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**linuxguru** · 11-23-2005, 10:28 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

I have to agree - I used a HP Deskjet 310 (parallel) from 1994 to early-2005, when a suspected power surge destroyed it. Replaced with a spare Deskjet portable that I had retained just for this eventuality. I'll eventually remove the PSU from the dead 310 and try to repair it, but it doesn't look necessary for now.

**AK0R** · 11-24-2005, 09:27 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

My HP DeskJet 882C (4 years old) has been consistently more reliable on its parallel port than on its USB port. Some of my software is older, and wouldn't even see it when it was on the USB port. Even some of the newer stuff had problems. Finally, I just gave up and accepted the inevitability of running it on the parallel port, and have had no troubles since.

**arneson** · 11-25-2005, 01:49 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

Some of my customers are mad because there new computer did not come with a parrallel port.
Some have gone to USB to Parrallel converter cable and IF it works your right back to usb.

**Lance Thornton** · 11-25-2005, 05:58 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

I FULLY agree. I have a prehistoric HP Laserjet 5m that work had thrown in the dumpster. It had less that 30,000 pages through it since 1996. I brought it home, cleaned it up and it has been working since. I haven't had to even replace the toner cartridge yet!

**Rainbow** · 11-26-2005, 06:18 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

You call that prehistoric? I have LaserJet IIIP

Slightly more than 100000 pages. Since I got it, I haven't replaced the cartridge too (I've already bought a new one for about 12 euro but the old one still prints).

**Lance Thornton** · 11-27-2005, 08:55 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

OK, I'm beaten!! Talk about a dinosaur!

**Chris1992** · 11-28-2005, 05:20 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

heck, Rainbow even beats my school. (Their oldest is a Laserjet 4P)

**Newbie2** · 11-28-2005, 07:43 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

I have a 1996 HP Deskjet 820Cxi Professional Series parallel printer. My dad has a 2004 HP Deskjet 990Cxi Professional Series USB printer. My printer has been running solid with no problems since it was purchased. My dad's printer had a few problems, so my older printer is better. I wish HP could make their printers the way they used to back then. Now I guess they now focus on how nice those photos print out of their printers on paper.

And Rainbow's printer is a dinosaur!

**Rainbow** · 11-28-2005, 09:37 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

I'd like to find memory expansion modules for the IIIP somewhere. It has only 1MB memory which is not enough for full paper of graphics but works for almost any normal document.
And the paper feeder is not in very good condition - fails to feed the paper sometimes - does anyone know how to recondition the rubber parts? I don't think that I can buy cheap replacements...

Newer HP printers have bad drivers - I've seen the 990cxi driver that simply ignored (did not print) some pages and displayed funny things like "printing page 540 of 18"...

**Chris1992** · 11-28-2005, 10:38 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

rainbow, to condition the rubber parts try a rubber cleaner like CaiKleen RBR.

**Newbie2** · 11-28-2005, 02:29 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

Originally posted by Rainbow

Newer HP printers have bad drivers - I've seen the 990cxi driver that simply ignored (did not print) some pages and displayed funny things like "printing page 540 of 18"...

My dad's 990Cxi printer only had paper jams as problems. And I have seen the "printing page 540 of 18" before on my dad's 990Cxi printer.

**willawake** · 11-28-2005, 04:30 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

we used to have a laserjet III at the office until it was getting too expensive to service, it did last for years though. now we have 4000tn and 4050n. one has done 250.000 and the other 150.000. they have been good except for occasional noises from the manual tray feeder wheels (when you try to print from other trays!! wierd) the user install maintenance kits were good also but expensive. they have had zero service otherwise.

we also have a 990cxi. it used to have probs with the cartridges not being recognised, same cartridge type on the K80 at home, same problem. also the nice problem where you trash the new cartridge taking off the tape. this all seems to be solved now with the newer editions of the cartridges. i think overall it is expensive to print on the 990. we should think about a color laser.

the 4000s are great when printing to cups using the windows driver. zero issues and so easy to set up. fantastic.

the K80 required a 60mb driver to get it working in win2k. months late in delivery of that upgrade also.

what do i have to say in conclusion........?
forget your parallel and usb.......gimme ethernet on all devices.

**Rainbow** · 11-28-2005, 05:20 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

Actually, I have a printserver attached to my IIIP. It's i386DX/25, 8MB RAM and 170MB HDD with stripped-down Slackware 9.0 (printer set up as RAW in CUPS) in slim desktop case under the printer. Windows 2K/XP can print directly using IPP and there's a IPP client for 98/ME available somewhere on Windows ME install CD.

**dood** · 12-19-2005, 09:56 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

the old HP laserjet 4000 series are great printers.

want another used printer that will last for ages? Try the 720 series (720c, 722) inkjets. We had about 50 of them at the school where I used to work and they were great printers. Never had a problem, except that the drive belts for the cartridges started to deteriorate right around when I was leaving, and HP wouldn't sell any replacements.

At home, I use an Apple LaserWriter Select 310 as my main laser printer, even though I'm not a mac guy. Luckily, it has a parallel interface, and I managed to find a driver on the web that works with XP. It's slow, though, and hates images, so I have a backup inkjet for anything with a lot of images. But that 310 I pulled out of a dumpster at the school and also haven't had to put a toner cartridge in it in the 3 years I've had it. It just started getting light on the edges though. I'll have to shake it a bit and it should last a while longer. I bought two NOS cartridges on ebay, and one of them ended up being bad, and I haven't tried the other yet. I guess the NOS supplies are just not reliable after having been shelved for so long...

**Oklahoma Wolf** · 12-19-2005, 10:46 AM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

I grabbed two HP's off eBay recently - a Laserjet 4 and 5N. Both have almost 200k page counts, and they work perfect. For the $45 Canadian I spent on both, I am very pleased

**Chris1992** · 12-19-2005, 01:56 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

what do you think of the Epson Actionlaser 1100? may end up taking that out of my school's cruft yard....

**Rainbow** · 12-19-2005, 02:01 PM

Re: Ancient parallel printers ROCK

Haven't seen that but I've seen Epson EPL-5200 - very reliable and fast printer.

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Ancient parallel printers ROCK

Ancient parallel printers ROCK

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