#asknostr I'm thinking about printers I've been wanting to start sending more physical letters because there's something so charming about receiving something physical in the mail. The only problem I have is printers. The existing printer I have is a pain to maintain because I have to constantly stock up colored ink even when I'm just printing black and white letters I know that this is because of DRM that is literally printing information about the serial number of my printer on each page and I really don't like that. I'm wondering if there's a way for me to have a DRM-free sort of printer alternative? I've been thinking about whether a teletype might make sense for my use case? Or maybe a receipt printer or even taping a pen to my 3d printer to have it write for me hahaha. Are there any good and affordable options for printing letters without all the DRM? Would a teletype machine be the right path for what I need?
Discussion
You could did it ransom note style; cut and paste letters from magazines and newspapers.
I found a HP b&w laser printer at thrift for like 10 bucks, got some knock off toner from Amazon and it works perfectly. It's never been online since I've owned it so if it is doing anything spooky, it won't be able to send it anywhere and it shouldn't be any info that traces back to my anyways.
But I totally get your frustration with printers, even without all the DRM and tracking BS, printers are consistently the worst piece of modern technology to deal with. A teletype or your 3d printer autopen idea would definitely give any letters you write more character so idk maybe it's worth the effort to get something like that working?
Taping a pen to a 3D printer can actually work.
But if you want something really special, consider laser pyrography. That's where you etch the paper with a laser cutter set to a very low wattage.