Digital BW, The Print

I am not wining. I have used pro inkjet printers and color management  
for 7 years now and have been in the digital imaging world since  
Photoshop v2.5. I know what amazing things they are and because of  
that, I can see where they could be much better.

I am a fine art print-maker. I have design ideas and wants for  
printers, but in no way do I have the skill to flesh it all out  
(alone) in a practical manner. I may be able to take a printer apart  
and put it back together again, but I am sure as hell not a mechanical  
engineer.

So I am contributing ideas and thoughts on this forum and people are  
giving good feedback. Fleshing out a printer design requires at least  
10 people with very good knowledge of electronics, piezo/electrical  
systems, 3d economy of space, and modular reconfigurable design as  
well as a unique knowledge of the needs and desire of the pro printing  
world.

It would require intense discussion, requests for comment periods, and  
revisions. But yeah, I think that would be a start, eh?

In regards to an entrepreneur snapping up the ideas and patenting  
them, that is where open-source licenses come in. It means, anybody  
who uses the tech must publish their modifications and also can't  
create patents over the tech as published. If they modify the tech in  
such a way as to create a totally new creation, then maybe a patent is  
legit. Apple is an example of that. They started with the Mach kernel,  
but modified it internally to the point where it was totally original.

In regards to manufacturing, I think creating printers out of existing  
parts from multiple manufacturers is the way to go. There are many  
examples of this working successfully on a small-scale especially in  
the camera world, bike world, etc. That is where the profit can lie  
especially with the people who really love doing that kind of work.

Putting all your eggs in the hands of one manufacturer is certain  
death for open-source hardware.

Walker


On Apr 15, 2009, at 7:20 AM, Steve Kale wrote:

>
>
> True. But go ahead and design it - and cost it. Contact a potential
> manufacturer.
>
> Too often people just whine about what someone else
> isn't doing without the vaguest idea of what it would cost to bring
> their wants to market in a manner that makes economic sense to the
> producer and marketer (even ex the design cost). If you really think
> there's an opportunity, why not put some of the below into practice?
>
> On 15 Apr 2009, at 10:49, Ernst Dinkla wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Steve Kale schreef:
> >
> > > The thrill of and competition for
> > > profit (be it monetary or the reduction of want in other forms)
> > drives
> > > most innovation. If everyone is so dissatisfied with what's on
> > offer,
> > > pull out your pencils, design, produce and sell - economically - a
> > > better product.
> >
> > There's another approach somewhere in between. Bring your ideas
> > forward
> > on the internet, discuss them, even go to the stage of design and  
> let
> > others take the risk of fabricating and marketing the product. If  
> good
> > it will be picked up by an entrepreneur soon. It will be patented by
> > him
> > and you will not earn a penny when it becomes a success but on the
> > other
> > hand it doesn't cost a fortune when it fails. Mankind will benefit  
> in
> > more than one way. It requires some altruism, spare time and a not  
> too
> > big ego. There's a trail of software and hardware solutions left
> > after some
> > threads on forums like this. Open source avant la lettre.
> >
> > --
> > Met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
> >
> > New: Dinkla Canvas Wrap Actions
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> 

Walker Blackwell
802.735.0621
www.walkerblackwell.com
aim: greendirtblues





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