A pleasant surprise - a new home printer.

Cuppa · Guru

A pleasant surprise - a new home printer.

rmoor · Senior Member

For once Cuppa, we concur on something.
I am just about to fire up my HL L2350 DW "Brother".
It has been a good unit, mine prints a little bit lighter than my old HP P1005 that both sit beside my desk so I use them for different purposes.
Have had the Brother for some time now and still have the first cartridge in it.
Must be due to run out soon, which is why I keep two lasers firing at the one time.
I printed off a stack of Golf Sponsor sheets for our big day last week and reverted to the HP as it was printing darker for some reason.
The HP would be possibly 12+ years old and only works on an old stand alone desktop I have kept alive so I have to use a USB to access but that is fine, whatever works.
First time I have ever owned a Brother but have no issues with it, just have to remember to fire up my WiFi to use the thing.
I used to do a lot of printing and kill a lot of trees but now very much in retirement and offloaded around 85% or so of workload so I can travel for most of the year (soon) considerably less printing.
I don't use colour anymore, gets too expensive, if they don't like black and white - too bad.
Just about to do a print run late Friday after 3 days of heavy late night workload so I can pack next week for Beechworth, Yackandandah, Milawa and maybe the Benalla races.
Need some time to go bush next week to access some more firewood to be cut to the right size for Pot Belly Jones (aka The Two Ronnies) for my OzPig lookalike my good lady friend loves me to bring along for the cold nights outdoors looking at the lake at Beechworth.
Off printers and on that for a second, I have to do some research on Lake Sambell as I will be floating around in the fishing kayak chasing trout and reddies for dinner atop Pot Belly Jones' (if not too cold).
Does anyone know if the Lake Sambell that is man made in gold country has an arsenic issue pls? I am a bit cautious?
Good luck with your printer Cuppa, nice for us to finally agree on something, see, I am not the Ogre you thought I was

Bicyclecamper · Guru

I must come on here one day soon, and write about my true experience with 5 meetings with an Yahwee, not far from where I live, I am sure it would be better reading then a couple of indepth stories about 2 printers that their owners are so affectionate about.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Friday 18th of August 2023 10:17:46 PM

Cuppa · Guru

Bicyclecamper wrote:
I must come on here one day soon, and write about my true experience with 5 meetings with an Yahwee, not far from where I live, I am sure it would be better reading then a couple of indepth stories about 2 printers that their owners are so affectionate about.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Friday 18th of August 2023 10:17:46 PM

You're Welcome. :) Ric I know you've told us you're going through a tough patch at the moment, & that you've probably been feeling grumpy for a while, but I have known the non grumpy you too, so I'll refrain from being offended. Are you out camping or back home?

dorian · Guru

My Brother HL-2040 laser printer (USB + parallel port) must be nearly 20 years old now. It still runs under Windows 10. OTOH, my still functional Canon LBP-1120 is a doorstop due to lack of a driver.

I'm one of those people who likes to keep using something until it breaks and becomes unrepairable. Maybe we could start a separate thread for those of us who are still using old computer hardware?

-- Edited by dorian on Saturday 19th of August 2023 07:31:52 AM

rmoor · Senior Member

Fair call.
Though maybe this is the old hardware thread already?
Nothing wrong with discussing old computers, not unlike discussing old caravans (I have both

)
My old HP Compaq desktop on the workstation beside me is still extremely useful.
It has old applications on it that are no longer available elsewhere.
There is even a Lotus 123 application on there that produces a newspaper column like newsletter.
Some of the stuff on it I use constantly and in many cases is far superior to modern applications but the internet no longer works on the old desktop.
I use the internet on five devices, Laptop #1, Laptop #2 that travels, an ipad I won (Dr Karl Kruszelnicki drew my name out), mobile phone and a annual $15 recharge Aldi back up old mobile goes in the boat with me or in the bush.
Apart from old printers I also use some very old software, about as old as your old printer.
Some of my old software is super reliable and simple to use, one of my great hates is when a website you use regularly gets "updated" and becomes unusable, Wiki Camps is a case in point so it appears.
Am of the belief some of these software engineers simply change websites and applications simply to justify their existence, what is the old saying, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.
Final observation, why do we have to have thread police on this site? If I spot a thread that looks to be of no interest to me I don't open it or skim though it in 3 seconds if it appears to be a topic I am not interested in.....

