I'm using a Brother laser with third-party cartridges, and everything still works after the recent firmware update. So I'm inclined to believe them.
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
294 points (99.7% liked)
Technology
68918 readers
4236 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I can confirm this. Latest firmware and a generic toner cart. I just printed some stuff yesterday
Same. Updated firmware today.
I hope this is true because we can't afford to lose the last good guy printer manufacturer.
Problem of course, is that 100 people see the lie (most believe the first thing they hear even if false), then 15 see the truth, and 10 believe it.
But is it a lie?
Here's what I've seen so far:
- Rossmann reports on claims about Brother blocking third party cartridges on auto-updating firmware, and not providing older firmware
- Brother denies intentionally blocking third party cartridges
There's still the claim about the older firmware. If it was available, it would be pretty easy for customers to prove that a change in the firmware caused issues w/ third-party cartridges:
- cartridge works fine
- upgrade
- cartridge doesn't work
- downgrade
- cartridge works fine
That doesn't prove it was intentional, it just proves it was the firmware update that caused the problem. If users want to stick w/ an older firmware, they should be allowed to, because Brother shouldn't be able to decide what firmware they use.
The broader point here is certainly valid though, I'm just unconvinced that it's applicable. Why should we trust Brother on this when they make the way to prove the issue nigh impossible?
And those ten who believe it will be the most virulent and arduous propagators of that lie.
"A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on." - C. H. Spurgeon (1859)
If your printer is working fine, and is not on the network, leave the firmware alone.
I notice it talks about not blocking 3rd party inks, but not (that I saw) about deliberately degrading quality. I hope they're not doing that either!- but that was the recent accusation.
I read a bit on that though, and what I think happened, is someone got lower quality while using 3rd party ink, after an OTA firmware update, and called customer service. The customer service rep couldn't answer how to fix it, except using genuine Brother ink, and the user asked a careful question about whether that was the only way. Rep answers yes, which is probably not true but seems like the 'right' answer to give; user interprets it as the Rep knowing that there's a secret and deliberate degradation of quality with 3rd party ink.
I actually wondered that at the time simply because whenever a new person discovers the horrors of HP printers people in the comments are always boosting Brother printers.
Like, if Canon had been accused of bricking third-party printer ink I'm not sure it would have made the feed.
Exactly. The style of accusations, and the aggressive tone the perpetrators use… This really looks and feels like a smear campaign against Brother.
Really because it happened to me until I was able to force a software roll back which required obtaining their closed proprietary service software.
I'm glad to hear this because I read the other article on the day my Epson decided to suddenly take umbrage with my third party cart after using it without issue for 2 years.
As there is no other viable alternative for a relatively-no-nonsense printer on the market than Brother's offerings it sounds like I'm not completely out of options quite yet.
Incidents like this are a perfect excuse for the bean counters and marketing experts to chime in and recommend that the firmware be updated specifically to block third party ink or toner.
There's no downside, the world is already trash talking your company, even if you didn't do anything wrong, but while it's happening, you get to sell a shitload more ink and toner.
If they're smart they won't do that as they know people are buying their products specifically for that reason.
If they're smart...
Except right now it's clear they ARE allowing third party cartriges.
We need an open-source printer project. But apparently it's very difficult to do.
We actually don't need an entire Open Source Printer, just an open source controller. So you can buy $printer and then replace it's control board with an Open Source version. We're doing this already with things that weigh hundreds of pounds, spin at thousands of RPM, and literally contain explosions!
Gear heads (car people) are very familiar with this. There's at least three major, and many minor, Electronic Fuel Injection / Engine Management Systems out there that will allow you to strip the factory "brains" out of a car and replace them with stuff you can control / program yourself.
A printer is just an assembly of mechanical parts and there's no reason that an Open Source controller couldn't command them.
No this is not good logic because the specific people that buy your product and use third party supplies know it to be untrue.
There's no downside
I mean if people are buying your products specifically because they don't have this bullshit, you've carved out a niche for yourself, and if you abandon that niche, you have nothing.