[LAU] OT: printers

[plutek]

From: Ken Restivo <ken at restivo.org>
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:35:41 -0700

> That said. Is there no-one who will rid the world of printers that suck, and whose cartridges cost more than the printer?

indeed.... a sorry situation in inkjet-land! but do you really need colour? how about a monochrome laser? they're quicker, more reliable, way cheaper per page, and have good mechanisms in place for re-manufacturing the toner cartridges.

after a lot of self-debate about losing colour and large-format, i decided that most of my printing was monochrome letter size anyway, and i can still go to a printshop for those other things if i really need them. also, laser output DOES NOT RUN when the TROMBONE player sprays SPIT all over it... woohoo!!

> (Also, works with CUPS on Linux, in such a way that it actually presents useful ERROR MESSAGES, instead of just unhelpfully blinking a light over and over with no details as to what exactly is wrong?)

i've been happily running a Lexmark e260dn for a couple of years now with no compatibility issues, and the output (from MUP, Lilypond, and scanned handcopy) is excellent. USB and networkable. it's error messages are various permutations of the front panel lights, blinking or not -- yeah, you sometimes need to refer to the manual, but they're quite specific and errors are rare anyways.

hope you're well, ken... cheers!
.pltk.