Bicyclecamper · Guru

No I wasn't having a go at you guys, just a private joke, I have been camping a week or so ago, for 6 days in the wilds, quite pleasant , no phones, no family around just me and the dog. I needed it, personal business had gotten too much for me, so off and went out. The story I will write about is true, up until that point, I never belieived they existed at all in Australia, but I did believe in them. Now is not the time, it will be a late night thing, when as usual I am wide awake, from the nightmares, that I am currently having (PTSD), and not much success, at them stopping. It is all true, it was a very scary experience, in the first meeting.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Saturday 19th of August 2023 11:55:44 AM

dorian · Guru

Judge Rules HP Must Face Class Action Lawsuit Over Disabled Printers:

gizmodo.com.au/2023/08/judge-rules-hp-must-face-class-action-lawsuit-over-disabled-printers/

rmoor · Senior Member

Bicyclecamper wrote:
No I wasn't having a go at you guys, just a private joke, I have been camping a week or so ago, for 6 days in the wilds, quite pleasant , no phones, no family around just me and the dog. I needed it, personal business had gotten too much for me, so off and went out. The story I will write about is true, up until that point, I never belieived they existed at all in Australia, but I did believe in them. Now is not the time, it will be a late night thing, when as usual I am wide awake, from the nightmares, that I am currently having (PTSD), and not much success, at them stopping. It is all true, it was a very scary experience, in the first meeting.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Saturday 19th of August 2023 11:55:44 AM

Fair call. Thread intent noted.

Off printers again, many years ago a German visitor was shooting out near our local indigenous mission. He entered the water to cross over with rifle and gear in a greatcoat around their favourite swimming hole. He drowned. The locals from the mission would not swim in their favourite swimming hole again as the belief was he had been taken by a Bunyip.

DMaxer · Guru

If you are interested BC, a fellow named Tony Healy of Canberra, a researcher and author has written a book about Yowies. He has researched over 300 sightings throughout Australia and takes it very seriously. He also has. Web page.

Bicyclecamper · Guru

Well, what I saw really happened, and the first experience was witnessed by another camper, so much so, he left the park, early the next morning, after only one night's stay, even though he had paid for 7 nights.

Plain Truth · Guru

Bicyclecamper wrote:
Well, what I saw really happened, and the first experience was witnessed by another camper, so much so, he left the park, early the next morning, after only one night's stay, even though he had paid for 7 nights.
And can you please tell us where this park site is.

Plain Truth · Guru

Bicyclecamper wrote:
Well, what I saw really happened, and the first experience was witnessed by another camper, so much so, he left the park, early the next morning, after only one night's stay, even though he had paid for 7 nights.
And can you please tell us where this park site is,just curious

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Thanks chaps for this slightly much different travel topic.

A friend buys an inkjet, uses it until the inks run out & buys another! Your info on the Laser printer is interesting as I'm a little past inkjets - one chews paper, one had a catastrophic failure according to the message on the screen!!

What does one do with the full, unused or partially used cartridges?? Yes they can be recycled but I'd prefer to use them & get my $$ worth out of them!
At one stage I was refilling them, even bought a chip resetter but the manufacturers kept changing the position of the chip.

Perhaps I'll have to look at a laser printer soon.

rmoor · Senior Member

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
Thanks chaps for this slightly much different travel topic.

A friend buys an inkjet, uses it until the inks run out & buys another! Your info on the Laser printer is interesting as I'm a little past inkjets - one chews paper, one had a catastrophic failure according to the message on the screen!!

What does one do with the full, unused or partially used cartridges?? Yes they can be recycled but I'd prefer to use them & get my $$ worth out of them!
At one stage I was refilling them, even bought a chip resetter but the manufacturers kept changing the position of the chip.

Perhaps I'll have to look at a laser printer soon.

There are some very good reasonably priced products out there now.

It may be wise to check prior to purchase if your old computer/laptop has a few years on it that the new technology marries up OK?

Long Weekend · Guru

I have good service with my Epson ET-2650 for five years or so. Rather than cartridges this printer has tanks that are refilled from bottles of ink.
A friend has a later model of the ET series, the ET-2850 and while he only has had it for about six months he is very happy so far.
Both our printers also do photos at the same quality as the commercial printing places. (Athough I tend to have my photos printed at KMart or BigW as the cost is cheaper than buying the photo type paper and doing them myself.)

Years ago when I switched from dot matrix printers I started with a Canon black only ink jet - said to print 900 pages per cartridge but I only seemed to average about 300 pages! Then I went to a Brother HL- type laser printer. That gave good printing but couldn't do photos. Anyway, the Brother was only good for three cartridges or so. The Brother had an annoying problem when printing back-to-back - first run through printed odd pages, then the bundle was put back in the feed hopper and the even pages got done. But the heat from the laser process caused the pages to stick together and feed through several at a time, throwing the pages out of whack.

