The appliance that elicits anger and frustrated at it’s mere sight. The treacherous device that never worked right.

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.worksMEnglish
    0·
    1 个月前

    Printers. There is no excuse for (consumer) printers to be as shitty as they are.

    There are reasons, but none of them are excuses: If patent hell wasn’t a main obstacle put in place by the large printer manufacturers, I am sure open source hardware alternative would’ve forced industry improvements ages ago.

    • Hawke@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      Don’t worry, commercial printers are equally bad but in a different way.

      Every vendor feels the need to inject their own special secret sauce into the drivers instead of making a tool that Just Works.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        OS people need to make the drivers. Once.

        The driver is only “I bake you a PDF, and you will eat it and you will like it”

      • Wiz@midwest.social
        0·
        1 个月前

        Brother printers to the rescue. I think they are still untainted by crap bloatware and just do the thing.

      • BakerBagel@midwest.social
        0·
        1 个月前

        Yeah, there is no true rage like trying to get a Xante to work properly. “YOU HAD NO PROBLEMS 2 HOURS AGO WHEN I FED YOU 2,000 #10 ENVELOPES! WHY WON’T YOU PRINT THIS LETTERHEAD!”

        Or my Canon 8000 that has decided it doesn’t want to print double sided on satin paper anymore. Or that is will staple a booklet, but only if i have the paper size down as 12x9 portrait instead of 9x12 landscape.

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      For me, it’s specifically the HP printer my wife has. It has one of those subscription models where you pay per page (or per some unit, I forget) and you can’t use it without an account and an internet connection.

      I bought a Brother that offers but does not mandate a subscription and tried to get her to use it, but she is convinced the awful disgusting subscription model is easier.

      Every time I see it it makes me a little sad and a little mad, but I had her put it on my network that has guest isolation, so it can’t touch or spy on any of my other devices and only impacts her.

      (My feelings about it aren’t quite that strong in reality, but this is a thread about appliance beef. If her printer weren’t isolated, I might actually feel pretty strongly about it.)

    • Angry_Autist (he/him)@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      even enterprise grade printers are shitty

      And there is a very good reason: Good Mechanical engineers are epxensive, so instead they hire crappy mechanical engineers

    • DomeGuy@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      US parents only last for 20 years. Technically, nothing is stopping you from making a part-for-part copy of a good laser printer from 2005 and selling it the same way some companies do replacement toner.

      It’s just that making a cheap and reliable appliance is HARD if there are dozens of distinct parts that all have to move together. Heck, id expect a near-clone of a Cuisinart stand mixer before I’d expect a printer.

      (And, even then, i doubt it’d be much cheaper than just buying one used.)

      • NABDad@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        US parents only last for 20 years.

        Jeez, I’m way past my warranty. Almost at 27 years.

    • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 个月前

      Stop buying shitty ink jet printers and get a laser printer. Pretty sure the Brother MFC my dad purchased a decade ago will outlive him.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        I do think that most people would be happier with lasers, especially on the “clogged nozzle and requires regular use” front (though now there are also lasers that also do the “razor and blades” sales model, with a cheap printer and more-expensive toner).

        However, there are legitimately some people who do need inkjets for one reason or another.

        • Lasers, and especially inexpensive lasers where the manufacturer wants to shave down power supply costs, have a brief period of very high electrical draw when they are powered on. This is why you’ll typically see UPSes with warnings saying “don’t plug laser printers into this device”. This probably isn’t more than a minor irritation for most people, but I bet that it can overwhelm small inverters; there are probably people living full-time in RVs or something for whom this a problem.

        • Even relatively-inexpensive inkjet printers today can produce what I’d call pretty impressive photograph prints if paired with fancy photo paper. Color lasers — and I’ve never bothered to even get a color laser — do not print photos that look remotely as nice as inkjets do. I don’t print photos — I have screens that can display photos perfectly well — and if I really wanted to do so, I’d go to one of the many stores around that do have the ability to do really fancy photo prints. But if someone were into that, they can’t really substitute a laser printer or most other types of printers for that. Maybe dye-sublimation printers, if those are still a thing. kagis Appears so.

    • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
      0·
      1 个月前

      Inkjet printers clogging and requiring ink refills aside, I don’t think I’ve ever been unhappy with (2D) printers. I’ve used…continuous-feed dot-matrix printers, a thermal wax printer, laser printers, a text-only line printer, and a continuous-feed plotter. They all worked pretty well.

      And honestly, I’m still kind of impressed at what inkjet printers can turn out on photo paper, even if I wouldn’t buy one for my own uses.

      I had one very elderly Apple laser printer that I picked up once that someone was throwing out. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, laser printers were wonder printers that business users might have, but few home users mostly didn’t have in their price range — fast output, sharp text, but expensive; always wanted one, but I wasn’t going to buy one. It didn’t have much memory, so there were some limitations on the complexity of what it could print. I rigged up the lpd on my computer to do all the rendering of vector Postscript images and convert it into a fax-compressed raster image and hand it off to the printer, so aside from taking a while to transfer the resulting image to the printer, it could pretty much handle anything. It served for something like ten years, with the remainder of the original toner cartridge lasting something like five of that, and I only tossed it because I wanted a higher-resolution printer, not because it had any problems functioning. I could probably still be using that thing. Kinda have some warm fuzzies remembering that ancient thing still soldiering on.

    • Pacrat173@lemmy.ml
      0·
      1 个月前

      I got a Brother printer. I hate it less than my HP and Cannon ones I used to use but it’s still a printer. A sin which cannot be redeemed

      • ouRKaoS@lemmy.today
        0·
        1 个月前

        I’d enjoy my Epson Eco tank printer more if it wasn’t trying to constantly update firmware, apps, drivers, etc.

        I’m not setting up faxing. Stop asking.

      • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        I have a black and white samsung printer that is like a decade old with the only maintenance being adding the powdered ink and replacing the roller thingy a couple of times. Always works, never had an issue, printed thousands of pages over time in spurts of hundreds at a time and even not printing for like two years.

        On the opposite end inkjet printers are the fucking worst computer accessory I’ve ever dealt with. They have always been a shitshow even before they started the ink pricing shenanigans because they are finicky and unreliable to start with.

        • Botzo@lemmy.world
          0·
          1 个月前

          Nearly same here, but mine is from 2010 and all I’ve ever done is replace the original starter cartridge of toner with a generic one once, and that was 12ish years ago and 2 cross-country moves. I’ve maybe printed a thousand pages ever.

        • GingaNinga@lemmy.world
          0·
          1 个月前

          mine has said that all the ink is critically low and I’ve just ignored it for the past few months and it just keeps going.

  • nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    1 个月前

    I’m about to smash my goddamn phone. i can buy the best phone with all of my money and it still sucks ass

    • wowwoweowza@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      I think we are asking too much of phones. I’m not even certain we are in charge of the wanting any more… they dangle… we salivate.

      No… I haven’t gone back to flip phone yet but I’m sure tempted.

      • nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        I’m asking it to do all the computer things it’s currently doing but to be reliable at doing them because that’s what I use it for now and I’m addicted

        • wowwoweowza@lemmy.world
          0·
          1 个月前

          Sames. My employers subscribed to the mobile version of the app we were all working with forever and it was like have strings cut. So… yeah… good to be able to catch up at the beach.

  • zxqwas@lemmy.world
    0·
    1 个月前

    Microwaves are allowed one proud “ding” or three “beep” before they are on my hate-list.

    • PoorYorick@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      My microwave has an un-interuptable 6 shrill beeps, that then repeat if the door is not opened in 10 seconds. There is no mute option, and it can be heard everywhere in the house. I have seriously considered just ripping the speaker out of it. It is, without a doubt, the appliance I hate most in my house.

      • einlander@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 个月前

        Open the door to your microwave and see if it has instructions for written on its body. Mine has a secondary menu where you can turn it off.

        • PoorYorick@lemmy.world
          0·
          1 个月前

          Checked there and searched online for any demo modes/ testing codes that would allow me to mute it. Evidently, a lot of folks online absolutely hate my microwave as well, because no one can mute it. That said, the community of microwave haters has provided me with instructions to rip out the speaker if I choose to silence the wailing banshee for good.

