@bwDraco Would you happen to know if there exists any open source printer hardware?
@forest Believe it or not, there are hidden regulatory problems here.
Among other things is the need for anti-counterfeiting technology. All major printer manufacturers implement some form of currency detection. The specifics of how these detection mechanisms work are, to a large extent, proprietary and even classified (it goes beyond the EURion constellation).
Furthermore, if we're talking about color laser printers, there's the yellow-dot problem.
Yes, it would be a win for privacy, but manufacturing a printer without these counterfeit deterrence technologies could lead to criminal liability.
An open-source solution would not be able to implement this without a binary blob.
Much of this is secret law. It's stuff that governments have basically gagged printer manufacturers about. Printer manufacturers can't even disclose the existence of these technologies beyond a passing mention.
Why "criminal liability"? Because somebody manufacturing a printer without these technologies could be considered to be aiding and abetting counterfeiting.
(IANAL and I only speak for myself, but these are very real problems)
This goes way beyond patents or technical feasibility.
