Raider2187
37392
775
8
Jun 26, 2024 7:18 PM
Raider2187
37392
775
8
deaconshadow
They were called Stylewriters, and they were made by Apple. And they did just work. And I knew for a fact that it was because Apple controlled them that they work so well because the body was made on a canon printer. The PC version had a dozen buttons requiring you to pick the fonts and all kinds of bullshit before you could print. The Apple version of the canon printer had one button.
timothyaolson2000
Whatever you do, if your printer is working correctly, DO NOT update the software and / or BIOS. That begins the enshitification process.
atheosxlii
Brother laser comes pretty close.
quade
I have that one! I set it up like, 10 years ago. The only time I have to mess with it is when the power goes out (b/c I don't keep nonessential items on backup batteries) -- I have to press the power button and wait 2 minutes for it to run diags and reconnect to wifi.
Baja2276
flexstar
bottledham
PC LOAD LETTER
NoRoutesFound
Lp0 on fire
blwoodcock
An update recently broke the connection for all my computers to my printer. After trying to fix it the normal way for a while I happened on a really sketchy way to fix it. A script from the maker. I ran it as a last resort and it fixed all of the computers perfectly.
zugz003
At a computer shop I used to work at, we pulled an HP LaserJet 4 from a customer office, they replaced it, we took it back to the shop, customer didn't want it, new transfer kit and roller pads - we kept using it for another 10-15 years. Printer was older than some of the college kids employed at the shop.
ilwrath
Yep. The HP LaserJet 4 was literally indestructible. Way back, we had a girl in the graphics department accidentally load flammable film in one. (Back in the days of overhead projectors instead of LCD projectors or big screens.) This film caught fire inside the printer. Actual flames fire inside the printer. Bad enough it melted a bit of the top plastics and scorched the building wall. For a laugh we pulled what melted film we could out of it, and plugged it back in. It. Still. Printed.
saganworshipper
I run a computer repair shop. No printers allowed. I'm an anti-printite.
circlebreaker
IfOnlyICouldUseMyPowersForGood
wkearney99
I still have an 8100N and 4100N that are still going. Both made ~1995.
M4UsedRollout
Yeah it’s called a Brother laser printer. All the ones I’ve seen were very reliable.
Daviino
Get yourself a laser printer and the problems (mostly) go away. Got a HP LaserJet Pro M28w fro year now (I know HP) and got no problems at all. Also way cheaper to buy new toner and it works w/o any problems with non HP toner.
PinkEater
theMonkeyTrap
Dam it feels good to be a Gansta.. Still remember the background tune
RichardPicture
PC Load letter???
PinkEater
torisenblack
I've had a Canon Pixma 850MX for, shit, 15-20 years now? I've bought one 3rd party pack of replacement inks that has like 8 of each color on Amazon for like 30$ a decade ago that still has a few. It prints photos pretty well, text perfect, network connected, can print from phones, scan, copy. No issues, love it.
varyael
"Out of cyan"
KaJuN
Don't worry, it's just a black and white text document.
varyael
"I said we out of cyan!"
JonSnowAKAAegonTargaryen
"Paper Jam" and there is no jam or miss-feed. Every. Time.
PhloydPhan
Once upon a time there was a printer that was made by a company that liked making printers, and it made them well. But then the printer company was bought up by an evil private equity firm.
PathologicalLier
I mean..i got a dell 2600dn. Its so old there arent even .ppd files for it and naps doesn't know it but theres still working drivers on the dell page for it and ithas network. it works like a charm.
Illithidbane
That's a mad lib.
"Once upon a time there was a ____ that was made by a company that liked making ____, and it made them well, But then the ____ company was bought up by an evil private equity firm."
RowanUnderwood
This guy gets it . . . except it's every company.
TheOGPooner
I have the HP DeskJet 8600… bit much on the ink… but performs flawlessly
TimeLord81
I’m a commercial printer and HP is best brand of printers there is. every part is replaceable. Never buy asian brand printers, they are garbage everything breaks, there’s no customer support and no parts, if you stop running them for a week everything dries out and breaks
eiger3970
More prudent to buy a colour toner printer, refilling with 3rd party toner refills and cleaning as per online videos. Cleaning not needed, but the chips just stop the printer working when reaching x pages printed, so the 'cleaning' resets the dodgy chip.
flarflarf
idk i feel like this is a solved problem. Just buy a simple $150 brother b/w laser. Shit just works. Buy the $200 one if you need to print from your phone.
TheRealDale
It just works… until you can’t get driver support for it anymore.
Astramancer
Yeah, I eventually got a Brother and it just works. Don't touch it for months? Still just prints.
TheRealDale
I have an HP laser printer that sat unused for 21 years. Used it last week with the original toner cartridge - still prints perfectly.
sonnuvah
Get a Brother laser printer. I still have the networked multi-function printer that also scans and copies that I bought around 2010 and have only needed a few toner cartridges in that time, which is so much cheaper compared to inkjet. The thing is virtually bullet proof.
On the very rare occasions I need a color photo printed, I use an app from Walgreens (it's a drug store in USA) to print anything up to about 16"x20" and pick it up that day.
NoRoutesFound
Yup, def getting a Brother laser next, whenever that is. Inkjets in general can get fucked.
I drunkenly bought an HP InstantInk in 2020 and within a week that POS got the Officespace treatment (yes, I played Geto Boys during).
Got a well used Canon from Craigslist the next day that needed a new Fixing Unit to get full CKYM back.
Lifetime page count: ~1 mil, mostly color.
Color laser: $100+$200+a few hrs to fix
Toner: dirt cheap.
Paper: "free" from work.
Swearing off Inkjets for life: priceless.
