"David VanHorn" wrote in message news:25b178740801301013nb347127v7d240c26ba2e2979@mail.gmail.com... > On Jan 30, 2008 12:55 PM, Harold Hallikainen > wrote: >> I think the printers themselves are just getting incredibly dumb. The >> smarts (how to draw a character or whatever) has been moved over to the >> "driver." It's the "WinModem" approach to printing. > > People want a cheap printer. > Let the PC rasterize everything, and send it as RLE compressed raster > data. > > The real scam is in the price of the ink/toner. Last time I checked > it, HP inkjet ink was $6000/Gal. > > Depending on the printer, very interesting means are used to keep you > from refilling the toner/ink carts. For quite some time, I refilled my own Lexmark inkjet cartridges (I stopped maybe four years ago). Back then, those cartridges could be refilled relatively easily. I could get five or six refills out of a factory Lexmark ink cartridge. These cartridges had the print nozzles built in and they eventually clogged. It certainly saved me money, but it took some time and effort to do it right. I don't bother refilling anymore. I just pay the $60 or so dollars for all the colors (and black) in our Epson. The ink tanks on the Epson are pretty big. We also have an HP all-in-one that has pretty tiny cartridges. The Epson prints on CD/DVD's and does photos a bit better than the HP. The HP is a network printer, so it's easier to use when you have multiple PC's in the house, but it likely costs us more per page. Jeff -- A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist