I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

regards
--
Tim Lamb

Tim Lamb wrote:
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

Dot matrix is a bit old hat these days, I don't know why you would want
one of those!
But the cheap HP mono lasers for as you say around 70 quid are good for
the price and work well in my experience.
If you want something a bit more fancy, if you double the budget you can
get a networked colour HP CP1515n laser printer for around £150...

Ben

Tim Lamb wrote:
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

regards

Wouldn't dream of using anything but a cheap laser - so long as B&W is
all you need.

Used to use one at work (an earlier version of the current cheapest one
at Dabs, the Samsung ML-2240 Mono Laser Printer) - did thousands of
pages without any significant problems.

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 UTC, Tim Lamb
wrote:

I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

To be expected. They are now a low volume, specialist market (used only
when one wants multipart output, etc.)

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

I bought a Samsung for about 85 quid a couple of years ago (reduced from
160). I really bought it because it could do scanning and photocopying
too, but occasionally print on it. Probably equivalent now to the basic
model you're looking at. Seems fine but consumables are a little
expensive...that's the area to research.

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On 26 Feb, 23:00, "Bob Eager" wrote:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

Laser is now cheaper. They always were at the high end, but the volume
at which they become the cheaper option gets lower and lower.

Bob Eager wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 UTC, Tim Lamb
wrote:

I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

To be expected. They are now a low volume, specialist market (used only
when one wants multipart output, etc.)

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

I bought a Samsung for about 85 quid a couple of years ago (reduced from
160). I really bought it because it could do scanning and photocopying
too, but occasionally print on it. Probably equivalent now to the basic
model you're looking at. Seems fine but consumables are a little
expensive...that's the area to research.

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

Blocked nozzles.
Smears if new prints are handled before drying - or if old prints get
even slightly damp.
Slower than laser.
More expensive per page.
Generally need slightly better paper than lasers.

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop.
I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

If you're near Liverpool, i've got access to a dot matrix you can have
for free (I got it from freecycle, but it's in superb condition)

Tim Lamb wrote:

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

For less than 70ukp you could get an ex-office HP laserjet with a
built-in network interface (so you both could use it) and access to
cheap supplies of toner from remanufactured cartidges.

e.g. eBay item #260293631150


--
Adrian C

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000, Tim Lamb
wrote:

I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

Try your local tip ( Ahem...waste recycling interface ).
You should be able to take your pick of inkjet printers at a fiver a
pop.
Look out for the HP Deskjet printers that use black ink cartridges
like the one pictured in the link below - they have an ink level
indicator on them. More often than not the black ink cartridge is
practically full.

http://www.tuttocompatibile.it/images/hp_51640.jpg

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard
Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk

Bob Eager wrote:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

The same that's wrong with a cheap laser. Expensive consumables.
Lightweight components. Poor paper handling options. Proprietary
drivers. Poor quality output.

Very few people will pay the price of a good printer. Nor will they
appreciate the difference between a good printer and ****e.

In article ,
Tim Lamb wrote:
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

Bought a cheapo Samsung laser from CPC because I was fed up with the ink
costs of my Canon. Every time I needed it meant intensive cleaning - and
most of my stuff doesn't *have* to have colour.
It's done over 500 pages on the original fill and I've got some toner
waiting to use which cost under 20 quid off Ebay - and should do twice as
much.

--
*Geeks shall inherit the earth *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000, Tim Lamb
wrote:


For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

eBay 260293631150 HP 4050, fast, reliable, built like the proverbial
brick outbuilding and designed for many thousands of copies a month.
One toner cartridge should last you a few years.

Steve Firth wrote:
Bob Eager wrote:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

The same that's wrong with a cheap laser. Expensive consumables.
Lightweight components. Poor paper handling options. Proprietary
drivers. Poor quality output.

Very few people will pay the price of a good printer. Nor will they
appreciate the difference between a good printer and ****e.

I've not had any of those troubles with a cheap laser. Do yourself a
favour and avoid inkjets though, too much time wasted on those.


NT

Peter Parry wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000, Tim Lamb
wrote:


For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

eBay 260293631150 HP 4050, fast, reliable, built like the proverbial
brick outbuilding and designed for many thousands of copies a month.
One toner cartridge should last you a few years.

