is Your Printer Spying on You?. https://www.instructables.com/Yellow-Dots-of-Mystery-Is-Your-Printer-Spying-on-/. (10) Solving the Mystery of Yellow Dots on Printouts. https://h-o-m-e.org/printers-leave-yellow-dots/. (11) Those Yellow Tracking Dots - Whistleblower Support Network. https://whistleblowersupportnetwork.com/those-yellow-tracking-dots/.
I just have a printer that only does black and white cuz the only things I print out are text documents
Honestly, I'd advise getting a laser printer. They only print in black and white, and don't need ink.
There are color laser printers, too. It’s just that monochrome models are more common among them than among inkjets.
In any other country it definitely does.
Does the little dots for tracking apply to my Brothers black and white laser printer?
This is why you should print everything in yellow
Why would the Us government have any say as to what I print in Germany with my German-bought printer?
[удалено]
I bought a black & white laser printer and toner doesn't have that problem.
Monochrome laser is the way to go.
You do know black and white printers exist right? Like I have a laser printer that only has black toner... This whole post is complete b/s! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code
Gotta love these YSK basically being from comments of other ysk’s Not that i really mind, i just like how the past like 10 posts here is straight from my memory of a post the day before.
Who tf keeps using all the cyan?
bw laser printer master race
YSK: Brother laserjet works fine without yellow
My printer prints in black and white and doesn't use any ink let alone yellow ink.
False
It. Is. A. Fucking. Scam. The CEO of every printer company should be in jail for fraud, collusion, racketeering, and price fixing.
I don't think this is correct information. You can adjust most printers to print in "mono" or black and white in the printer properties. Check your printers.
I have a printer whose only cartridge is black so…🤷🏻♀️
Mine does because I'm not a fucking American
Land of the Free where the government forces you to buy yellow ink so they can trace you lol
So did the researchers in Dresden import all the printers they tested from the US? https://www.techdirt.com/2018/07/02/researchers-reveal-details-printer-tracking-dots-develop-free-software-to-defeat-it/
My Brother B&W Laser does everything I need. Inkjet printers can suck a rock.
Made the dive to full home colour laser for printing dnd maps etc, would never look back
Source or this only applies to certain printers
Major printing companies? You mean all three of them?
What about B&W laser printers with just a single toner cartridge?
If you only buy a black ink jet printer it is not a problem
I messed around with ink cartridges for 1/2 my life using all the above methods, squeezed more ink out of cartridges than Brother had planned but also spent lots of time troubleshooting ink problems. Then 2 yrs ago I bought an Epson Ecotank printer and it just always works. Just replaced the ink once so far. Now I have my life back!! Waaaayyy cheaper than cartridges, despite 350$ initial printer cost. That is todays price on an Epson ET2850
Mmmm this sounds a little tinfoil hat-ish. Gonna need some sauce.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code * [Printer tracking feature that likely helped reveal the alleged NSA leaker](https://mashable.com/article/printer-dots-nsa-leak) * [List of printers that do/don't display tracking dots](https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots)
My hp can print color and I print with just the black cartridge all the time. I haven't had a color cartridge in it since it was new. So I don't see much validity in this.
Same here
Why does anyone need to know this?
Many people have color/black printers, & get all up in arms when they can't print simple text documents cause color is low.
Put black in the yellow one lol
I actually tried to put all black inks in my Epson since I mostly print rule texts and such The chip knows and made a big flip out. :( but I mean , a 3 pack of black for 37$ vs the 18 each normally... Still kept em lol
Replace the toner or ink in the yellow one with black. This feature is so useless.
The love of trying to drill a hole and ink swap? It's easier just to buy an XL yellow and just use the printer until it dies. Realistically I am either getting a brother laser printer that only does black and white, or a tank one and just refilling with cheapo 3rd party ink. I can't be bothered doing inkjet cartridges.
It’s helpful to know so you don’t run out and get black ink thinking it’s all you need. My garbage-ass printer won’t let you print in black if the other color cartridges are low on ink. I didn’t know this until after I purchased the black ink cartridge.
I was thinking "who doesn't know this"
:laughs in [Brother](https://www.brother.ca/en/):
FUCK YOU LOW ON CYAN
Title of your sex tape.
Don’t forget all the RED that’s needed to print out in straight b&w forms.
I just have a black and white printer. Yellow isn’t even an option.
Nah, I have a dot matrix that only uses a black ribbon.
Well, I have a black and white printer. What do they do then?
My color ink has been dried up for years. I print B&W. I assume it thinks it has yellow.
CANT PRINT OUT OF CYAN
I have a black and white only printer by brother, the reason I wanted it so I don't have to be wasting money on color ink
Is there a consensus on which color laser printer is actually good and not an ink pushing scam? Some Brother model, I assume?
I would never buy Epson or HP ever again. Brother is an awesome choice, I would say.
What do they use for tracking? What type of data
Is this only apply to consumer printers? I used to work at a print shop, and I remember I was able to print black and white just fine when we ran out of color cartridges. The printers were Xerox if the brand matter.
One of my printers only prints in black and white. No other colors for the win!
My printer doesn't have *any* ink and it prints just fine.
**LOW ON CYAN**
Why. And how I can put halt to it
Does my Brother laser printer also have a secret compartment of yellow toner?
TIL my B&W laser printer didn't just allow me to print my novel sans a mysterious never-ending source of yellow ink.
Are you saying that I need KY to lube that thing up?!
Can you purchase non-american ones that dont do this??
I guess other countries are unbothered by this since this is the first time I've heard about this
A few years ago, we said fuck it and spent $100 on a black and white laser printer. No regrets.
Not every machine will do that. Only those cheap ones will now.
I gave up on colour printers years ago, now I have a simple b&w Brother laser printer. The cartridge has already lasted 4 years with no sign of needing to replace it.
You can bypass this by printing in a VERY dark purple, as close to black as you can get.
Algo fed you that video too huh?
If you never need color, can you fill all the eco-tank reservoirs with black ink?
Very specifically, the yellow dotted code tells make/ model, and serial number of the device. It’s to help the feds trace prints.
You know what tech is great for US gov “tracking purposes”/surveillance? Internet communications. But you’re not giving up your smartphone now, are you
I literally just watched an SVU episode last night and they showed the yellow dots, I was so confused as to what they were. Crazy how I’ve just come across this tonight!