Linda Proulx,

16-Nov-99 01:03:33, Linda Proulx wrote to Andy Roberts
 LP> -=> Andy Roberts wrote to Linda Proulx <=-
          Subject: Re: Get Going

 AR>> 99% of the time hardware is not a good reason to use M$,
 AR>> especially if you read the OS2HW echo and make careful selections
 AR>> before buying new HW.  Often the difference in price between the
 AR>> very cheapest M$ only HW that is usually slow and unreliable, is
 AR>> not enough savings in $

 LP> Just discovered a mess of new printers are Win9X only. P.O.ed me
 LP> all to.....

It's been that way all this year.  Very sad situation.

 LP> And in order to get anything comperable would have to pay $800.00 for
 LP> Warp use.  Sheesh.

Compromise.  Look very carefully on the IBM Device Drive Pak site for drivers
BEFORE you buy.  Try to find a slightly older printer at an auction.  Many of
the older Epsons printers do have OS/2 drivers.  Actually there are over 1300
printers that have OS/2 drivers.  Just not the new WinPrinters.

AFAIK there is only 1 WinPrinter that has OS/2 drivers.  That is the Lexmark
5700 Color InkJet (or it's newer replacement).  From experience, it can be
forced to work under OS/2, but the driver has many bugs and the printer is
very slow.  The Lexmark false advertisement boasts speeds it could only get if
it only printed 1 character on an otherwise blank page.  1 full size color
page could easily take over 20 minutes to print with a lot of CPU and RAM
power.  I bought that printer for my sister-in-law mostly because it has
1400DPI.  The best thing I can say about that printer is that it can be had
for under $200.

Personally I can do without color, so my HP4L is very satisfactory.  Those are
old now, but they were commercial quality, so they will last a long time.  The
print quality and speed are great.  The large powered ink cartridge will last
about 2-3 years or a full case or more of paper.

I also have a HP DeskJet 340, which is color but only 300DPI, which makes
photos look like newspaper print.  I don't use this at all anymore.  The
little
liquid ink cartridge (typical size of many new printers) will only do about
200 pages maximum if used very quickly.  If it is only used once in a couple
of weeks, then it will dry out or clog up long before you get 50 pages out of
it.  That works out to about $1 per page.

Just a few days ago I saw an auction for the Epson Stylus Photo 700, which
also has 1400DPI.  There were about 40 of them that had been refurbished.  I
did find OS/2 drivers for it.  A few hours before the end of the auction they
were still going for a lot less than $100.  Unfortunately I did not get back
right before the auction ended, so I don't know what they finally went for.

From my experience this year, Printers are by far the hardest component to
find top quality, new, OS/2 drivers, and a reasonable price.  You can leave
out any 1 of those 4 specs, and find something.  But IMO the printer industry
at large has opted to make very poor quality WinPrinters in such large
quantities as to overwhelm the market.  I spent months searching the web and
weeks on the phone to many suppliers and a whole day just talking with Epson
and HP.  In the end I had to compromise.

     Thanks and Good Luck,        Andy Roberts
                                  andy@shentel.net
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