printers for #EMP -proof #backup

12.12: summary:

. given that the policies of USA-Israel
are inciting such hostilities from
both dictators (China, Russia, Iran)
and muslims (Iran, Syria, ...),
there is a good chance USA will get
at least one EMP bomb in the next 3 years
that will destroy every electronics device
so that electronic backups of information
are not accessable until one can
import and afford another computing device .
. in the meantime,
a printout of all needed information
would come in quite handy .

10.5: web.cyb/printer/kinkos vs printer purchase:
savingadvice:

You won't damage the printer by not using it
but what will happen is
the ink cartridges will dry out.
That doesn't happen with laser cartridges,
only with ink jet.
. I bought a HP 1006 for $59 through Amazon.
I bought a replacement cartridge for $22 delivered .
. Staples and Office Depot print for $.09/page .

kinkos user:

. if you have graphics for kinkos to print,
they should all be in a pdf,
so that there are no surprises .

$90 HL2230 buyer

After noticing that the ink jet colors
degrade if you don't use the printer often,
I decided to buy a laser printer.
. toner cartridge is 1200 pages .
 You can buy a high yield cartridge (2,800 pages) $44
 or a drum unit which will do 12,000 pages
. unit pulls quite a bit of power upon warm-up.

10.5: web.cyb/laser printers:

cnet:
 $49 can yield approximately 1,500 pages,
for an acceptable 3.3 cents per page.
. to use a printer directly from chromebook

it needs to be wifi or ethernet connected;
but, if you can find one without wifi,
it might be simpler and more reliable .

HL-2240D -- has 2-sided printing
Garrett's review:

. bought a Brother HL-2270DW less than 30 days ago.
Within 2 days I replaced the starter cartridge
with a new TN-420 thinking I would
hold the starter cartridge in reserve.
In less than 2 or 3 hundred pages
the toner light started flashing
and the printer refused to print.
I did not believe that the cartridge could
possibly be out of toner,
so I searched the web and found the following instructions 
to reset the out of toner condition:
===================
Open the front cover and leave open;
Turn the printer off.
Hold the 'go' button while
turning the printer on.
All panel lights should be on.
Release the 'go' button
Press the 'go' button 2 times.
wait for All panel lights to be on.
Press the 'go' button 5 times.
The toner light should be off.
(error may be flashing)
The paper light should be on or flashing.
- Close cover.
The ready light should be the only light on.
====================
The printer functioned fine after the reset.
====================
ONE YEAR LATER April 16, 2013
So I have had this printer for one year now
and I must say, that except for the above problem,
it has functioned flawlessly.
In retrospect it has proved to be
very cost effective and efficient.

12.11: web:

HL-2270DW got PC Mag Editors' Choice award 2011
buy online  buy local at officedepot
. it needs a windows or mac connection
in order to share with chromebook .
-- for an xp connection you need a download .
. it works with linux:
. brother.com's linux faq .

what B&W Brother goes with chromebook ?

HL-5450DN, HL-5470DW, HL-5470DWT,
HL-6180DW, HL-6180DWT

HL-5450DN is a $200 chromebook printer:
$189 at newegg;
$185 at amazon .
problems:

I have determined that the printer is
a) causing a ground fault or
b) causing an arc fault.
. it blows a fuse every time
when the outlet is AFCI and GFCI protected .
. if I used the Kill A Watt meter
it showed 850 watts,
but then the circuit didn't blow.
[also having it on a surge protector will fix it .]

10.23: news.cyb/qubes/NetworkPrinter:
Where to configure printers and install drivers
for the Qubes OS?

One would normally want to configure a printer
in a template VM, rather than in particular AppVMs.
This is because all the global settings made to AppVMs
 (those stored in its /etc, as well as binaries installed in /usr)
would be discarded upon AppVM shutdown.
When printer is added and configured in a template VM,
then all the AppVMs based on this template
should automatically be able to use it
(without the need for the template VM to be running,
of course).
Alternatively one can add a printer in a standalone VM,
but this would limit the printer usage for this particular VM.
Security considerations for network printers and drivers:
Some printers require 3rd party drivers,
typically downloadable from the vendor's website.
Such drivers are typically distributed in a form of
ready to install RPM packages. However,
they are often unsigned, and additionally
the downloads are available via HTTP connections only.
As a result, installation of such 3rd party RPMs
in a default template VM exposes a risk of
 compromise of this template VM,
which, in turn, leads automatically to compromise of
all the AppVMs based on the template.
 (Again, it's not buggy or malicious drivers that we fear here,
but rather malicious installation scripts for those drivers).
In order to mitigate this risk, one might consider creating
a custom template (i.e. clone the original template)
and then install the 3rd party, unverified drivers there.
Such template might then be made the default template
for Disposable VM creation,
which should allow one to print any document
by right-clicking on it, choosing "Open in Disposable VM"
 and print from there.
This would allow [one] to print documents from
more trusted AppVMs (based on a trusted default template,
that is not poisoned by 3rd party printer drivers).
However, one should be aware that
most (all?) network printing protocols are
insecure, unencrypted protocols.
This means, that an attacker who is able to
sniff the lock network, or who is controlling the
 (normally untrusted) Qubes NetVM,
will likely be able to see the documents being printed.
This is a limitation of today's printers and printing protocols,
something that cannot be solved by Qubes or any other OS.
Additionally,
the printer drivers as well as CUPS application itself,
might be buggy and might get exploited
when talking to a compromised printer
(or by an attacker who controls the local network,
or the default NetVM).
Consider not using printing from your
more trusted AppVMs for this reason.

