[HN Gopher] Show HN: Driverless print server for legacy printers...
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Show HN: Driverless print server for legacy printers, profit goes
to open-source
This is a device, to which you connect your older USB printer, and
use it from any PC or smartphone without installing drivers
(AirPrint/Mopria), wirelessly. As easy as that! *
Supports all OS: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android. No drivers
needed. Windows-on-ARM and Apple M1/2/3/4 also supported. *
Supports the majority of printers released before [?]2018 *
Profit from sold devices is shared between CUPS, SANE, AirSane
open-source printing and scanning projects * Surplus and
donations are accumulated to improve current open-source drivers
and develop new ones The printer driver is run inside the
device. It comes with lots of open-source and official proprietary
drivers. x86-only drivers are running under box86 emulation, with
little visible performance impact, ensuring wide compatibility with
many printers and MFPs. All of this is bundled in a retail-like
device, with simple web interface[1][2]. No tinkering and no DIY
required, it's safe to plug off the power cord every time, and you
can do factory reset. The print server is secure by default: it
conforms to most of the IoT Device Security Specification 1.0[3]
best practices, has built-in firewall to ensure LAN-only operation,
and does not include anti-consumer features. All devices come with
technical support, where I act as a middleman between all the
involved projects and printer drivers. If there's a bug, I first
try to debug the issue remotely, and if it's not possible, end up
buying the same printer and debug it until the issue is resolved.
All the fixes made during the development are contributed back to
the origin projects, and there were many bugs fixed: almost every
package has additional patches compared to original Debian 12 disto
state. [1]: https://printserver.ink/webface-main.png [2]:
https://printserver.ink/webface-other.png [3]: https://csa-
iot.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/23-80986-013-... P.S. Brother
printer lovers, the latest Brother L2800dw (2024) laser comes with
the chipped cartridge, which you can't refill and reset forever
anymore. The printer allows to continue printing with an "empty"
cartridge with a special menu item, but it does so only to fixed
amount of pages, and then stops. It doesn't allow to use cartridges
without chips.
Author : ValdikSS
Score : 21 points
Date : 2025-05-04 17:43 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (printserver.ink)
(TXT) w3m dump (printserver.ink)
| purpleidea wrote:
| Says it's open source but the link is password protected:
| https://printserver.ink/firmware/
|
| I'll pass until that's normal.
| ValdikSS wrote:
| This is an open source project in a technical sense (source is
| open and the license is open), but not in a social sense (no
| free as in beer available source code, no public support for
| everyone). Source code, as well as firmware updates and
| support, are provided only to the customers.
|
| When I sell the print server, I ask the buyer for the printer
| model, check its compatibility, and sell the device + guarantee
| that it would work for the buyer's printer. If it doesn't work
| properly, I'm first trying to debug remotely, and I could not
| fix it, I'm buying the same printer on flea market and
| debugging and fixing it until it works, and contribute the fix
| to CUPS/SANE/printer driver package.
|
| In other words, I sell tech support in a package, and I just
| don't sell the print server if it's incompatible with the
| printer.
|
| The goal of this project is to provide *ready-to-use, no-DIY
| device*, to improve the underlying software by directly
| contributing to it, for anyone to benefit from the fix. If you
| want to contribute to the printing stack and already know where
| to start, you should improve relevant projects, such as CUPS,
| SANE, printer and scanner drivers.
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(page generated 2025-05-04 23:01 UTC)