Getting my daily news from a dot matrix printer (aschmelyun.com)
from captainkangaroo@discuss.tchncs.de to technology@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 04:36
https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/23106951

#technology

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essteeyou@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 04:54 next collapse

I was interested until I hit this sentence:

I use PHP as my language of choice in a day-to-day basis, and this is no exception.

SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de on 05 Oct 2024 05:48 collapse

Why?

Xyre@lemmus.org on 05 Oct 2024 15:11 collapse

Likely because it’s $current_year and there are better choices available.

geekwithsoul@lemm.ee on 05 Oct 2024 05:04 next collapse

So, a newspaper with a lot of extra steps? I understand the gee whizness of getting this all to work but not really sure there’s a solid “why” to this.

umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml on 05 Oct 2024 05:07 next collapse

Because it is fun to him?

geekwithsoul@lemm.ee on 05 Oct 2024 05:12 collapse

Maybe? But in the article he was talking about his priority being that he wanted to disconnect from his phone but still wanted news. Just seems there’s been a solution for that for a few centuries now. His solution seemed to me at least to be a lemon that wasn’t worth the squeeze as it were.

jqubed@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 05:42 next collapse

I’m assuming they still print newspapers, but I can’t remember when I last saw our local paper for sale at a store. The vending machines are long gone.

[deleted] on 05 Oct 2024 06:01 collapse

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KoboldCoterie@pawb.social on 05 Oct 2024 06:58 collapse

I’d actually be interested to see a cost breakdown between this and just buying a newspaper subscription; it looks like he spent about $100 on materials, plus then there’s the ongoing costs of electricity (negligible), printer ribbons, and paper. Ribbons appear to be about $1 / ea if you buy in bulk, and I don’t recall how much printing you get out of a single ribbon, but let’s assume a 24 pack is enough to last you a year. Paper seems to be about $30 / 1000 sheets, so assuming he sticks to the single-page-per-day format, that’ll last almost 3 years.

So up front costs, $100 Ongoing costs, $35 / year, roughly.

Newspaper subscription is about $150 / year, so this’ll actually be cost effective if he keeps it up. Of course, you’re getting a lot less news than you would from a newspaper subscription, so the relative value is questionable there.

[deleted] on 05 Oct 2024 09:29 collapse

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Quik@infosec.pub on 05 Oct 2024 08:11 next collapse

Yeah, but I don’t know whether you’ve recently taken a look in one of the local newspapers— being able to select topics you want to read about may very well be worth the extra effort (also, fun of course)

SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca on 05 Oct 2024 14:22 collapse

You aren’t actually forced to read every article in a newspaper. Though you will have to scan over the headlines, so you will have a small awareness of things happening in the world. But is that a bad thing?

Abnorc@lemm.ee on 05 Oct 2024 18:46 collapse

There are pictures and ads in a newspaper. This is much more minimalistic.

cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de on 05 Oct 2024 05:29 next collapse

I can’t stand the screeching of a dot matrix printer. The correct way to print the news is with a teletype.

SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 09:04 next collapse

Perhaps a daisy wheel printer is an acceptable middle ground

T156@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 09:15 collapse

What about the Selectric Typing-ball?

leisesprecher@feddit.org on 05 Oct 2024 09:52 collapse

youtu.be/sSiVYgot9SI

Not even two weeks ago.

Hotspur@lemmy.ml on 05 Oct 2024 05:36 next collapse

Man, I wonder if it’s challenging to source a steady supply of paper for that thing…

jqubed@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 05:40 next collapse

And ink?

db2@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 06:09 next collapse

*ribbons

Hotspur@lemmy.ml on 05 Oct 2024 18:20 collapse

Haha yeah also that.

HejMedDig@feddit.dk on 05 Oct 2024 11:09 collapse

Apparently not… Is it somehow still widely used. It’s the most likely paper to give you paper cuts though physicsworld.com/…/researchers-cut-to-the-chase-o…

atrielienz@lemmy.world on 05 Oct 2024 13:52 next collapse

Yeah. Airlines still use it for log books and reports.

Hotspur@lemmy.ml on 05 Oct 2024 18:20 collapse

Wild would never have guessed. Maybe because it’s possible for it to print as a continuous sheet, and I guess it comes in big rolls, etc.

zante@lemmy.wtf on 05 Oct 2024 08:02 collapse

This is the future we were promised