Re: need a new printer, but how to configure?

[Joseph Fisher kzfisher@xxxxxxxx]

Robert,
Don't forget the Mac platform as a big reason (along with Linux & OS/2)
for the few companies still cross-platforming hardware. I use a HP
printer precisely to be able to use my Mac PowerBook, the wife's
Toshiba laptop, and my trusty DOS laptop (which has XyWrite and
GrandView) with one printer instead of three!
A side note; A few years ago while tinkering with a Linux box I
assembled, an old HP 550 worked fine whereas the modem would never
work. Finally I located the cause - it was a Win-modem. So friends
think twice before flaming other OS users be they OS/2, Mac, Linux,
Unix et al., they may be the rebel force to the evil empire and they
may be all that's saving the old republic.
I Don't know why I lapsed into Star Wars analogies here but hey it fit
the point!

Good weekend to everyone
Joe F.


On Dec 13, 2003, at 8:13 PM, Robert Holmgren wrote:
** Reply to message from Patricia M Godfrey  on
Sat, 13 Dec
2003 10:18:27 -0500
Holmgen

HolmgRen, if you please.
Nice post to Polly. I'm personally a little uncomfortable to have
ladies
feeling that they must, finally (if nobody else steps forward), assist
other
ladies -- but jeez louise where do you start with such a query? I
mean, I
didn't notice anybody exactly LEAP FORWARD to volunteer to maintain a
printer
compatibility list, per my (very good) suggestion the other day. But
that's
exactly what we're talking about here -- the truth is that no one of
us can be
specific about "the printer to buy". We only know our own printer,
and it's
probably three years old. Secondly, the safe XyRoute is
Hewlett-Packard. I
would NEVER buy any other printer. But I'm reluctant to say that
because H-P
is more expensive generally than, say, Epson -- and PCL machines are by
definition not as cheap as WinPrinters. I hate to lose users simply
because
they impulsively buy a $79 InkJet instead of a $299 (or $599) LaserJet
-- but
that's what is happening, steadily. Legacy operations are becoming
more, not
less, expensive. All that money we've been saving from not buying the
latest
version of WinWord, is now going to go to Hewlett Packard. Somebody
needs to
say this aloud. We're headed into a manufacturer-conspired
cul-de-sac, and the
only thing that's saving us from extinction is the user base of Linux
and OS/2,
which compels some manufacturers to still make printers with brains and
cross-platform capabilities, which generally (albeit almost
coincidentally, as
a side effect) include also DOS apps.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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