Scruffy2
Other fairy tales you say?
Apothecarius
I had one that worked great. They discontinued the ink cartridges for it.
TheRealDale
Sam here (Hewlett Packard), then I got an Epson scanner that still works, but Epson stopped supporting it (no Win11 drivers). We are throwing away good equipment because of corporate greed.
NoIdeaWhatToUseHere
Hi Sam!
NoIdeaWhatToUseHere
If you haven’t tried Hamrick VueScan, take a look. It supports multiple OS platforms and a few shittons of scanner hardware. Could save you from throwing out perfectly good hardware in the future. https://www.hamrick.com
TheRealDale
My scanner is Epson Perfection 1200U. It is from Windows 98 era, and scans photos and color slides. While searching online, I found some instructions for Windows 10, and that worked after some modifications and trial/error. Thanks for the tip.
NoIdeaWhatToUseHere
I had an Epson flatbed scanner with film/slide adapters and they were really nice. I really wanted a Nikon Coolscan when I was working with slides but they were really expensive. This was back in nearly the same era but I was on the OS X side using InDesign.
SleepyHollowAppleTree
SexiasMaximus
I've got a Brother HL-L2320D black and white laser printer. This thing has survived 3 moves in 4 years and is still kicking.
boopomatic
I can top you all: canon 2010, I moved 5 times. Still no issues after 14 years
10000Bees
I have an L2370 I got in 2019 that's done me well, too. I don't print terribly often so toner has definitely been an upgrade for me in usability
Gibleteousjack
...Cyan is low.
hotrodny
Have an Oki C5650 color laser printer. Bought it used 10 years ago. Works like a charm. I love it!
TheGreatSynan
Very similar model finally kicked the bucket after being pushed off a table and doesn't recognize ink cartridges. It was a great 7 year run and will be replaced with another of the same. I've had almost no problems with brother lasers.
Psycopaz
Just got one of those to print sheets for battletech. Love that thing.
Xenarion
We got a Brother too after our HP gave up, and so far it's working very well.
Xenarion
And 3rd party ink cartridges also work well.
Adester
I abused my laser printer for 8 years now. It moves so many times, changing temperatures from almost freezing in the morning to sauna when the sun tries to burn me down. Dust, so much dust and even more dust. Or humidity, sometimes both.
6ft1DickC
We went through about 3 different cheaper brands, all lasting just a few months, before buying our Brothers printer.... It's been 6 years with the brothers now. WORTH IT!
pomdor
I know probably all brands now require color ink installed just to print in B&W, but Brother is the only brand I've ever had that required ink to be installed before I could make a SCAN. Never again with that brand!
GoldblumNoises
Toner cartridge buddeh, no color ink required. High capacity can do something like 50,000+ pages before it needs changing
TheUsernameIWantIsNotAvailableAnymoar
Dot matrix printers. Remember those?
Arrrrgggggghhhh
Dot Matrix you say?
Szwejkowski
They were not great. Printed a novel on one once - took forever.
nclu
And it screamed with the rage of 1,000 tortured souls then entire time
vegivamp
They were pretty damn great for the time, and they have some advantages over other types that means they are still in use to this day.
My old Epson 850 could print almost as fine as those newfangled hp inkjets back in the day... Although it did take ages. Also, out of ink and shops closed? Just rewind the ribbon, it'll be good enough.
TheUsernameIWantIsNotAvailableAnymoar
It's either that or the typewriter at one point.
vegivamp
I mean, you could go for a daisywheel printer.
MediocreExtremist
remember? I can still hear them
TheUsernameIWantIsNotAvailableAnymoar
You too?
MediocreExtremist
just one of many things
TheChunguskaEvent
my old friend
3Davideo
brooother, i crave the prints
RHFiesling
the best Brothers
Psionickitten
Oh, brother...
frischcode
Brother!
MediocreExtremist
deep sleep makes me think of murder by suffocation with a pillow
mikeatike
Hello darkness my old friend.
triggrhaapi
I also have this exact same Brother printer. It's immortal.
speedhandle
Mine fell out of my moving van by accident, ricocheted off the metal deck and then bounced and tumbled a bit on the asphalt. Thought that had to have killed it. Plugged it in later for fun to see what horrible things it might do if I tried to print something, but it worked perfectly and still does 5 years later.
LivingIsLearning
Yeah, I also thought of Brother monochrome laser printers at once :D Cheap and surprisingly reliable, especially considering the price
AntyMatter
We're on our 2nd and they are great.
TheChunguskaEvent
I ordered a printer for my desk at work. IT could source one - I think a Canon - from one of their suppliers. Instead, I just expensed a $175 Brother with duplex printing. IT was all "oh we can't support that hardware if there are problems" and I was like "ok that's fine"
KaJuN
HELL YEAH BROTHER
mike13815
vegivamp
I have a 4650 that I got secondhand in 2006. Served me extremely well all that time, but I can't find new fuser units for it, so it has sadly been replaced by a Brother. Picking brother wasn't difficult, I've had them before and they were always highly reliable despite the abuse I put them through as a supposedly lightweight printer.
mikeatike
I have a late 90s HPLJ-1000, last time I had a computer with a parallel port it still worked and printed sharp images. However the fusor didn't get hot enough, so when you tilted the page, the toner would fall off.
mike13815
A fuser for that is only $50. Might be worth getting a usb-parallel port adapter. Especially with how cheap toner carts are for it.
mikeatike
Hmm, I'm gonna have to look into this. Tho I really only print a few pages per year, so it's why I've never replaced the 1000.
mike13815
The benefit of laser is that it doesn't dry up between those few prints a year. It's just a solved issue - you bought a 20+ year old printer that will essentially last forever.