Lexmark Z617

[Phil Stovell]

As my ageing HP Deskjet 640C has finally packed in, I noticed that my
local Wilkinson's has Lexmark Z617 printers on sale for £25. A quick
google on the Ubuntu forums shows that it will work with Ubuntu.

Has anyone used a Z617 and could give an opinion? I don't think one can go
very wrong at the price!


MTIA.

--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

[Chris Whelan]

Phil Stovell wrote:

> As my ageing HP Deskjet 640C has finally packed in, I noticed that my
> local Wilkinson's has Lexmark Z617 printers on sale for £25. A quick
> google on the Ubuntu forums shows that it will work with Ubuntu.
>
> Has anyone used a Z617 and could give an opinion? I don't think one can go
> very wrong at the price!
>
>
> MTIA.
>

It depends on your expectations.

Note that it will be supplied with "moderate use" cartridges. Replacement
normal cartridges are about 20UKP each.

FWIW, I got a free Lexmark Z6xx something or other, claimed to be worth
45UKP, with a magazine subscription. The print quality was so dreadful I
threw it away before the ink ran out.

HTH

Chris


--
Remove prejudice to reply.

[Oliver Shaw]

Phil Stovell wrote:

> As my ageing HP Deskjet 640C has finally packed in, I noticed that my
> local Wilkinson's has Lexmark Z617 printers on sale for £25. A quick
> google on the Ubuntu forums shows that it will work with Ubuntu.
>
> Has anyone used a Z617 and could give an opinion? I don't think one can go
> very wrong at the price!
>
>
> MTIA.
>

A HP deskjet 3920 (Same as mine) is on special today at ebuyer. works
great with Ubuntu

Quickfind code: 107663

Olly

[Phil Stovell]

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 12:15:47 +0000, Chris Whelan wrote:

> Phil Stovell wrote:
>

>> As my ageing HP Deskjet 640C has finally packed in, I noticed that my
>> local Wilkinson's has Lexmark Z617 printers on sale for £25. A quick
>> google on the Ubuntu forums shows that it will work with Ubuntu.
>>
>> Has anyone used a Z617 and could give an opinion? I don't think one can
>> go very wrong at the price!
>>
>>
>> MTIA.
>>
>>

> It depends on your expectations.
>
> Note that it will be supplied with "moderate use" cartridges. Replacement
> normal cartridges are about 20UKP each.
>
> FWIW, I got a free Lexmark Z6xx something or other, claimed to be worth
> 45UKP, with a magazine subscription. The print quality was so dreadful I
> threw it away before the ink ran out.

Hmmm. Thanks for the warning!

>
> HTH
>
> Chris

--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

[Phil Stovell]

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:27:45 +0100, Oliver Shaw wrote:

> Phil Stovell wrote:

>> As my ageing HP Deskjet 640C has finally packed in, I noticed that my
>> local Wilkinson's has Lexmark Z617 printers on sale for £25. A quick
>> google on the Ubuntu forums shows that it will work with Ubuntu.
>>
>> Has anyone used a Z617 and could give an opinion? I don't think one can
>> go very wrong at the price!
>>
>>
>> MTIA.
>>
>>

> A HP deskjet 3920 (Same as mine) is on special today at ebuyer. works
> great with Ubuntu
>
> Quickfind code: 107663
>
> Olly

That looks good, thanks for the link.

--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

[Wayne]

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:40:50 +0100, Phil Stovell wrote:

>> It depends on your expectations.
>>
>> Note that it will be supplied with "moderate use" cartridges.
>> Replacement normal cartridges are about 20UKP each.
>>
>> FWIW, I got a free Lexmark Z6xx something or other, claimed to be worth
>> 45UKP, with a magazine subscription. The print quality was so dreadful I
>> threw it away before the ink ran out.

>
> Hmmm. Thanks for the warning!

I agree, while Lexmark printers look cheap on the surface, the running
costs are really high! I still have a Z51 and the cartridges are about
25 quid each! I can get a new printer for 20 quid if I look around! So
far I've found the cheapest to run have been Canon.

Wayne
--
Registered Linux user #375994
[url]http://www.geocities.jp/rondonko/[/url]

[Phil Stovell]

On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:27:45 +0100, Oliver Shaw wrote:

> A HP deskjet 3920 (Same as mine) is on special today at ebuyer. works
> great with Ubuntu
>
> Quickfind code: 107663

One of those on order. Thanks again, Olly.

--
Phil Stovell, South Hampshire, UK

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather
let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife"

[Shea Martin]

Wayne wrote:

> On Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:40:50 +0100, Phil Stovell wrote:
>

>>> It depends on your expectations.
>>>
>>> Note that it will be supplied with "moderate use" cartridges.
>>> Replacement normal cartridges are about 20UKP each.
>>>
>>> FWIW, I got a free Lexmark Z6xx something or other, claimed to be worth
>>> 45UKP, with a magazine subscription. The print quality was so dreadful I
>>> threw it away before the ink ran out.

>> Hmmm. Thanks for the warning!

