This sounds accurate based on the user reports. They're not bricking anything, they just make you do manual registration if you use third party toner.
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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....they just make you do manual registration if you use third party toner
Man, if only we had a word for disabling critical features in this way.
If there is one, it's not "bricking", because it still functions as a printer.
Upvoted for understanding the concept of words having already established definitions
Standardized word meanings being recognized and adhered to really brings me joy.
I don't like that meanings change over time.
"my account got hacked"
No, you gave someone your information they used to log in.
Oh man, I have bad news for you about living languages...
But no, I know what you mean, I don't like it either.
bad news for you about living languages...
Is it "the good ones, like French, gate-keep changes to prevent capricious drift by vapid Instagram whores, and the others are 'literally'[sic] English"?
Haha, yeah the French totally do that.
I remember when I was a kid and my dad worked in the computer industry. He went to France for work somewhere around 1990. I remember he said that France likes to keep their language pure, not adopt English words, and in technology, where there were a lot of new words, they didn't always have one for things. So for example, their word for "hard disk" translated literally to "spinning magnetic binary drive". Whereas, the Japanese would say something along the lines of "harta disku", which was at least more succinct.
Ohhhhhhh, standardized word meanings are TIGHT!
Bricking it was super easy, barely an inconvenience!
Where were you when I was being called a pedant? 😅
It's a very mutable word due to it's metaphorical nature. It's certainly not set in stone.
So on one hand, yes. On the other hand, there are tasks that are onerous to non technicians.
If you asked me to do it manually, sure. I've interacted with a bunch of software, understand measurement systems, done some programming etc.
My wife on the other hand... There's no overlap between ecology or life sciences in this task. Outside her ability.
Yeah some folks in here are clearly out of touch with the capabilities of the average consumer.
Do we really need to define things in terms of what the average person is capable of? Especially when the biggest barrier seems to be "willingness to put a small amount of effort into learning a simple process"?
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Which is weird because one of Rossman's sources claimed that they were on the phone with Brother, asked how to do manual registration, and were told it couldn't be done unless a genuine Brother toner cartridge was installed.
That person was just plain wrong. The same source showed the manual registration sheets under their reddit post.
Maybe support agent was being lazy, or ignorant.
The portal the agents use should be able to bring up internal info via keywords like "colour registration"
Customer service reps have almost the same information that a customer would have. The only difference is they have a few more tools available to them.
Asking policy questions or anything at this level would likely get no useful info.
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Rossman's "source" was a 3 year old unconfirmed Reddit post.
I have a black and white brother laser printer that had 3rd party toner that worked fine for years, it was even a two pack of toner. Then I installed a firmware update and immediately it threw an error stating trouble with the toner and refused to print. Tried the unopened 2nd toner, same error. Looked and searched all over online and could not find the previous firmware to try a roll back.
I then purchased a new two pack of 3rd party toner from a different brand and it worked just fine. My guess is with each new firmware they also have a set of chips to block (each toner has a chip on it) that they bundle into to update.
I'll never install another firmware update for that printer now.
I would consider what they did as bricking my toner.
Link? Where does it say that and how does one do that?
The links are in the article.
I don't know the specific process, but usually it's printing a registration page and then entering the offsets on the printer's control panel.
“Third party ink” existing as a phrase is the problem.
Meh, I think it's pretty straight forward. It's just a description of the scenario.
Mario games are first party content, because they're made by the same company that makes the console. This says nothing positive or negative about the game, just who developed it.
I've used printers that don't have cartridges, instead they just have ink wells you can fill with any ink. You do have more freedom with ink choices, but they're a different kind of hassle. It's not simply a better solution.
(Speaking of solutions, sometimes the ink you buy is more of a suspension than a solution, and it'll clump up and dry in the feed hoses, a real pain in the ass.)
I get what you're saying but agree with the other guy. Just saying brother's ink or toner is first party instantly makes it sound like other brands are inferior. Just because you're intelligent enough to know that's not true doesn't mean everyone is. If recent history has taught me anything, it's that the average person is far less intelligent than you'd assume.
Would you rather call it "official" or "certified" or "genuine" toner cartridges? Because that sounds worse to me.
I mean, they really do need some way to differentiate their product from others. Because they do guarantee that their cartridge works with their printer (and customers would hold them accountable if they did not). They really can't guarantee that with any others. (simply because they didn't design the others, haven't tested them, and have no power to change them if there was a problem. All of which is perfectly reasonable)
Just saying brother's ink or toner is first party instantly makes it sound like other brands are inferior.
No, it doesn't. Saying third party just means not manufactured by first party, first party being printer manufacturer.
Would you not buy Baldurs Gate 3 cause it's a third party game? Would you not buy Call of Duty because it's a third party game? Do you pay more for gas at ExxonMobil, because Costco sells third party gas for cheaper?
You buy third party all the time. Saying third party sounds bad is just stupid.
Exactly! The difference with third party is that the manufacturer won't test it, so you're relying on the third party to verify that it works.
This is the kind of stupidity that has us reinventing language constantly. Words mean what they mean. To hell with how they make you feel. BLACKLIST WHITELIST 😲 The horror!
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Well, that's a pleasant piece of news among a number of not-so-pleasant news items.
Brother was the last decent printer company, wasn't it?
Maybe Lexmark? OKI? I vaguely recall there was 1 other not-evil printer company.left.
Otherwise, I've heard good things about clay tablets.
"posted by accident, trying to delete now"
In other news: tesla bans third party gas pumps
Close: you do get banned from their supercharger network if you try to repair your own car
Fascinating. I wonder how many people are going it alone or 3rd party with Tesla repairs now.
gas pumps of any kind are banned for Tesla
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