Printers

[lnx64]

So I have a thing for old printers. I find them cheaper to maintain (ribbon vs ink, or even toner if a laser), more reliable (they are like tanks), and sometimes you can find a 64-bit driver if you have a new computer and a means of connecting it.

My daily driver is an Epson LQ-570e. It was given to me, and only had one broken part in shipping which I fixed with foam tape to prevent gear slippage. New ribbon cost $8 so I bought a 3 pack for 20 bucks shipped as a discount, and a 25ft parallel cable to my modern PC which still has a parallel port. This printer once had 64-bit drivers made, and I don't know where this driver pack came from, if it was ported by someone or what, but it actually works on Windows 10 natively. DOSBox can even print to it if the parallel output is set to "dev file:lpt1" and doesn't even need drivers for it, DOS programs see it directly.







Does anyone else share this passion with vintage printers, and prefer them over the new stuff? I find every new printer I try breaks down in just months these days, and the ink costs always 2x the cost of the printer which came with ink (though never a full tank). I honestly believe older printers are workhorses and are worth it.

Heck even a 20 pound box of paper was 20 bucks. Far cheaper than a ream of copy paper. I never print color so I never saw the need.