[HN Gopher] Cat Printer ___________________________________________________________________ Cat Printer Author : newman314 Score : 208 points Date : 2022-03-25 16:34 UTC (6 hours ago) (HTM) web link (github.com) (TXT) w3m dump (github.com) | ursaspark wrote: | looks like this is a variant of the other "portable mini thermal | printers" available on aliexpresss | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002247175933.html | | possible these are compatible or at least similar enough, many | similar products re-use modules and microcontrollers. | Karliss wrote: | Did anyone else notice that title of word document in the | second product image is "From spyware with love"? | jan_Inkepa wrote: | I bought one of these because it was advertised as usb, but it | being Bluetooth-with-special-(mobile-only!)app-only meant that I | returned it. Nice to see someone jailbroke it :) | ComputerCat wrote: | This is absolutely adorable! | pnemonic wrote: | Lol'd at "Mean Threshold:" and then Grumpy Cat. | WoodenChair wrote: | How would one go about reverse-engineering Bluetooth LE? Is it | looking at packets through WireShark? | anfractuosity wrote: | If there is an android app for the device, you can easily log | the BLE data and load into wireshark | | https://www.mybluetoothreviews.com/what-is-bluetooth-hci-sno... | shows how to capture the packets (you just go to the developer | settings to turn it on) | tunaoftheland wrote: | Not reverse engineering, but I'd used free iOS/macOS apps that | could inspect the traffic content. I also had access to the | spec sheet from the manufacturer ("smart" BLE scale) that had | where in the long payload digits were the weight, body fat, and | water content, etc. Kinda fun and frustrating at the same time. | If you truly wanted to punish yourself, you'd be doing this | while trying to write a React Native app that communicated with | the scale over BLE. :) | ctoth wrote: | Using something like this[0]. | | [0]: https://greatscottgadgets.com/ubertoothone/ | tyingq wrote: | Cheap device that can sniff BLE and send it to Wireshark: | | https://www.adafruit.com/product/2267 ($20) | | Overview on using it as a sniffer: | https://learn.adafruit.com/introducing-adafruit-ble-bluetoot... | | Still a lot of work though, if it's anything like LED signs | I've reverse engineered. Trying to figure out if it's length | encoded payloads or delimited payloads, what obscure checksums | it might use, weird encoding of images, etc. And experimenting | often hangs the device, or changes it's behavior significantly. | RBerenguel wrote: | There's also PPA6 for PeriPage thermal printers, a Python library | using reverse engineering of the Bluetooth messages intercepted | to the device: | https://github.com/eliasweingaertner/peripage-A6-bluetooth | tombert wrote: | I wonder, if I wanted to recreate the Gameboy Camera with an | emulator...has anyone done this with a webcam and a thermal | printer? How hard was it? | RL_Quine wrote: | Yes, emulators support the gameboy printer. In hardware it is | implemented very close to the way the screen is written. | tombert wrote: | That might be fun then; have the emulator write to a thermal | printer, relive a bit of nostalgia I have for the awful | printouts of Pokemon characters I used to have (and might | still have in a box somewhere actually). | _def wrote: | Next step: make a DIY gameboy printer that works with a | real gameboy | iamjackg wrote: | Most emulators are able to export a PNG that you could then | print with something like this project! They don't support | using a webcam with the ROM for the Game Boy Camera though. | | If you buy the real thing, there are lots of projects for | extracting and printing the pictures though. | | This project implements a fake GB Printer that you can then | access via WiFi to download the prints: | https://github.com/zenaro147/NeoGB-Printer | | This project I wrote a while ago allows you to use a printer | very similar to the one in this submission as an actual Game | Boy Printer, connected to an original Game Boy: | https://github.com/iamjackg/esp32-phomemo-gameboy-printer | rosstex wrote: | Well that's the fastest I've purchased anything in a while. | bitwize wrote: | The perfect accessory to go with your bear computer: | https://i.gzn.jp/img/2009/07/13/rilakkuma/rp_001.jpg | ta8903 wrote: | bear computer | gardaani wrote: | The design is as cute as Nabaztag / Karotz: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabaztag | boomboomsubban wrote: | The design is Rilakkuma, and seems to predate Nabaztag. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilakkuma | ellisd wrote: | I'd love to print to a Cat Printer from an iOS device via | AirPrint. I see a ton of AirPlay to CUPS projects on Github, but | I'm not quite sure how CUPS would be configured to simply call | the Cat Printer python script. Any pointers on how to leverage | CUPS or should I simply focus on an AirPrint server that directly | calls Cat Printer? | bo0tzz wrote: | I would take a look at https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Using_Your_O | wn_Backends_to_Print.... Going off a quick glance at the code | examples, I think it might be fairly straightforward to hook | into CUPS. https://github.com/jsmeix/cups-backends also has | some useful looking tools. | sho_hn wrote: | I just bought a Phomemo D30 thermal label printer to label my | electronics component boxes last week, and I was wondering if I | can hack things to send it images from my PC instead of the phone | app it comes with. | | I found this repo, but I don't know if that's compatible with the | D30 (the chassis pictured is of a different printer): | https://github.com/vivier/phomemo-tools | | Someone in Issues asked the same question, but the author wasn't | able to answer for lack of hardware. I guess I need to try and/or | contribute! | | The "Print master" phone app is uploaded under a different brand | name (QUIN LLC), and other brands also seem to sell a D30 | printer. I didn't really do the work of finding out where these | truly come from. Perhaps someone's got a repo up under a | different name. | | I've done 0 comparisons to other models in practice, but FWIW it | does what I wanted it to do very well. All my stuff is | obsessively well-labeled now. In fact, I labeled the printer in a | mad-with-power move ... | https://eikehein.com/stuff/label_printer.png | zwass wrote: | I actually just picked up the exact same printer but hadn't yet | had time to see what OSS libraries were available yet. I had a | previous project where I printed photos on a low res thermal | printer. The images sucked, but people loved it. | conroydave wrote: | great now make it print github issues | afandian wrote: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30803589 | vageli wrote: | I would love to learn more about the reverse engineering process | for a bluetooth device like this. It's too bad there is no link | to a blog or additional documentation in the repo. | szundi wrote: | You can buy a Nordic Semi usb devkit and their software can | sniff. Maybe you can have the Android sw run in a virtual | device and catch api calls | Karliss wrote: | The repo states that they reverse engineered the Android app. | So potentially 0% BLE specific reverse engineering and 100% of | android Java. In some cases reverse engineering java code, | which decompiles relatively well, can be easier than trying to | sniff bluetooth packets, potentially dealing with standard | bluetooth encryption and guessing what the raw bytes do. | bilkow wrote: | You can decompile android apps, which will give mostly the | original Java Classes / functions with anonymized names (class | A, function b, etc...). Framework classes and methods usually | stay pretty much the same. | | See for example https://github.com/robertohuertasm/apk- | decompiler and https://github.com/vaibhavpandeyvpz/apkstudio | (only used the first one but the seconds looks practical) | snvzz wrote: | Open printers of any kind are very welcome. | | I dream on an OSHW laser printer, engineered to be cheap, durable | and easy to repair, with none of the bullshit manufacturers have | been pushing on people for decades. | spoonjim wrote: | I don't know about repair but the $99 Brother laser printer | doesn't require any malware. You can print wirelessly from | Windows/Mac/iOS without installing anything | dylan604 wrote: | I recently became much less enamored with my $99 Brother. | There are certain paper types that it has issues pulling from | the paper tray, but it can use it from the manual feed. | However, the manual feed will not pull it straight and | everything comes out at an angle. | PaulHoule wrote: | If you get a cheap printer you have to buy expensive paper. | | I have the worst time printing in my house because the | relative humidity level is very high in the summer. In the | summer when my hair is curling and curling and curling from | the humidity I have prints curling and trying to come off | the walls. (In the winter I complain that static | electricity is making my hair stand up on end.) | | You can't save money by buying 20 reams of paper on | discount from Staples because the paper will soak up water | and misbehave when you try to use it. | tln wrote: | Interesting... what are you printing? | | I've had my brother laser for just about 10 years now, it's | been awesome, regular paper, 80# cardstock and shipping | labels being no problem from tray or feed. | | Envelopes haven't been great. | dylan604 wrote: | Labels of various types that have specific places to | print on the page is the issue for me. | | There's a test page that can be printed that shows | alignment. The docs say to try something if it comes out | skewed, but if that doesn't work then to take it to a | certified place blah blah. It's clearly out of warranty, | so that's a no go. | | I recently upgraded capabilities as doing more than could | honestly be expected of a $99 printer. It has been well | worth the expense of a higher model printer. | | Outside of that, I still love my $99 Brother B&W laser | with scanner for anything not specialty labels. I look at | it like not getting upset that a 1980s Yugo doesn't get | nearly the same lap times as a 2000s model supercar | lelandfe wrote: | If you keep an eye out, you can snag one for much cheaper on | eBay! The one I used back in college was great, and I picked | it up for around $40. | newman314 wrote: | Fun fact: did you know that you can netcat firmware to a | Brother printer? | | It's both cool and terrifying. | vhold wrote: | See also: https://github.com/nmap/nmap/issues/2237 | denysvitali wrote: | Well, you can literally print a firmware on some printers, | and it will install it. Not sure what's worse | tombert wrote: | I find that giant office printers have given me a lot fewer | headaches than "consumer" printers. I have a fifteen year old | HP that I bought used on Craigslist for like $100, and it just | magically worked upon plugging it into my router. I just use | the generic Postscript driver on Macos. | | I don't think that driver is open source, but I suspect that | you could fairly easily get a generic Postscript printer | working with CUPS. | rhplus wrote: | Did it come with a hard-drive filled with copies of every | corporate document it had ever printed? | kingcharles wrote: | LOL. The amount of shit I've bought off eBay and Craigslist | that hasn't been wiped is significant. And that's without | being totally bogus and actually putting any effort into | data recovery which would surely work on most devices. | | Phones were crazy. So. Much. Homemade. Porn. | tombert wrote: | I've purchased used laptops that weren't wiped, and found | fairly elaborate tax documents and other identifiable | info on there that I could easily have abused. | | I'm not a douchebag, so I just wiped the disk and didn't | do anything with it, but I suspect that there must be an | entire industry of people buying used computers or hard | drives on Ebay and stealing data off there. | ComputerGuru wrote: | I just want to definitively confirm that such an industry | exists. For some time, there were people buying used | phones, recovering sexts, and extorting the sellers | (whose name, email, phone, and address they now had | courtesy of eBay). | nanochad wrote: | gumby wrote: | > Phones were crazy. So. Much. Homemade. Porn. | | Any of it good? | vangelis wrote: | Hopefully they did the right thing and factory reset it. | tombert wrote: | You know, I don't know...it might? I never opened it up | enough to look for a hard drive. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-03-25 23:00 UTC)