          • felixwhynot@lemmy.world
            0·
            1 个月前

            One thing you can do if you’re not fully prepared to remove the speaker is to cover it with several layers of tape. It will muffle the sound and is somewhat reversible

          • proudblond@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            1 个月前

            Mine is not nearly as bad as yours, but it is loud and doesn’t stop beeping when you open the door, just continues until its preprogrammed three loud beeps are over. I muted it when my kids were babies and have never looked back. I think a lot of people worry about muting their microwave because they think they won’t hear when it’s done or something. I’m here to tell you that you won’t miss it. Go forth and rip that speaker out with no regrets.

      • Thunderbird4@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 个月前

        Sounds like mine. Shrill beeps that can’t be cancelled, muted, or interrupted, although I think mine is 30 seconds before the reminder beeps.

        My favorite part, though? It beeps when you open the door. Like, just as a sound effect. I, the user, your god and your master, am the one who opened your door. There is no status to notify me of, there is no input to confirm. It’s just useless racket that can’t be eliminated without hardware modification.

      • frank@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        1 个月前

        I moved from the US to Europe and I keep joking that the largest QoL upgrade has been my unbelievably dumb microwave. It has a power knob, a timer knob that is spring wound, and when it hits 0 it physically hits a bell like an older toaster.

        I fucking love it. It was like 20€

          • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
            0·
            1 个月前

            Newer ones have way too many digital buttons and a loud repeating beep when finished. Even newer ones, probably Bluetooth or something

            • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
              0·
              1 个月前

              https://homemicrowave.com/microwave-with-alexa/

              Want to set up your microwave with Alexa for plenty of cool tricks, but didn’t know how to pick the best microwave that works with Alexa?

              Having an Alexa compatible microwave in your kitchen, you can control the microwave and adjust the cooking setting simply via Alexa’s voice control feature.

              Speaking for myself, I don’t really want Internet dependency, much less a microphone sending data to it on my appliances.

    • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      I have a similar short fuse for microwaves but for the +30 seconds button. If the microwave doesn’t have this it should get tossed in the nearest dumpster. The +30 seconds button is the pinnacle of human achievement.

    • JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      Microwaves are the penultimate Norman Object (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things). They could have a standardized UI (cue up obligatory XKCD “Standards”). Instead, every manufacturer does it differently and usually in obscure, unintuitive fashion, often differently from the same manufacturer. Do you enter the time or power setting first? Oh wait, pressing a number launches it straight into running. That part that looks like a door handle is not how one actually opens the door; press the door button first. So. Much. Hate.

      • Cid Vicious@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        You know, the worst part is, they intentionally make the interface shittier on the cheap ones. I’m very convinced of this.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        0·
        1 个月前

        Yeah, I can see what you mean. Generally, they’re similar-enough, at least in basic functionality, that I don’t have an issue using someone else’s microwave though. The advanced functionality can vary a lot.

        What does kind of annoy me is that they’re basically the one device — VCRs used to be the stereotypical holders of this position — that has a clock, but also is a device price-sensitive enough to both:

        • Lack an internal battery to keep the clock powered when power is lost.

        • Not have a network link, cell link — not that I really want those — or radio time signal receiver to automatically set the clock.

        The result is that every microwave I see seems to wind up showing an unset clock.

        • usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca
          0·
          1 个月前

          I get irrationally upset over microwaves that don’t let you use the timer and cook functions simultaneously

          • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
            0·
            1 个月前

            looks puzzled

            Hmm. What are you doing with that? Like, you want to be cooking for a certain amount of time, then after the cooking completes, have a timer trigger to start a second cooking period?

            • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
              0·
              1 个月前

              More like, I need to heat this frozen thing for 4 minutes. Also while that’s going on, I want to set a timer for my pasta which is cooking on the stove for 6 minutes to remind me to check it.

              • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
                0·
                1 个月前

                Oh, so this is like, a timer for an alarm rather than to control the microwave’s operation. Gotcha.

              • usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca
                0·
                1 个月前

                Exactly. I have a batch of cupcakes in the oven so the timer is set for 12 mins, but I also want to melt some chocolate for the ganache while that’s going.

                Luckily, my microwave supports doing both, but I’ve cooked at other people’s houses and their microwaves are essentially bricked while the timer counts down which is so crazy to me it’s like they’ve made this appliance worse on purpose.

        • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
          0·
          1 个月前

          Didn’t they somehow send time info down the power line in some places? Or maybe I’m just misremembering this?

          • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
            0·
            1 个月前

            I can’t think of anything that quite fits that off-the-cuff, at least not in the US. A quick search doesn’t turn anything up. I can think of some related things:

            • The AC signal is used as a clock in a number of devices. This isn’t a “clock” in the common-language sense of the word, but in the electrical engineering sense – it provides a reliable frequency over the long run. Some (common-language) clocks and timers have used this to keep them running at a steady pace, but it’s not really a time signal, wouldn’t help restore an on-device clock setting after power loss.

            • X10 is a low-speed networking protocol that runs over local power circuits for home automation. I’m sure that at some point, someone has made some product that permits setting a clock with it. The limitation is that your signal doesn’t span across household circuits, which I suspect one would want for a “whole house time signal”.

            • There have been powerline-based ISPs, where the power company shovels data over the line using high-frequency data. In theory, you could use one of various Internet time protocols over that. I think that that was kind of a dead end, technology-wise — there’s just not that much data that you can push over an unshielded, non-twisted-pair, metal power line.

            • I would not be surprised if there’s some data protocol that power companies use to talk to smart meters that includes pushing a time signal out specifically for them – they do push and pull data over that – though I don’t think that that’s accessible to other devices.

            That being said, could be some company out there that did that locally. Not technically impossible.

    • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      My microwave thinks it’s a regular oven and keeps beeping if you don’t open the door. It doesn’t seem to understand it has stopped on its own and can shut the fuck up now.

    • fantine9@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      1 个月前

      My partner took our microwave (an obnoxious thing I bought at a charity shop for $15) apart and wrapped the dinger-thing in a thick rubber band to muffle it, then put it all back together. It sounds so much more polite now, and he didn’t have to cut any wires or otherwise fuss with the basic function.

    • cattywampas@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      1 个月前

      I want to open up my microwave and rip out whatever device makes the beep. Who has ever forgotten they have food in the microwave? I was hungry 3 minutes ago, I haven’t forgotten, and it’s not going to burn.

      • CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 个月前

        My parents used to have an old Amana Radarange. Built like a tank, wood paneling and chrome, warm incandescent lighting…I miss it. It didn’t have a beep or a bell or anything. Once it was done it would just…turn off.

    • ngdev@lemm.ee
      0·
      1 个月前

      i muted my microwave, almost every microwave i’ve used has been mutable

    • Oaksey@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 个月前

      And any remaining time on the cooking timer should automatically clear after say 10 minutes. Too many people that love leaving a few seconds remaining when retrieving their food. Then the remaining time stays there forever until someone comes along and clears it.

  • Mesophar@pawb.socialEnglish
    0·
    1 个月前

    The microwave, because my roommates insist on having a model that beeps every 30 seconds after it finishes cooking so you don’t forget you had food in there. They still forget, though. It just gets on my nerves while I try to wash some dishes while waiting for the microwave to finish, or if I’m using it as part of prepping while cooking.

  • LousyCornMuffins@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 个月前

    Both Costco and Sam’s club make these ice cream makers in the wooden buckets. The motors have flimsy PET plastic gears. I get it. Strip out a replaceable gear rather than burn out the wires in a motor, easy easier repair, right? Wrong, I have a nearly identical ice cream maker that’s 60 years old, the motor still works great. Metal gears, just gotta oil and maintain it regularly because it gets near salt water and gets splashed occasionally over the decades. The new ones strip out the damn gears after two batches of ice cream.

    My solution ended up being to get an ice cream maker with built in refrigerant, but then I needed to get it recharged and that’ll cost a much as the machine itself. Thanks a ton, breville. I’m saving up for a professional machine now.