All in one printers

[NoOp]

On 04/18/2009 11:59 AM, Amedee Van Gasse (ubuntu) wrote:
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> Al Black schreef:
>> Hi gang,
>> 
>> Last week or a couple of weeks ago there was a thread about the
>> compatibility of different printers with unbuntu along with their
>> quality etc...  
>> 
>> Anyhow it go me thinking.  I'm looking to buy an all in one network
>> inkjet printer over the next little bit.  Is there something people
>> would recommend or equally good something to avoid?  (Right now, I'm not
>> all keen on Brother.)
> 
> According to a review I read in C't magazine, your first choice should
> be HP, followed by Epson. Stay away from Brother and Konica Minolta
> because they need proprietary drivers for scanning (but printing should
> work - I have a KM printer (not AIO) and it works OK)
> 

I recommend staying far away from Epson; they have several issues: 1)
when a single ink cartridge is out the printers won't work, even if the
others are full of ink (at least on the cheaper models), 2) their ink is
expensive, and 3) they actually have an EOL (End Of Life) 'expiration'
policy on their printers:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/InkPadsForm.jsp?cookies=no
<quote>

Epson Ink Pads Reset Utility

If your product is displaying an end of life service message, please
view and complete the required information below to proceed.

Please explain the message I am getting in my printer driver that says
parts inside my printer are reaching their end of service life.
        Like so many other products, all Epson consumer ink jet products
have a finite life span due to component wear during normal use. At some
point, the product will reach a condition where either satisfactory
print quality cannot be maintained or components have reached the end of
their usable life. This is the normal product life cycle for highly
mechanical devices like printers. This message is a warning that certain
parts have reached the end of their usable life and that your printer
will no longer work until it is serviced.
...
</quote>

Was given a nearly new epson inkjet (one of those that were included in
a 'buy this PC & printer is included bundle), and finally figured out
that the thing won't work if one of the ink carts is empty - even if the
black ink is full. They seem to work on the 'sell the razor blade'
marketing/manufacturing premise... I'll *never* buy an Epson product
again (my opinion).