Charity Shop Find: 2000s SAMSUNG Printer
13/09/24
A few months ago - probably just after christmas time - I was doing my usual digging around charity shops for old electronics routine, when I stumbled across a 2006 Samsung SPP-2020 Digital Photo Printer for just £10. As a result of my strong impulse and poor ability to responsibly spend money, I bought it. I did absolutely zero research into the model, what I needed to use it, what it was compatible with, etc. I just got it. So it was no surprise once I got back to my flat and did some searching, I discovered that the photo paper and cartridges were proprietary, unincluded, and also hard to come by!
Okay, I say that but they are still floating about... seemingly only on Ali-Express from third-party manufacturers. That's great but at the time I didn't feel like spending £9 on something which would take weeks to arrive and I wasn't even close to certain would work. Any other printer accessory sites I could find had them listed as just "discontinued". As a result I put the printer away indefinitely.
Fast-forward to now. I was once again doing the classic job of roaming around shops looking at the goodies they have lying about, when from across the store I spotted a familiar looking box. Took a closer look and to my great surprise, it was a complete box of 40 sheets of photo paper and a ribbon catridge from Samsung - for only 50p. I looked under the box and discovered it was fully compatible with the model I had. I was a little starstruck by my luck. I have no clue how popular these things were when they were first released, especially in the mildly-isolated coastal town I found it in. I like to assume they're from the same person.
Now that I knew I had paper which worked and a catridge which would be compatible, I finally had a reason to open up the box. Admittedly I hadn't done this beforehand, as I had already figured out before even needing to that I couldn't use it anyway. As a result I was trying not to set myself up for disappointment while unboxing. Though I was quite pleasantly surprised to find not only a full-set, but one in remarkably good condition at that - even the manuals and warranty documents. The only thing that was missing was the paper and cartridge which I presume came with the original product. If I didn't know otherwise (and if the box wasn't a little beaten up) you could have fully convinced me this was brand-new and unopened.
A quick read of the manual showed me that for this specific model, the methods of interface were through either:
- Desktop Computer via USB 2.0 Type B
- Digital Camera via USB and PictBridge
- Cellphone via BlueTooth
I figured since my Digital Camera was also from Samsung and was made closer to the printer's time than to the current day, it would make sense for it to function properly. I hooked it up via USB and interestingly enough it prompted me to send photos to the printer.
Unfortunately the printer would do no more than a bit of whirring for about a minute before doing nothing other than maybe spitting out a blank sheet. Uh Oh. It wasn't throwing any obvious data errors at me which suggested it was more likely a mechanical issue. It also didn't help that the only real status output from the printer other than the paper itself was a blinking light.
I crossed my fingers and hoped it was a data issue and that my camera was just absolutely horrible. I didn't have any Type B cables lying around so I ran out to grab one from another charity shop. I hooked everything up and the computer managed to recognise the printer, albiet with no driver support.
No worries I thought - this is why they give you the little CD-ROM with the drivers on it! I wasn't feeling hopeful about the fact the newest version of Windows on the disc label was XP, but I figured it was worth a try.
Woops. It didn't want to install "SPP-2020 Series Driver". It was happy enough installing "PhotoThru" which seems to just be another basic photo printing tool - as well as a product of it's time.
Alright, i'll just use the cheaty method. I googled "SPP-2020 Windows 10 Driver" and to no surprise I was taken to a generic driver download website and found just what I needed. The installer looked similar enough, the difference being it actually worked this time.
It asked me if I wanted to print a test image. Okay, why not...
It worked! It was slower than I expected, but at the same time I don't know why I was expecting more from a cheap home photo printer from 2006. It was a good oppurtunity to use the film developments I recently had done as test subjects - they could look worse?
I'm pretty happy with this overall. Whole set ended up costing only £14. At the time of release a pack of 120 sheets like the one I found was as expensive as £38 - a little steeper than the £2.50 I got mine for. I can't find any reliable information about the release value of the printer itself, but they're going on eBay for around £40-£60, so I reckon this was quite the steal.
Apparently the SPP-2040 featured an LCD screen as well as memory card input. Probably would've made the whole troubleshooting the camera thing 10x easier. That being said I don't feel like digging around for the "better" model.
UPDATE 14/09: To make matters even better, I went on another charity shop run today and found ANOTHER box of paper, this time with 120 SHEETS, 3 times what I got with the other one. This almost beats FreePrints.