For phone-to-computer it works fine. But double-sided boi will still win if you need to send files to a dumber device like a printer -- those don't typically support MTP or whatever iphones use. Unless you have an ancient android phone that gives full block-level access to the internal storage/microsd card through usb cable lol. I really miss that feature.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I just add the printer on my phone and print over the network

[–] saltesc 9 points 5 months ago (6 children)

So many people on here always talking about printing stuff in 2024. Is everyone a lawyer?

[–] tourist 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Some banks and other places like that still require physical documents for stuff like proof of address, affidavits etc.

Even though they're going to fucking scan it into pdf anyway

I use my printer to print silly stickers, because I am a manchild, but I don't think I am using the correct ink or paper, because they fade very quickly and smudge sometimes.

Also use it to print graph paper to doodle on.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What type of printer/paper do you use? I find cheap photo paper works well for high res on my inkjet, although it can fade if you leave it in the sun. I've been using vinyl sticker sheets for customising my bike and it seems to be holding well, but I did laminate them with sticky back plastic first.

There's also the sellotape trick, but that only works for laser printers and you obviously can't print white.

[–] tourist 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The printer is the cheapest canon inkjet printer I could find new in 2021. I don't have access to the exact model name rn

I think I have glossy photo paper. I also had a few sheets of postcard size sticker paper that was not glossy and didn't fade, but I recall it being stupid expensive, or that specific brand at least. I cannot remember the name. Would not survive the elements though.

I thought about laminating it but I wasn't sure if the heat would fuck the adhesive

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

When I say laminate, I just mean the rolls of sticky back plastic. I don't know if it's called something else in your part of the world.

It's the stuff we used to use to protect our exercise books at school. You can buy special laminating vinyl but this stuff is cheaper.

Acid free sticky tape (scotch tape in the US?) will also work for smaller stickers, just make sure the sort you use doesn't yellow. In my experience, glossy photo paper scratches easily and has to have a layer over it to seal it, plastic is the easiest option (also remembering when I made over 200 trading cards on photo paper and had to design, cut and laminate them all by hand lol).

I did test the brand of vinyl paper I used with water and it did hold up. I've only had it on my bike for a few months, but so far it doesn't seem to have yellowed or faded. I probably should have cut out the sticky back plastic to be bigger than the sticker though.

[–] tourist 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

OHHH that kind of lamination. Completely forgot that was an option.

I was thinking about those laminating machines that fully seal the printouts with plastic sheets.

I'm going to look into getting my hands on some vinyl paper. I appreciate it, bud

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

No worries. Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I can't post my memes on the much room bulletin board for everyone to see unless I print them :/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I transfer data by printing it and then scanning it when I get to the location.

I just like the artefacts it leaves behind.

If it is anything other than text or a photo, I compile the file into a QR code and print that.

A Windows 10 installation iso is about 1499639 QR codes

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Couldn't you, theoretically, create one massive QR code containing all that data? You'd need a massive camera sensor to get the resolution required to actually decode it though.

[–] MeatsOfRage 3 points 5 months ago

https://youtu.be/ExwqNreocpg?si=2eHJdNFMSYmUImV0

This guy wrote a game that can fit in a QR code

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

You mean I can backup my 20tb NAS on QR codes?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

No, I just live in Germany

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Sometimes I need to print out stuff for my grandmother

[–] idunnololz 1 points 5 months ago

When I cook I like to print out the recipe. It's annoying to have to touch ur phone when cooking because you might be handling raw meat so it's annoying to have to wash ur re-hands whenever you need to check the recipe. Plus using a phone when hands are wet is also annoying.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Wait, what feature? You can't access the phone's storage? I'm pretty sure I can access my phone's storage.

[–] renzev 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Old android phones used to emulate a USB mass storage device when you would connect them. To the computer, the phone would appear as a usb stick. Modern android phones, on the other hand, use a protocol called MTP (Mobile Transfer Protocol), which is completely its own thing.

The reason they switched to MTP is that the old approach gave the computer complete control over the phone's storage; the phone would become completely unusable while connected in this way, and would just display a "connected via usb" splash screen. With MTP, the phone continues to be usable while connected via USB. But it has the downside that MTP is a much less widespread protocol than USB mass storage. On personal computers it should "just work", but on stuff like printers it might not.

Personally, I think they should bring back USB mass storage emulation as an optional feature. Heck, it can still be done, but you need to compile your own android ROM with usb mass storage drivers, which I'm not nearly skilled enough to do.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Old USB implementation used to be a finicky nightmare, though. You make it sound like it wasn't changed for a reason, MTP connectivity on Android as it is now is so much more functional, as well as safer.

In any case, that solves the misunderstanding. I thought you meant you couldn't directly access phone storage anymore, which isn't the case.

The printer scenario seems like an edge case to me. I mean, MTP has been the default for what? Over a decade? If you have a recent printer you're probably fine (also, it probably has wifi and a dedicated mobile app or at least enough third party support to be used from your phone regardless). If your printer is older than that you're probably better served by going through your PC first anyway. Sure, you don't get direct USB access to printing photos, but now we're talking about a very specific feature that was in use for a very specific sliver of time, and it requires you to be tethered to a device anyway. I don't think that's enough to justify legacy storage support on phones.

[–] renzev 3 points 5 months ago

Sure, you don’t get direct USB access to printing photos, but now we’re talking about a very specific feature that was in use for a very specific sliver of time, and it requires you to be tethered to a device anyway. I don’t think that’s enough to justify legacy storage support on phones.

Yeah, fair enough.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

If you have a recent printer you're probably fine (also, it probably has wifi and a dedicated mobile app or at least enough third party support to be used from your phone regardless).

Not to forget the gazillion security holes. But most of the features stop working after a few years anyway.