dot matrix printer

[Dave Liquorice]

But understands PS3 and PCL6, so (in theory!) anything that can talk those languages can print on it.

[Mark]

Some retailers list Linux in their system requirements. e.g. Misco lists Slackware for the Xerox 6110N.

As usual with Linux then ;-)

[Dave Liquorice]

Colour lasers use 4 toner carts black, cyan, magenta and yellow. If you =

tell it to print in moncochrome it only uses the black toner. Cost per cartridge is much of a muchness though the ones for colour printers tend= to be lower capacity than those for a dedicated monochrome one.

Manufactures numbers: 2,200 pages for the black CP1515n cartridge, 2,500= for the normal LJ1200 toner or 3,500 for the extended life one. All cost= within =A315 of each other. The CP1515 being in the middle and =A36 chea= per than extended LJ1200. The colour CP1515 ones are rated at 1,400 pages each.

But balance the cost of colour and black ink cartridges which might do 1=

00 pages for =A350 (50p/page) against 2,000 or so from a set toner carts costing =A3175 (8p/page). Or monochrome 2.5p/page...

Well as there are 4 times the moving parts (4 toner carts, transfer rollers etc and the drives for them) then it wouldn't be surprising to find them less reliable but in normal domestic use I doubt that is an issue. The CP1515n is rated up to 30,000 pages/month, that is 12 *boxes*= of paper/month.

[Dave Liquorice]

Online is cheaper genuine Q2612A =A357.70 @ dabs (=A361.12 delivered) on= ly

2,000 pages though. The 15X (3,500 pages) for my LJ1200 is only 64.36 fr= om Dabs (+ delivery). So the warning to check the cost/page of the consumables is valid one.

[Dave Liquorice]

Well we are talking domestic and A4 printers. If I was to do that I'd have the towering stack of test prints and have run out of ink by the time I wanted to do something in anger... Even with the increased home work load the colour printer only does a few pages a week at roughly a week apart. And it's still 50:50 as to if it will need a cleaning cycle before it prints properly. Overall the inkjet is too much agro and expensive to run.

[PeterC]

I used to refill cartridges on HP4P and 3 HP5Ns with toner from U Refill Toner Ltd:

never had any trouble; buying 3 or 4 lots at a time came out to about £15 each (about 3 years ago.

[The Natural Philosopher]

As compared with windows, in which if there isn't a correct driver, you are totally shagged..

[Alang]

>Generally a bit of fiddling with the PPD files of something similar gets

[Adrian C]

Depends. Having a laser printer to do most of my printing, my Canon Pixma ip4300 Inkjet doesn't get used on more that a few occasions in a month, or maybe zero.

However, it's never (me touches MDF) blocked up on me when required for printing.

However, the previous Epson Photo 750 was kindly sent to the dump as freecycling it would have been a waste (and needlessly annoying) for someone to take it on and keep it fed with cartridges and the 'windolene clear' needed to wash through and unclog it.

Inkjets can have some really nice output, this one is easily better than my Panasonic KX-P7510 laser for grayscale printing - never mind that it can do colour glossy photographs better than that printed in magazines.

[Man at B&Q]

My "inexpensive" =A350 Samsung has given faultless service. The only problem is the toner cartridges cost as much as the printer did, but they are no more expensive than many other brands' cartridges.

MBQ

[Bruce]

Thanks for that. I'll remember DABS but I usually buy off eBay - my last toner cartridge cost me £42 including p+p for genuine HP.

[Bruce]

You snipped the following from the posting of mine that you replied to:

"I also have an older HP LaserJet 4 which has none of these problems. It is totally reliable, accepts cheap off-brand toner cartridges and the powerfully hot fuser roller makes sure that the toner sticks firmly to the paper. As long as you don't mind the toner being slightly grey, the results with cheap toner are just fine."

Cheap toner doesn't seem to work in the 1018, I suspect because the fuser element doesn't get hot enough.

[Bruce]

Yes, I can see that.

[Bruce]

Samsung seem to do pretty well in comparative reviews. I had to choose between a Samsung and the HP1018 and chose the HP. I had nothing to go on - at the time (2.5 years ago) I couldn't find good reviews on either, so I mentally tossed a coin and HP won. It works fine on HP toner.

[Edgar]

My experience with an Epson stylus color 1160 is to leave it on all the time. Since I started doing that I've had no blockages at all. I'd say the printer is not used more days than it is and even on a busy day probably less than 30 sheets are printed. When I used to switch it off blockages were frequent with similar usage. I only use the clean button immediately after changing cartridges. And I allow the machine stop out of ink before bothering to change the cartridge. I've no idea why this should happen but I'm very pleased it's so reliable.

Edgar

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim Lamb saying something like:

Dot matrix have now moved into a specialist field, from being the main desktop printer that everybody had, to only being used to print out invoices on multiple part forms. Hence the reduction in market share and the increase in price.

I rejuvenated an elderly Oki 4W laser(LED) printer recently after it had been sitting unused for a couple of years. I discovered that spares for it were dirt cheap now, so snatched up a new drum and three genuine toner cartridges for about a tenner. It wasn't a particularly cheap printer in its day, iirc the new price was £400 or so some ten years ago. The output from it is as good as new now.

On the colour inkjet front; I had Epsons for years, but got sick of the clogging and moved to an HP with a bulk ink system for colour output.

I'd recommend picking up an oldie but goodie office laser.

[soup]

Most people do not need a good printer why pay for a decent printer when all you need is a few representations of your work (there are very few complete garbage printers these days).

[Dave A]

Yep - my HP Laserjet 5P was £1 (plus £18 postage!) from eBay and is on it's original toner some 2000 pages later.

[Dave A]

its original toner, even.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Tim Lamb explained :

Yes, they are a precision technology only now needed for the printing of multi-part forms and so are now very expensive. A laser is the way to go now, for an irregularly used printer.

My current one is is an ex-commercial HP with a network card and duplexer which I picked up ten years ago for £20. It had low mileage and is is still running on its as it came toner cartridge. I did though spend a £1 on some replacement pickup rollers which tend to perish.

That printer is on my network, able to be printed to from any of several PC's, one of which is my grandson's PC who lives half a mile away. I have just rigged up a wireless link to cover the half mile, so he has access to our broadband connection. It's a bit of a bugger for him when it needs paper to be added though :-)