260293631150 is a 2300DN, not a 4050!

I have about 8 4050's around our office,and agreed, they are solid
machines..

If the fuser film rips, then just get a replacement film, reasonably easy to
repair, if you are confident taking things apart :-)

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

Yes monochrome lasers are very cheap these days. Been using an LJ1200 for
years now it just works and produces nice clean crisp text that doesn't
smudge or wash off in the rain.

Seriously looking at getting the HP Colour Laserjet CP1515n previously
mentioned as No.1 Daughter is now doing much more homework that needs
colour print outs and the Epson Stylus Photo 890 I have is very greedy on
expensive and occasionally hard to come by ink. Not to mention the quality
on ordinary paper is not that good.

Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This almost
invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows machine.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Tim Lamb wrote:
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?


Yes. Dot matrix are now only used in proffesional applications like
printing thousands of fan fold stock pages on a heavy duty basis.

They are built to last, and to be extremeley cheap to run. Ribbons last
years..and cost peanuts.


A cheap laser will pay for itself over an inkjet fairly quickly. I preer
old but good HP stuff ex ebay.


The scale goes
inkjet: ultra low capital cots, very high per page cost.
Laser jet. Middling on both.
Dot matrix. fairly high purchase, ultra low ongoing costs.
Line printer (if they still exists) Ultra high purchase cost but best of
all speed wise and per page costs.

regards

Adrian C wrote:
Tim Lamb wrote:

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

For less than 70ukp you could get an ex-office HP laserjet with a
built-in network interface (so you both could use it) and access to
cheap supplies of toner from remanufactured cartidges.

e.g. eBay item #260293631150


Indeed. My choice.

However beware remanufactured cartridges. A friend who now has TWO
second hand Ricoh 3800's..becaue the first one ****ed up when third paty
colored toner clogged its anal orifice..and it took so long to get it
fixed..now only buys the pukka stuff..This probably is NOT an issue with
black and white, but the actual costs over the thousands of pages of The
Real Thing is often not so great

wrote:

Steve Firth wrote:
Bob Eager wrote:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

The same that's wrong with a cheap laser. Expensive consumables.
Lightweight components. Poor paper handling options. Proprietary
drivers. Poor quality output.

Very few people will pay the price of a good printer. Nor will they
appreciate the difference between a good printer and ****e.

I've not had any of those troubles with a cheap laser.

As I said, "very few people will pay the price of a good printer" add
your name to the list of those that wont.

Do yourself a favour and avoid inkjets though, too much time wasted on
those.

And on "cheap" lasers.

In article et,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.

Not too bad an idea as decent drivers aren't always available for minority
OS.

--
*He's not dead - he's electroencephalographically challenged

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet my
wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular e-mails
requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death etc.
attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works at
the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

regards
--
Tim Lamb

I stopped using my ( several over the years ) Epson inkjet colour printers
for mono work years ago - it's a PITA - not even used it for colour for
about 2 months now ( a CX3200 ).

When I want to print photos or colour it almost always needs head cleaning
and I can go through 2 new ink cartridges just to accomplish that ( not to
mention the time & frustration it takes ).
Obviously the more often it is used the less likely this is needed but I
rarely have need for colour printing.

I use a networked HP LaserJet 5 with a jetdirect card and an additional
sheet bin feeder and duplex unit plus additional memory.
The standard paper tray holds 1 ream ( 250 sheets of A4 ) and the sheet bin
feeder at least an additional ream depending on the paper weight.
The toner cartridges at about £10 - £15 on ebay last ages and the last one I
bought was a 92298X high capacity one for about £12 - good for 10,000 pages
IIRC.
You can sometimes pick these printers up on eBay for as little as £25 (
excluding the extras ).
For cheap and reliable mono printing it's great.

The duplex unit also means you use about half as much paper and the
printouts are half the weight and thickness - good for printing out big
eBooks for ringbinding.
These printers are real workhorses and as reliable as hell. They were quite
expensive in their time just for the basic printer.
It's my default printer on the network and as it has a jetdirect card, no
other computers on my network need to be switched on to use it. Connected to
my router.

