On Dec 27, 2012, at 3:38 AM, David Diggles <da...@elven.com.au> wrote:
>> I want to avoid HP. > > Why? > > I got a Jaserjet 8150DN second hand for $50. Works perfectly. > I totally second this. I used to work at a company that competed directly with HP in the color printing space. Then we were acquired by Xerox, which I left. After 15 years of dealing with printers, I can tell you emphatically that the best way to go is to get a used "enterprise" printer. I have an HP LaserJet 4MP (well, not really a P, I got the postscript SIMM for it). Been working like a champ for the 6 years I've had it. My mother, meanwhile, has gone through *literally* a printer a year. She tends to get these $100 All-in-One PoS printer/fax/scanner/car wash/toasters that she ends up calling me complaining she can't print to. What you need is just a PostScript(tm)-compatible (HP's clone is fine, as is the genuine article), *non-ink*, networked printer. I don't usually recommend wireless -- it's unnecessary cost, usually. Sure, you might have to buy a kit for it (usually, it's the rollers -- very very rarely the fuser or other "important" part). Here in the US, I bought mine off ebay, and it turned out the seller was across the bridge from me, so I went and picked it up to save shipping. Sometimes companies have liquidation sales or they off-load their old junk to resellers like Goodwill (that's what we do where I work now) -- but that's harder to find. One you have the above (well, network + PostScript(tm) compatibility), just about anything on the planet will be able to print to it. I don't believe their is a "best" printer -- just ones that you'll like, and ones you'll curse yourself for believing would be "the best". Sean PS As for hacking printers -- it's not just postscript. Any language that let's you save/restore from some form of storage and/or run arbitrary code has this issue. PostScript(tm) is not the only printer language that let's the printer be "upgraded" over the network. Unless you have a specific reason to open the printer to the outside world, don't.
