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HP wants you to pay up to $36/month to rent a printer that it monitors
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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I wonder, with all the programs that emulate old video game consoles and dead operating systems, are there efforts to make programs that can install directly to the printer hardware to undo this type of stuff?
HP printers these days requires internet connection linked to your HP account to even work. Same principle as live service online video games.
Yeah, but if my printer is pretty much a computer that can have its OS/Applications updated, I'm surprised that hackers haven't found a way to install software to make a printer be a printer instead of a "live service device".
It's not software issue, it's hardware issue. They use a physical "security" chip that performs authentication.
Latest example of it: HP outrages printer users with firmware update suddenly bricking third-party ink
A chunk of the article makes it sound like, in some cases, it was just a software change that bricked the ink cart.
Firmware, not software. It's a layer in between software and hardware. You are probably familiar with a most commonly known firmware terms used in PCs, called BIOS or UEFI.
Yeah... and some are flashable and some are not... which is why I was offered my "ponder" as comment.