Ask Lemmy

27212 readers

1787 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Where can I find out if the HP Scanner/Printer I found in my MIL's office has hostile firmware updates that tie me to HP ink and do other sketchy HP stuff? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 1 week ago by njordomir to c/asklemmy

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I recently found an unopened HP PhotoSmart 6520 in my mother in law's closet. She had it prepared for when her workhorse gave out. I've needed a scanner downstairs and want to figure out if I can safely connect this thing to the network without it bricking itself. You all probably already know HPs reputation and how they do sketchy things like blocking third party ink with firmware updates after the consumer has already purchased the product, or making it so you can't scan if the ink is out. Right now, all I want to do is scan some docs to linux, likely over USB, maybe over the network if I can get it to work. I don't want to rule out that my partner may want to print something.

What is the best way to go about this? Can I block the printer from accessing the internet on my router, but still have devices on the local network print to it? Should I? Can I see somewhere if updates are reported as safe and only then unblock the internet access so it can update?

Problem is, as usual, Google is less than helpful. Does anyone know where I can find a list of which printers were affected and which are still affected?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The real question is can you source ink for it?

Preferably 3rd party, but a quick look shows HP ink on sale for $20 at Walmart.

As for the printer itself, never connect it to the internet. If your router has the right features, you should be able to get it on the network without giving it internet. You shouldnt need to update unless whatever version it's on happened to be broken.

[–] HeyJoe 5 points 1 week ago

Just set the printer IP manually and drop the default gateway. Without that it can't reach the internet to do anything. It's how I setup mine, and it's the easiest way to handle it, IMO.