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Lexmark Sues 24 Companies Over Toner-Cartridge Patents
eldavojohn writes "Remember back in 2003, when Lexmark tried to use the DMCA to stop aftermarket toner cartridges from being produced? Well, they're now suing 24 companies for infringing on 15 patents they have on toner cartridges. The article also notes that Lexmark has been filing lawsuits over patent infringement on formulas for their inks."
I mean really? Every printer of quality I've seen in the last 3 years (and I use the word 'quality' loosely) has been an Xerox, HP or Canon. Maybe they should spend some time building things people want to buy. Could be wrong of course. Often am.
JE
A nice advertisement for what not to buy, thanks Lexmark.
Anyway, for those looking for alternatives, Brother doesn't chip their cartridges, and the ink is not criminally expensive. Anyone know of other brands?
Another option is to buy a continuous ink system; often these include compatible chips so you can bypass the manufacturer. Though, finding good CIS and quality inks may be somewhat troublesome. Any suggestions here?
The weird thing, I have a Lexmark (x204n) which fully supports Linux, even to the point of having Tux on the box alongside the Mac and Windows logos. Even scanning with xsane works. Too bad the printer itself is kind of crappy...
"Be grateful for what you have. You may never know when you may lose it."
I had an Epson inkjet which I actually liked quite a bit until I used some off brand cartridges. I went through 2 generic black cartridges without a perceivable difference in quality. Eventually I had to replace the color cartridges and the printer stopped working. Thinking the generics were just bad, I went out and purchased all new genuine cartridges, which also didn't work. A call to Epson tech support confirmed that the printer essentially is bricked when one tries to use generic cartridges.
Crap like this is why my family doesn't even -have- a working printer. Instead we print the natural way; bring the file to work and print it there. Plus it's free!
Seriously though, once tablets are more or less ubiquitous in a professional office it will trickle down to the point where they're giving the ink away for free just to sell a printer again.
bend like the reed
There are basically two kinds of ink used in inkjet printers. Solvent-based and water-based.
Solvent-based inks are generally used for the kind of inkjet printers where some resistive element heats up the ink to make a tiny bubble of gas to push out the ink. Water-based inks are typically used where some mechanical device is used to push out the ink, such as a piezoelectric element. Since the majority of printers are of the resistive variety, most third-party inks are solvent based.
Epson printers are of the piezoelectric variety and using the wrong kind of ink can cause permanent damage to the print head. Solvents and acids attack the piezoelectric elements. The solvents also dry up quicker and clog the nozzles. A new piezoelectric print head usually can be purchased for the more expensive Epson printers but they are somewhat pricey.
Years ago, I examined some cheap off-brand Epson ink replacements and the ink was the same kind of solvent ink used for other ink jets. When you get the better off-brand cartridges, some did have the right kind of ink but the price difference meant it was pointless to buy them because the real Epson cartridges was practically the same price. The _only_ time where the off-brand made sense for Epson was the printer mods which used 1 pint bottles with silicone pipes for the ink but I doubt that a typical user would ever need to print that much.
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.