Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:02:25 -0800 From: Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> To: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: DJ500 dead after >= 16 years. Message-ID: <20080220080221.GA1947@thought.org>
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Guys, I need some input about what kind of _new_ printer to buy
for my desktops. I'd like to hang the printer off my FBSD box;
my Ubuntu platform is probably too far away. At least 3 meters.
Circa '01 or '02 I figured my olden DJ500 had cost ~$45/year.
Not counting the ink. It kept chugging around until a month or
so ago and by now it really is worm out. It makes it's old,
clunking, grinding sounds when I power dowwn, but nothing when I
boot up. And a friend stopped by this afternoon and checked.
Cabling is fine; printer has power. None of the buttons respond;
no reset, no formfeed, nada. Only two of the usual three LED's
are lit, so it's probably broken, burn-out, or worn out wires
somewhere.
The problem with buying New---and my wife is threatening me
if I buy some older, junker printer---the problem is getting any
of these printers that do everything but shine your shoes is:
are there drivers to make them work with FreeBSD? I don't care
about fax, or features like scanning and copying. About the same
with color since most files are code or essays.
Nutshell, I'd like anyone's ideas/experiences with some of these
new HP/<<< or whateverbrand>>> printers. I wouldn't *mind* if I
could scan in text from a techy paper into HTML or PDF or text.
But mostly, like 99.44% plain black text. My old deskjet used
gs as a filter to print PostScript. Do we have any such plugin
support, or are printers still roll-your-own? [FWIW, I can't
seem to get CUPS working... altho it maay be my misssing
/dev/lpt0.]
gary
--
Gary Kline kline@thought.org www.thought.org Public Service Unix
http://jottings.thought.org http://transfinite.thought.org
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