This but also no MICs (the yellow dots)
If you need color, then I highly recommend the Epson EcoTank line of printers. No printer cartridges AT ALL - just raw 4 color ink. They cost more than most inkjet printers up front . . but more than save in the long run. And NO DRM in site . . rather difficult to put DRM into liquid ink . . .
Just a heads up, ECO tanks do have a sponge inside to collect inks. This sponge needs to be replaced periodically. Once replaced a counter needs to be reset, and that’s only achievable through their service (it costs about 50€ where I live). In my experience it seems to be required about every 6000 prints
HP Smart Tank Plus 555 Wireless now sells for 179,90€ and has the same concept. A great product anyone looking for a new printer.
Alternatively you can get a second hand HP 3070A (Wifi, Scanner, Airprint) for around 20€ and use refillable cartridges. Or just unbranded ones that sell for cheap. The thing I like about this particular model is that the cartridges just hold ink there’s not much hardware like other models, no print-head in the cartridge itself, just a simple chip that china has cloned perfectly.
I will never buy an HP again after their printers (the ones that didn’t die) start giving “missing printhead” errors after an update if it thinks you are using non-HP ink (even when you are using HP ink) and is unrepairable. Replacing the printhead is a 50/50 shot for 75% of the cost of a new printer
no DRM
Probably a dot matrix from the 90’s
Open source
Closest I’ve seen is open source plotters.
Most comments comments mention Brother, but for me, Oki is working like a charm. Using a B431dn (b/w, duplex) and a C531dn (color, duplex) with PPD files from OpenPrinting. Older models though, not sure if Oki dropped quality in favour of DRM since.
Rules of thumb:
- Laser instead of ink unless you specifically know that you need/want ink.
- Stay away from HP, Canon, and probably Epson. HP, like IBM, has long lost its aspiration for quality.
- Stay away from anything that is ‘smart’ or ‘cloud’.