Then next was another Canon but this one printed colour photos. All went well until it simply died with no warning. For some reason I kept the spare cartridges and every time I come across them in a drawer I think I must drop them off at a recycling center But the Canon had one feature I liked, when printing back-to-back the first odd page came out, then went back in and the second even page then printed on the reverse. Of course, that made the whole process very slow.

Murray

Bicyclecamper · Guru

Plain Truth, I would not have told you at the time, when they were still in the region, but, I have been reliably informed they haven't been back for the last 2 winters, so I suppose, being found by a human scared them off, but it is the Northern Foreshores, Copeton Dam, Near Inverell. I am pretty sure I know where they went, but will keep that to myself. An 92yo elder, in our area, whom I have spoken too about this, knows of their habits and habitat's, and said I was correct in my assumption, as to where they should be currently.

Long Weekend · Guru

rmoor wrote:
Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
Thanks chaps for this slightly much different travel topic.

A friend buys an inkjet, uses it until the inks run out & buys another! Your info on the Laser printer is interesting as I'm a little past inkjets - one chews paper, one had a catastrophic failure according to the message on the screen!!

What does one do with the full, unused or partially used cartridges?? Yes they can be recycled but I'd prefer to use them & get my $$ worth out of them!
At one stage I was refilling them, even bought a chip resetter but the manufacturers kept changing the position of the chip.

Perhaps I'll have to look at a laser printer soon.
There are some very good reasonably priced products out there now.
It may be wise to check prior to purchase if your old computer/laptop has a few years on it that the new technology marries up OK?

That is not as silly as it sounds! There are several cheap printers that include the four ink cartridges, however, once the initial cartridges are used up the cost of replacements can equal the cost, or very close to it, of buying another printer. When looking to replace the dead Canon I did the costing of the cartridges considering the number I was going through.

Murray

msg · Guru

I purchased a new Canon in April, used up the cartridges that came with very quickly. Purchased new ones $84 for a $132 printer plus, another $84 for a spare set.

These are my issues with the printer that I ranted about over in

Techies Corner, Computers, phones and internet -> What is M$ window$ up to now??

"I'm continually fighting with my tech. At the moment it's the printer. It's insisting I need to load paper, when the tray is already chockers. I apparently filled the tray without turning it off first and that upset it. Disconnecting the power and restarting did nothing. I had to reset the whole thing as if I had just unboxed it.

At least it's not demanding that I purchase cartridges from HP.
HP turn off their printers if people try to use substitute cartridges instead of the HP ones that you must purchase from them on contract with regular deliveries. That might be OK for business but not for the irregular use of home users.

What about the fridge, microwave dishwasher and even the coffee machine and their music etc. that is annoying and can't be stopped. We should be able to decide if we want the reminder or not.

BTW my computer just updated whether I wanted it to or not. Wish I could tell it to mind its own business and let me make the decisions.

How many of them report back to their makers? HP Printers certainly, and what else. I suspect anything with a remote monitoring app might. That includes my Air purifier and my battery system in the van.

As for anticipating what we write.... I find I type what I want to say, and it gets overridden so I'm continually going back and correcting it.

I love all the new gadgets that make life easier, but these dogmatic AIs need to be able to be turned off when they become a hindrance. These gadgets should assist not hinder and work the way we tell them to.

The designers of tech need to remember that tech is a servant, and it has to do what we want not what it wants.

Although you have to be careful there. as I think about Isaac Asimov's stories about robots and their literal programming and how it can go dramatically wrong."

I think I read somewhere that HO got quite a large fine for their rather preemptive actions the other day.

-- Edited by msg on Wednesday 23rd of August 2023 11:18:26 PM

-- Edited by msg on Wednesday 23rd of August 2023 11:21:15 PM

msg · Guru

I used up all the black so I switched to printing everything in the darkest blue.

Magnarc · Guru

Four years ago I bought an Epson XP-720 inkjet. I wanted that particular one as it has the capability to print on dvd and cd discs. When the Epson inks ran out I went on to the much cheaper ones on Ebay. We have used them ever since and the printer has never missed a beat.

These companies with their exorbitant ink prices are taking users to the cleaners.

PeterX · Senior Member

About printers

I always research after market consumable suppliers
and
ask at such suppliers which printer is best / easiest / cheapest to use after market suppliers.

Manufacturers are always trying "tricks" to get u locked into only using their printer consumables ........