I recently found an unopened HP PhotoSmart 6520 in my mother in law’s closet. She had it prepared for when her workhorse gave out. I’ve needed a scanner downstairs and want to figure out if I can safely connect this thing to the network without it bricking itself. You all probably already know HPs reputation and how they do sketchy things like blocking third party ink with firmware updates after the consumer has already purchased the product, or making it so you can’t scan if the ink is out. Right now, all I want to do is scan some docs to linux, likely over USB, maybe over the network if I can get it to work. I don’t want to rule out that my partner may want to print something.
What is the best way to go about this? Can I block the printer from accessing the internet on my router, but still have devices on the local network print to it? Should I? Can I see somewhere if updates are reported as safe and only then unblock the internet access so it can update?
Problem is, as usual, Google is less than helpful. Does anyone know where I can find a list of which printers were affected and which are still affected?
It is called HP. Therefore yes, it is hostile and tied to the vendor’s ink.
Regarding the network, you could block it from the outside world in your firewall/router.
The real question is can you source ink for it?
Preferably 3rd party, but a quick look shows HP ink on sale for $20 at Walmart.
As for the printer itself, never connect it to the internet. If your router has the right features, you should be able to get it on the network without giving it internet. You shouldnt need to update unless whatever version it’s on happened to be broken.
Just set the printer IP manually and drop the default gateway. Without that it can’t reach the internet to do anything. It’s how I setup mine, and it’s the easiest way to handle it, IMO.
What are you going to do if it does have terrible updates, leave it in the box until the end of time? You have it. It’s free. Give it a shot, I’d say. Worst that can happen is you still need a different solution.
Its an HP so the answer is yes it will do sketchy shit… Keep it from being connected to the internet and you might be able to avoid firmware updates but there’s not much you can do about the ink situation.