>
> I agree, while Lexmark printers look cheap on the surface, the running
> costs are really high! I still have a Z51 and the cartridges are about
> 25 quid each! I can get a new printer for 20 quid if I look around! So
> far I've found the cheapest to run have been Canon.
>
> Wayne

Canon and Epson are cheap on ink, but... if you live in a dry climate,
and don't use it almost once a day the heads clog up. You can replace
the heads, but they probably cheaper just to get a new printer. HP and
Lex, have the print head on the cartridge, so you get a new printhead
with each cartridge. This makes the cartridge more money, if nothing
else goes wrong with the printer, you should get good quality for a long
time.

Sounds like you are in the UK, so you shouldn't have a problem with the
air being too dry :-)

~S

[Wayne]

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:22:12 +0000, Shea Martin wrote:

> Canon and Epson are cheap on ink, but... if you live in a dry climate, and
> don't use it almost once a day the heads clog up. You can replace the
> heads, but they probably cheaper just to get a new printer. HP and Lex,
> have the print head on the cartridge, so you get a new printhead with each
> cartridge. This makes the cartridge more money, if nothing else goes
> wrong with the printer, you should get good quality for a long time.

Another problem with Epson and Canon is the 'use by' date programmed into
the cartridge chip. Even if you still have ink in the cartridge if it
goes past that date it will be reported as being empty. Yet another way
to make them more money! There's a tool available to zap that though
that you should get if you like to refill cartridges with third-party
ink.

One thing I hate about the Epson PM-950C hooked up to the family's Expee
machine that it won't let you print in black if one of the colour
cartridges is empty, even if you select 'print in black' from the
properties page. An annoying popup tells you to change the 'xxxx'
cartridge and you can't do anything until you do!

> Sounds like you are in the UK, so you shouldn't have a problem with the
> air being too dry :-)

Umm, I'm FROM the UK (London, actually) but haven't lived there in
years. Where I am it's dry in winter and humid in summer.

Wayne
--
Registered Linux user #375994
[url]http://www.geocities.jp/rondonko/[/url]

[Tom Clydesdale]

"Wayne" <rondonjin@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2006.04.05.01.29.27.423592@yahoo.com...

> On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:22:12 +0000, Shea Martin wrote:
>

>> Canon and Epson are cheap on ink, but... if you live in a dry climate,
>> and
>> don't use it almost once a day the heads clog up. You can replace the
>> heads, but they probably cheaper just to get a new printer. HP and Lex,
>> have the print head on the cartridge, so you get a new printhead with
>> each
>> cartridge. This makes the cartridge more money, if nothing else goes
>> wrong with the printer, you should get good quality for a long time.

>
> Another problem with Epson and Canon is the 'use by' date programmed into
> the cartridge chip. Even if you still have ink in the cartridge if it
> goes past that date it will be reported as being empty. Yet another way
> to make them more money! There's a tool available to zap that though
> that you should get if you like to refill cartridges with third-party
> ink.
>
> One thing I hate about the Epson PM-950C hooked up to the family's Expee
> machine that it won't let you print in black if one of the colour
> cartridges is empty, even if you select 'print in black' from the
> properties page. An annoying popup tells you to change the 'xxxx'
> cartridge and you can't do anything until you do!
>

>> Sounds like you are in the UK, so you shouldn't have a problem with the
>> air being too dry :-)

>
> Umm, I'm FROM the UK (London, actually) but haven't lived there in
> years. Where I am it's dry in winter and humid in summer.
>
> Wayne
> --
> Registered Linux user #375994
> [url]http://www.geocities.jp/rondonko/[/url]
>

Never became aware of the use by date implications and probably never will
due to the consumption rate. However, I've found that always shutting down
the printer independently (from the power button) seems to avoid the problem
with printhead blockage (I live in Colorado where it is either hot & dry or
cold & dry - humidity is rarely a problem). Thanks for the tidbit.

Tom

[Stephen J. Rush]

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 10:29:29 +0900, Wayne wrote:

> One thing I hate about the Epson PM-950C hooked up to the family's Expee
> machine that it won't let you print in black if one of the colour
> cartridges is empty, even if you select 'print in black' from the
> properties page. An annoying popup tells you to change the 'xxxx'
> cartridge and you can't do anything until you do!

I'm glad I never gave away my old impact printer (a Citizen MSP-40).
The ribbons are getting hard to find, but it takes fanfold paper, which I
prefer for program listings and first drafts. It also expects a stream of
plain old ASCII characters, so it doesn't need several megabytes of driver
code. If I need to print color, or read one of those little media cards, I
use my HP Photosmart 7450, but for simple text I stick with the noisy old
Citizen.

Okidata still makes dot-matrix impact printers, but the prices will shock
you. These printers are now used mostly in loan offices, for printing state-
mandated multicopy forms.

[Mark South]

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:22:12 +0000, Shea Martin wrote:

> Sounds like you are in the UK, so you shouldn't have a problem with the
> air being too dry :-)

Only if you leave the printer outside :-)

Most buildings in the UK are centrally heated with panel radiators, and
the air inside is terribly dry. This is the reason why everyone has colds
all winter (dry nasal passages are more sensitive) and ink cartridges dry
out in a matter of a fortnight or so if not used.
--
mark south; echo [email]znexfbhgu2000@lnubb.pb.hx[/email]|tr a-z n-za-m
"I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic
globule. Consequently, my family pride is something inconceivable."
-- Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado