Working prototype of open-source printer that promises user-repairability and no subscriptions appears in first video — DRM-free ‘Open Printer’ inkjet still has no announced price, ship date, or print speed, nine months after it first appeared

Nobody loves their printer. Decades of DRM chips, subscription ink, and firmware that bricks non-branded cartridges have made sure of that. But now, Paris-based Open Tools wants to hand the hardware back to the people who paid for it. The start-up has shared its first video of a working prototype and announced that its ‘Open Printer’ has been nominated for two French Design Awards, though the repairable, open-hardware inkjet still carries no announced price, ship date, or print speed, roughly nine months after it first appeared on Crowd Supply.

The machine runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W, takes refillable HP cartridges with no DRM, and prints to cut sheets or paper rolls through an integrated cutter, with its design files available under a Creative Commons license that prohibits commercial reuse.

A Raspberry Pi Zero W runs the print server, while an STMicroelectronics STM32 microcontroller drives a separate cartridge board. Control comes from a 1.47-inch TFT LCD and a jog wheel, with USB-C, USB-A, Bluetooth 4.1, and a 24V DC input. The manufacturer’s recent progress update reported that the prototype can now print in both black and full color.

In terms of printing, that runs through CUPS, the open-source Common Unix Printing System, meaning the hardware works with Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS without any vendor drivers. Open Tools quotes resolution at 600 dpi for black and 1200 dpi for color, with the machine accepting HP 63 cartridges in the U.S., HP 302 in Europe, and HP 803 in Asia. Each is refillable, and black and color run independently rather than blocking printing entirely when one of the tanks empties.

Open Tools licenses its electronics, firmware, mechanical files, and bill of materials under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0, a noncommercial term that allows owners to repair, modify, and share the design, but bars anyone from building and selling the printer.

However, Open Printer only uses HP cartridge bodies with integrated printheads, so its refill freedom will only last for as long as HP keeps selling those cartridges in a form that accepts third-party ink. It’s an odd choice for Open Tools, given that HP is the vendor that’s by far the most associated with cartridge lockouts, having tied cheaper printers to its HP+ and Instant Ink programs before discontinuing those online-only models in 2024 after a backlash.

Wi-Fi and Ethernet are still being integrated, according to the update, alongside work on ink drying, printhead cleaning cycles, paper insertion, and dithering algorithms. The spec sheet lists Wi-Fi 5, which exceeds the 802.11n radio built into the Raspberry Pi Zero W, so networking will probably rely on an added module, but that remains to be seen.

Open Tools has published no funding goal to date, and says the final price depends on production volume, component costs, certification, and remaining engineering, with the figure to be revealed when the crowdfunding campaign opens in the coming months.