[dba-Tech] The walking dead

Hi Jim

Yes. My nice coworkers are mostly into accounting, so a lot of b/w printing (too much if you ask me) but very little colour.

However, it happens, and I was tired of dried out ink cartridges that often failed. So we installed a Xerox 6015i WorkCentre colour laser printer/scanner which is pretty good, but the picture is the same: a set of toner cartridges is close to the cost of the machine. It's ridiculous. Our main printer is a Lexmark T640 which runs in its seventh year. The two small pickup wheels for the extra drawer have been exchanged and a WiFi network adapter has been installed, both obtained from eBay at extremely low cost. That's it. 
Before the T640 we had a T520 for five years. It was sold as second hand at a fair price. These machines are impossible to wear out.

/gustav


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Jim Lawrence
Sendt: 1. november 2013 17:26
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] The walking dead

Hi Gustav:

There is nothing like a good laser printer but so many clients and their customers want colour.

We have a couple of colour printers and to re-fill them is the price of the printer. It is a real scam but some clients will not even pay their invoices until they have a paper invoice in their hands.

I spent years installing full-colour Okidata laser printers in various banks. Their output was gorgeous but their costs were prohibitive for home use.

Jim  

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Friday, 1 November, 2013 8:06:43 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] The walking dead

Hi Jim

A sad story. But the main reason for not using such printers is the cost of the multilayer paper. Another is the lack of speed, and a third is the noise.

In fact, you see the same for the current very cheap inkjet printers. New cartridges may cost more than a new printer, so why not trash it when ink is out?
At home we have a very nice  laserprinter bought five years ago, but we print so little that the original toner cartridge is still in service. We do have a spare but when that should run empty, the printer may be ten years old and probably obsolete, though fully operational.

/gustav


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Jim Lawrence
Sendt: 1. november 2013 15:32
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] The walking dead

Hi Gustav:

As mentioned before, I still have a couple of clients that are using dot-matrix printers but that list will be down to one by the end of the week. Just over a year ago I threw out a dozen Documax printers, probably the best dot-matrix printers ever built.

http://dls3.wspan.com/gomerge/secure/webhelp/datasouth/DSA3300.htm

I could not even give them away and definitely could not sell them. Finally I had to clear my garage for the car. These matrix printers, were build heavy, fully programmable, all steel and would definitely survive WW III. It was sad to see them go...a real waste but no one wanted them even though I had put ads out on all the free lists.

There are still a number of offices that use the fax machine but even that is being replaced by email faxes. By the time my generation completely retires the fax will too.

I have no idea what IE has been doing lately as I have not used in it the better part of a year. ;-)

All these technologies will linger on for years but they will never be a major force again and that is what I think was the direction of the article.

Jim