11.11: web.aq.cyb/printers/quality issues are from malware:
. what about printing from chromebook?
you can do it with google's cloud print
but you need a network-ready laser printers?
from the amazon reviews I'm seeing
good printers are acting up just like the cd burners
because they are being attacked by malware .

18: pos.cyb/printer/beware returned items:
. be careful about venders reselling returns,
because their machines could be cranky from
a malware infection .
. if it likely needs to be returned,
it might be best to buy locally .

17: web.cyb/printer/chrome-ready is not necessary:
. I was starting to get back into a search for
a network-able laser printer
-- one that could use google's cloud print;
but, now I'm realizing:
I still have xp in the dell;
I don't need to limit my choices to
chrome-ready network printers .
pos: xp fed with g'drive:
. the sd cards are all cooked,
but if I can trust xp with g'drive network access
and if my usb keyboard doesn't have malware,
then I can print any files that are mine (not pdf's)
and nothing bad will happen to the printer .

17: web.cyb/printer/targeting a qubes box:

. I wonder why qubes needed a network printer ?
what is the problem with usb?
(I'm eyeing this usb model)
. I vaguely recall some people had usb wifi,
so that turned the whole usb chain into an untrusted domain .

qubes-devel forum 2011:
On 02.11.2011 17:07, Franz wrote:

> Trying to print with my USB printer, with lsusb
I see that the print is present in Dom0
[but] not in the user VM.
> Also in the template fedora VM
there is something for printing,
but I am only able to arrive at "Enter device URI'
>
> To connect a printer to a particular virtual machine,
there are 2 ways:
> 2.temporarily adding a USB device to a running Xen HVM Guest
yes with:
xl pci-attach vm-name pci-device
> 1. adding a new USB device to DomainU configuration file
( where is the DomainU configuration file?
Config file is regenerated at each VM start.
You can include PCI devices in it using qvm-pci tool
) .
PVUSB in Xen currently is far from stable state...
so,
You cannot assign a single USB device to a VM
 -- you can only assign
the *whole* USB controller to a USB.
So, one solution is to create a UsbVM,
assign one or more USB controllers there,
and print from there.
Much better option would be to get
a network printer or use a print servers
http://qubes-os.org/trac/wiki/NetworkPrinter
(there are so many devices these days,
usually all the simple NASes,
that offer USB port
where one can connect a printer and share it via IP.

12.3: news.cyb/net.amazon
/integrated with google cloud print:
. when I got a printable from amazon.com
while in chrome os, there is a print button
and when it says it will be downloading a pdf
it's going on your g'drive,
unless you go to the bottom of the page
and select another cloud printer
if you select the fedex printer
it says:

Your document, "Amazon.com - Returns Center",
is available for printing for up to 10 days.
RETRIEVAL CODE
AAEB4AB
Use this code to print out your document
at any FedEx Office location. [here's near me:]
 FedEx Office Print & Ship Center 0.92 mi
5480 E Broadway Blvd  & craycroft
Tucson, AZ 85711(520) 322-5955
Last pickup: 5:30 PM 6:00 PM
Today's Hours: 6:00 AM - 11:59 PM

here is the g'cloud printer mgt console:
https://www.google.com/cloudprint/?lid=googlecloudpage_mobilegooglecloud_googlesite#jobs
. that console shows you have 2 printing locations
g'drive and fedex .
. if you didn't select fedex, the default location is your g'drive .

fedex.com/us/office/cloud-printing

Print to FedEx Office from
Google Cloud Print enabled apps
like Gmail and Google Docs
on your smartphone or tablet, or the
Chrome web browser for
Mac, Windows, Linux, and Chrome devices.

co.cyb/net.fedex/survey:
. their website has potential being integrated with
google cloud print
but the start page should give cost per page .