Hi Michael,
> I agree with the observation that HP is the best of the major printer
> manufacturers with respect to Linux. I recently purchased a Canon iP4300 and
> had to make do, at first, with using one third party driver for monochrome
> printing and another for color. Only lately has Canon come out with Linux
> drivers on its Australian and European web sites. However, as much as I
> appreciate HP for its accommoation to Linux users, I'd still pick my Canon.
I just configured my old HP PSC 1315 all-in-one printer/fax/scanner to
my Fedora 7 machine. HP driver was one of the best I've seen for quite
a long time, and it even managed to install it on my nightmare Linux
machine (rpms are all over from fedora core 5,6,7 and other ton of
mixed stuff I've installed here). I also liked their command line
utilities to scan, mail etc. Not the best (you cannot use their utils
to scan and save as TIFF for example or scan to PDF), but hey,
comparing that to past experience with older printers, it's a great
step forward.
> I'm now working with my Canon quite nicely, though I wish it had the
> utilities of my retired HP. I like that my Canon has separate ink
> receptacles for each color. HP has tri-color cartridges that are very
> wasteful... as soon as one color goes, you have to replace all three.
Really depend which printer you use. Some behave like you mention, some don't.
> I like that the Canon ink cartridge does not include a print head. Print
> heads are the miniscule delivery systems that transfer the ink to the page.
> Canon print heads are semi permanent elements of the printer, part of the
> carriage system that holds the ink cartridges, but separate from the
> cartridges themselves. The Canon print head is not terribly expensive to
> replace, about $40-$50 (not including shipping), and they last a long, long
> time. Canon's print heads are designed to be conveniently and easily
> replaced by the user. I have taken out and reinserted the print head on my
> Canon Pixma and I can confirm this to be true. Epson's print head is also
> separate from the ink cartridge, but I understand that it can only be
> replaced by a technician.
Hmm? as much as I remember, you can replace head without a technician,
but I saw that very long time ago. Things might changed since then.
> On the negative side for HP (IMHO), its ink cartridges include the print
> head. This is one reason why buying third party HP refill cartridges is
> riskier than buying third party Canon or Epson refill cartridges... with HP
> you're replacing a new print head along with the ink. Not only is it usually
> unnecessary to replace the print head along with the ink... you may be
> installing a print head in worse shape than the one you're throwing away.
Here is a fresh example from last night with my printer: I bought
GENUINE HP cartridges (color and B/W) and after spending 280NIS and
throwing perfectly new refilled cartridges, I had same issue: my B/W
printing came with lots of half-printed text, and color printing came
as .. Yellow. There goes 280 NIS out the window...
> I hope that customs won't be an issue and that transporting of ink won't
> necessitate some official from puncturing the ink containers. If anyone has
> any experience with this, I'd be grateful to hear about it.
As long as it's not above $200 and you have the receipt from the shop
you buy from them, then you'll need to pay the VAT ("maam").
Thanks,
Hetz
--
Skepticism is the lazy person's default position.
my blog (hebrew): http://benhamo.org
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