I used to use a LaserJet 5 without sheet bin feeder and duplex unit but when
those items became available on eBay already attached to a LJ5 I bought the
complete unit, for £100 and sold my older LJ5 for £40 on eBay. Can't
complain at that.

LaserJet 4's are almost as good. Choose your model carefully though - there
are some 4's not up to the job.

BTW I have a few spare Jetdirect cards for these printers.

Re dot matrix:

I have an OKI Microline 193 - been in the loft for years unused. It has an
A3 cut sheet feeder attached - very rare.

Dot matrix do have some advantages over all others though that's why I still
have it.
You can print on multipart stationary and you can ( with simple, DIY
adoption ) use them to print Braille ( sp ) for the optically impaired.

I have a couple of other oddball DM printers stored in the garage too -
can't remember the models now - maybe they should go to the tip, been there
for years.

Get yourself an older LaserJet if you don't need to print multipart.

TTFN - JD


--
The eMail address used in newsgroups is invalid - reply to group only for me
to see.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:07:05 UTC, Andy Dingley
wrote:

On 26 Feb, 23:00, "Bob Eager" wrote:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

Laser is now cheaper. They always were at the high end, but the volume
at which they become the cheaper option gets lower and lower.

The other option is what I use. I have two (actually, several but I only
use two) HP LaserJet 4M+ machines. 12ppm, networked, PostScript. Each
has a large paper tray and a duplexer, and they (apart from the
duplexers) cost penuts on eBay. They have required zero maintenance, and
even genuine HP toners are quite cheap on eBay. All the major consumable
components are part of the toner cartridge.

Yes, a bit big, but fine for me. I have a Xerox DocuPrint C20
(PostScript) for the occasional colour output. And they all work with
Windows, OS/2 and FreeBSD.
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

Yes monochrome lasers are very cheap these days. Been using an LJ1200 for
years now it just works and produces nice clean crisp text that doesn't
smudge or wash off in the rain.

Seriously looking at getting the HP Colour Laserjet CP1515n previously
mentioned as No.1 Daughter is now doing much more homework that needs
colour print outs and the Epson Stylus Photo 890 I have is very greedy on
expensive and occasionally hard to come by ink. Not to mention the quality
on ordinary paper is not that good.

Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This almost
invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows machine.


Not necessarily. You can usually network them. The problems arise
finding suitable drivers for machines other than windows.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:52:41 +0000
The Natural Philosopher wrote:


The scale goes
inkjet: ultra low capital cots, very high per page cost.
Laser jet. Middling on both.
Dot matrix. fairly high purchase, ultra low ongoing costs.
Line printer (if they still exists) Ultra high purchase cost but best of
all speed wise and per page costs.

Line printers turned into flying paper laser printers years ago. I've
watched one take a box of fan-fold paper and throw it (lengthwise)
through the mechanism, print it, and refold into another box in about
20 seconds. If you need this, you ARE the Inland Revenue.

R.

P.S. I replaced the interminable sequence of cheap ink-jets with a
Xerox 6110 colour-laser a while back. I'll never buy another ink-jet.
Laser is it.

In message , Colin
Wilson o.uk writes
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop.
I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

If you're near Liverpool, i've got access to a dot matrix you can have
for free (I got it from freecycle, but it's in superb condition)

200 miles:-( Nice thought though.

Annoyingly, I have dumped 2 working m/cs myself in the euphoria of
colour printing and photo reproduction.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:58:04 -0000, JDT2Q wrote:

When I want to print photos or colour it almost always needs head
cleaning and I can go through 2 new ink cartridges just to accomplish
that ( not to mention the time & frustration it takes ).

Tip, go throught the nozzle check/clean/nozzle check sequence once then
leave it 5 mins before doing it again. I find the "soak" means that the
next sequence nearly always produces a proper output.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message et, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 +0000, Tim Lamb wrote:

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

Yes monochrome lasers are very cheap these days. Been using an LJ1200 for
years now it just works and produces nice clean crisp text that doesn't
smudge or wash off in the rain.

Seriously looking at getting the HP Colour Laserjet CP1515n previously
mentioned as No.1 Daughter is now doing much more homework that needs
colour print outs and the Epson Stylus Photo 890 I have is very greedy on
expensive and occasionally hard to come by ink. Not to mention the quality
on ordinary paper is not that good.

That would be grand children if we had any. I don't want to transfer
colour work away from the office inkjet for jet blockage reasons.

Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This almost
invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows machine.

Ah! Worth knowing. Her laptop runs Windows anyway and might as well be a
PC as it never moves.

regards


--
Tim Lamb

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:02:25 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.

Not necessarily. You can usually network them.

The cheap ones only have USB and no expansion slot for a network card. If
a printer has USB and ethernet they tend to have a proper printer
lanaguage as well but not all some have a maker specific language only.

The problems arise finding suitable drivers for machines other than
windows.

Which effectively makes the printer windows only.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:21:30 UTC, Huge
wrote:

On 2009-02-26, Adrian C wrote:
Tim Lamb wrote:

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

For less than 70ukp you could get an ex-office HP laserjet with a
built-in network interface (so you both could use it) and access to
cheap supplies of toner from remanufactured cartidges.

For example, I paid £25 for my Laserjet 5m. Apart from a good clean and
a new toner cartridge, it's been providing sterling service for years.

Yup. Last two Laserjet 4M+ machines I bought cost me the combined sum of
£7. Plus a 15 minute drive to collect. They each needed about 15 minutes
work and a good clean, and that's all.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

In message , Tim Lamb
writes
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such
letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death etc. attachment should be printed on
the office m/c.

OK chaps.

Enough already:-)

Cheapo mono laser it is.

At one or two pages per week it still makes expensive copy but much less
aggravation.

regards

--
Tim Lamb

(Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

The same that's wrong with a cheap laser. Expensive consumables.
Lightweight components. Poor paper handling options. Proprietary
drivers. Poor quality output.

You're forgetting the _really_ big drawback of an inkjet. They clog if
left unused, which results in the already expensive consumables becoming
VERY expensive.

The Natural Philosopher gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

For less than 70ukp you could get an ex-office HP laserjet with a
built-in network interface (so you both could use it)

Indeed. My choice.

Thirded.

pats £40 LJ5N fondly

I'm with you on the toners, too - genuine cartridges are cheap enough,
again, off fleaBay.

In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.


Not necessarily. You can usually network them. The problems arise
finding suitable drivers for machines other than windows.

I have a little app for my RISC OS machines called Uniprint which pretty
seamlessly uses the PC printer via Windose. Drivers for laser printers
under RISC OS are pretty thin on the ground - and those for inkjets don't
always give full functionality anyway.

--
*If you can read this, thank a teecher

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 27 Feb 2009 08:52:09 GMT, Adrian wrote:

(Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

The same that's wrong with a cheap laser. Expensive consumables.
Lightweight components. Poor paper handling options. Proprietary
drivers. Poor quality output.

You're forgetting the _really_ big drawback of an inkjet. They clog if
left unused, which results in the already expensive consumables becoming
VERY expensive.

Assuming the nozzle is in the cartridge, simply remove it from the
printer and dip the relevant end into a cup of near boiling water for
ten seconds or so.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard
Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk

In article et,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.

Not necessarily. You can usually network them.

The cheap ones only have USB and no expansion slot for a network card.
If a printer has USB and ethernet they tend to have a proper printer
lanaguage as well but not all some have a maker specific language only.

The problems arise finding suitable drivers for machines other than
windows.

Which effectively makes the printer windows only.

I'm sure there's the equivalant

--
*It's o.k. to laugh during sexŒ.Œ.just don't point!

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Tim Lamb" wrote in message
...
I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet my
wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular e-mails
requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death etc.
attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works at
the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

For 70ukp I can get an entry level laser inc. usb cable. Is there
something I should know?

regards
--
Tim Lamb

My £55 (PC Wo***) HP Laser Jet 1018 has printed 7237 pages (as of now) in
the past two years - albeit I'm now on my third refill - but it's never
missed a beat.

Peter

In article et,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.

Not necessarily. You can usually network them.

