Printer recommenations?

berkowski · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Mar 2004 Posts: 134

So today I went to print a b&w document out of my epson c84. I knew I was low on cyan or magenta, but being a plain document I didn't think it'd matter - until the damn thing complained about being out of ink. That's right, for a plain text document it wouldn't print because it was out of blue. I even tried printing it under windows, looking for a "grayscale only" checkbox to no avail. Turns out (as from the epson FAQ itself) the printer will refuse to print ANYTHING if ANY ink is out :evil:

I call BS.

So what I need now is a good printer that will

Print in b&w mode only - or print while out of color cartridges
Is under $200 - and that's a high limit, I'd rather spend ~150 or under.

I don't need piture perfect images, and it doesn't need to be real fast. Hell, it doesn't even need to be a new model if I can find it easily enough. Any suggestions?

Gullible Jones · n00b Joined: 22 Jan 2005 Posts: 41 Location: Dog Solitude

Something other than a Canon i250.

(I have one of those... Not a bad printer, but it needs proprietary drivers and is a bloody pain to get working even with those.)

electrofreak · l33t Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 713 Location: Ohio, USA

HP printers are pretty nice. I've never had trouble setting one up in linux either.

berkowski · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Mar 2004 Posts: 134

electrofreak · l33t Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 713 Location: Ohio, USA

berkowski · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Mar 2004 Posts: 134

Hafnium · n00b Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 4 Location: andrews.edu

I have an HP LaserJet 4 & 5si, and whenever the printer complains of low ink, or starts to print low quality print, i take out the toner cartridge and just keep tilting it back and forth several times and i can get extended use out of my toner cartridges. i don't know if this would work with ink cartridges, or if it would make any difference. but i think it is still worth posting.
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berkowski · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Mar 2004 Posts: 134

I guess I should ask if anyone's tried those ink-in-a-syringe deals? I'm just trying to avoid paying $20 on a pink cartridge when I only want black text.

shruggy1987 · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:40 am Post subject:

DO NOT GET A LEXMARK z25
They claim to be Linux friendly, but they are really only RedHat/Mandrake/SUSE friendly.

djpharoah · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:47 am Post subject:

im with electrofreak about HP printers..they are easiest to setup witihin gentoo..

i have 3 ones..HP 845C Deskjet, and 2x 925C deskjets...

they trully rock

eMPee584 · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 9:51 pm Post subject: for ink management

... and fill level display just emerge kink.. it will show you.
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Zuti · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 10:34 pm Post subject:

Be sure to check http://www.linuxprinting.org/

Aszrael · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:07 am Post subject:

To solve ink-problems with myEpson-C84, I just bought a cartidge-resetter.

mbar · Veteran Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 1991 Location: Poland

hw-tph · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:18 pm Post subject:

I have an HP LaserJet 1100A. Works very well under Linux and you can find used ones for next to nothing at online auctions.

Håkan

atrader42 · n00b Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Posts: 56

My Samsung ML-1740 is all over the place for $70-100 after rebate. It's a pretty fast printer, and although you do have to install drivers for it to work, they're on the cd that comes with the printer. I like nearly everything about this printer, with a couple kinda minor exceptions. It's a bit noisy when it's warming up and printing, so when I need to print when my roommate is asleep, I feel kinda bad. Also, since Samsung isn't as major of a printer manufacturer, there aren't refurbished toner cartridges all over the place like there are for HPs. Still, it's one of the cheapest lasers you'll find. If you have a bit more to spend, my family has an HP Laserjet 1012 with an instant warmup and is pretty quiet.

Incidentally, I'm in the market for a toner replacement for my Samsung...does anyone know how good the toner refill kits in ebay are? The price is right, but it seems odd that it's that much cheaper...

lbrtuk · l33t Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 910

Buy a secondhand HP Laserjet 4 series. Built like a tank, very common - spare parts & knowhow readily available, and if you get a postscript & network enabled one you never have to worry about drivers.

berkowski · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Mar 2004 Posts: 134