[lug] CUPS question

[Lee Woodworth]

Ken MacFerrin wrote:
> Sean Reifschneider wrote:
>> On Thu, Jul 20, 2006 at 06:46:31AM -0600, bgiles at coyotesong.com wrote:
>>> The bottom line is that it comes down to your needs.  If it's mostly
>>> printed material with some color (e.g., syntax coloring, UML diagrams,
>>> accent colors in reports, logos, and the occasional picture) a laser
>> One of the things I really like about the color laser is that the "ink"
>> doesn't expire nearly as quickly.  We had this Brother MFC that we mostly
>> used as a fax machine, and we'd regularly have to replace the 3 color
>> cartridges even though we rarely used them.  The printer wouldn't print
>> black if the color cartridges needed replacing.  Total pain.
> 
> This isn't as much a failing of inkjets as it is crappy Brother
> equipment.  I had a nice color fax machine from Brother which I used
> almost exclusively with black & white printing but the Brother had a
> built in, excessive cleaning routine that would drain the three color
> ink cartridges dry every 4-6 months.  This in itself wouldn't have been
> so bad except that Brother designed the machine so that it would stop
> functioning when just one cartridge ran dry.  It wouldn't just refuse to
> print color, it refused to print b/w or even to send a fax.  It was
> obviously designed to ensure I purchased $90 worth of color cartridges
> at least 3 times a year, even if I never used the color function.  I did
> finally figure out a way to stop the optical readers from being able to
> detect that I was out of color ink but the experience was frustrating
> enough that I'll never purchase Brother equipment again.  As a
> counterpoint, I have an HP Photosmart printer that sometimes doesn't get
> used for up to 6 months at a time but everything works just fine when I
> need it..

I on the other hand, have an HP OfficeJet DJ155cxi that has dead print heads
as well as gummed up color ink cartridges. Didn't use the color much, maybe
once every 4 weeks but that was enough to screw up the color. And just like
the Brother you mentioned, the machine won't do anything if it thinks the
color is empty even though there is lots of black.

Looks like its hit or miss depending on particular models more than just
which manufacturer. I have a 6yr old Epson PhotoEx that can still print
good color-gradients even though the color hasn't been used a lot over the years.