The cheap ones only have USB and no expansion slot for a network card.
If a printer has USB and ethernet they tend to have a proper printer
lanaguage as well but not all some have a maker specific language only.

The problems arise finding suitable drivers for machines other than
windows.

Which effectively makes the printer windows only.

I'm sure there's the equivalant of the prog I use on RISC OS for other
operating systems. Lets you print from it to any printer that runs on
Windows. Also can be used to open non native files or URLs that are on the
RISC OS machine on the appropriate Windows one.

Just for info full details he-

http://www.arsvcs.demon.co.uk/rci/uniprint/index.html

--
*What boots up must come down *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Adrian wrote:

(Steve Firth) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

What's wrong with a cheapo inkket?

The same that's wrong with a cheap laser. Expensive consumables.
Lightweight components. Poor paper handling options. Proprietary
drivers. Poor quality output.

You're forgetting the _really_ big drawback of an inkjet. They clog if
left unused, which results in the already expensive consumables becoming
VERY expensive.

shrug Why buy a printer in order to not use it? I've not really had a
problem with clogged nozzles except in the case of the HP 990cxi that I
leave in a cupboard in Italy and don't use for six months at a time.
Even then, most times the nozzles can be unclogged by removing the
cartridge and standing it on a pad of damp paper for a time then running
a cleaning cycle.

If one knows that the printer isn't going to be used for a time, it's
sensible to remove the cartridges and keep them in a sealed container.

Lasers left to stand can also suffer. HPs seems to try to minimise toner
clumping my grinding the toners around from time to time but that only
works if the printer is left on 24/7.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:02:25 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.
Not necessarily. You can usually network them.

The cheap ones only have USB and no expansion slot for a network card. If
a printer has USB and ethernet they tend to have a proper printer
lanaguage as well but not all some have a maker specific language only.

The problems arise finding suitable drivers for machines other than
windows.

Which effectively makes the printer windows only.


Yes, but it doesn't mean it has to be attached TO a WinPC.

A raw queue on a e.g. Linux print server makes the printer 'look' like a
networked version of the printer.

Or some print server boxes handle USB.

Huge wrote:
On 2009-02-27, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Be aware that some of the cheaper end of the range printers are "host
based" ie they rely on the host computer to do the grunt work. This
almost invariably means that you must have it plugged into a windows
machine.

Not necessarily. You can usually network them. The problems arise
finding suitable drivers for machines other than windows.
I have a little app for my RISC OS machines called Uniprint which pretty
seamlessly uses the PC printer via Windose. Drivers for laser printers
under RISC OS are pretty thin on the ground - and those for inkjets don't
always give full functionality anyway.

These kinds of discussions amuse me, in a wry kind of way, since I worked
at the place where device independent page description languages were
invented (Xerox Interpress, which evolved into Postscript). These kinds of
problems were solved over 20 years ago ...



....by making the printer have 10 times the CPU and RANM of the desktop
computers that drove it..and making a 5 second transfer take 30 minutes...


Postcript? It's an abortion..

In article ,
"Bob Eager" writes:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:31:00 UTC, Tim Lamb
wrote:

I have been looking for a cheap printer to replace the gummed up inkjet
my wife used to use before we bought her a laptop. I now get irregular
e-mails requesting that such and such letter/recipe/birth/marriage/death
etc. attachment should be printed on the office m/c.

I don't leave my PC switched on so networking won't work and she works
at the other end of the house so picking up copy is inconvenient.

I confidently expected dot matrix printers to be dirt cheap by now and
half promised one as a birthday pressie. 150ukp they must be joking!

To be expected. They are now a low volume, specialist market (used only
when one wants multipart output, etc.)

I still have a Dataproducts B600 lineprinter, which I used to use
for software development at home. It's a band printer which does
600 lines/minute, and mine is in an accoustic case just like:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dataproducts-FP2...QQcmdZViewItem
(That's actually a faster 1000-2000 lines/minute version, although
it looks pretty identical.)

Hardly ever use it anymore, but not plucked up the courage to
actually get rid of it yet. In terms of service life, mine is
effectively brand new, as it hasn't even had 10 boxes of paper
through it during its life, which is what it would expect to
get through in 1 - 2 days of normal use.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]