Beware of the fine print

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The other day I retired an HP color laser all in one that I had here at home because my Sister was about to chuck it out the window. It would get jamm
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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Alex5723, Cybertooth

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I faxed only to those who would not accept emailed PDF.  I no longer have it connected to the phone line, and I don’t fax via the internet.  If you can’t accept an emailed PDF, then we ain’t doin’ business.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We were all once "Average Users". We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do to our systems, we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

Computer Specs

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So what technology did you rely on then, is now being slowly killed off?

My AIO Samsung laser color printer has fax. Printer’s rj11 phone cable connects to phone port on my Fiber Router so I can fax from my printer (free service with my ISP).

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I was disappointed when my mobile carrier stopped supporting my clam shell cell phone.  It was inexpensive, small, light and comfortably fit into a pocket.  It was more than adequate for phone calls and text messages.  A full charge lasted a long time.  And unlike the replacement Android smartphone there were no concerns related to malicious apps and Google snooping.  Sigh.

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Charlie, Cybertooth

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Medical facilities tend to rely on fax machines:
https://med.stanford.edu/school/leadership/dean/precision-health-in-the-news/why-your-doctors-office-still-depends-on-fax.html

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Cybertooth

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Ah, tha fax – saw it come and saw it go. It was 1984 when there was much debate at the firm I worked then, if ‘we’ needed a fax. Some said we did, some said we didn’t. The latter mostly because the costs. They were expensive and then there was the cost of the phone line. And the thermal paper. Anyway, it saw the light of day to the end of 1984. And silently disappeared about 20 years later.

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Seff

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Back in the day, I used to be instructed by a bank/building society to advise on new branch acquisitions, and they would phone me with the instructions and then send a typically 60+ page lease or other document for me to peruse and advise on. I always felt relaxed knowing that the document wouldn’t come in the post for a day or two so there was no cause to panic.

Then the company had a new-fangled fax machine installed, and as my office was the only one with a spare phone line in the corner it was put on a small table there. Nobody really used it and I ignored it until I received a new instruction from said bank/building society over the phone. Thinking I had the usual day or two to deal with other things I was aghast as I put the phone down to hear the fax machine click and whir into action, spewing 60 continuous pages (the paper came in a roll initially) across the floor. I remember thinking “This new technology is going to be dratted nuisance”! And it usually was.

Nowadays I sit at home in splendid retirement with two desktop computers only one of which is connected to a HP Deskjet 2542 printer.  It serves its purpose, and isn’t such a dratted nuisance as that early fax machine!

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There are times even today the IRS wants you to fax things to them.

-Noel

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Beyond my fax comment above, the idea that you can buy a new printer that will actually reliably print and/or do the other stuff such devices are supposed to do seems to be more and more a fantasy as time moves on. Perhaps it is already entirely so.

There was a time when we threw out our prior printer because it spit out its parts and became non-functional (usually gradually). We all have fond memories of that old HP or Canon that wired to the computer and just worked.

Now we regularly chuck them in the bin out of frustration. Not because they’ve broken but because they don’t actually print when you need a print, or scan when you need a scan, or fax.

This is the kind of frustration that means you’ll not be buying a printer from that company again.

Not terribly surprising when you consider these are really only devices to lock you into buying consumables. Lately even before you’ve consumed them.

Could we please just have products that do what they’re supposed to do?

-Noel

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Steve S., GeeBeeDee, Cybertooth

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Also fond(?) memories of the HP inkjet printer bundled with new consumer PCs in the early 2000’s which just worked until HP discontinued the ink cartridges after about 5 years. You also had the choice of paying around $30 for new cartridges or the same price for a new cheap HP printer.

Regards, Phil

 

 

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Cybertooth

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I got tired of inkjet printers failing or failing to print about 9 years ago, and I bought a Canon laser (B&W)/ scanner (MF3010). It has worked as both printer and scanner without hiccup ever since, even after I stopped using Windows and moved to Linux. It’s still on the starter toner, as I don’t print all that much, but I would have had a dozen ink cartridges dry out by now.

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GeeBeeDee, cyberSAR, Cybertooth

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My experience tracks yours. (MF4890DW). Nothing but good to say about it. Fast to wake from sleep and print, quiet still on the starter toner myself. Best of all the software doesn’t install all kinds of garbage and has been bug-free for me. It just works!

Never Say Never

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Cybertooth

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Yep. The commoditization of printers. Built cheaply, supported for short amounts of time, designed with built-in obsolescence and destined for the huge e-waste pile (usually in some third-world country). I hope this will change but I’m not holding my breath.

Win10 Pro x64 22H2, Win10 Home 22H2, Linux Mint + a cat with 'tortitude'.

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wavy

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VHS machine — Gone.
R2R computer tape drives — Gone.
8 mm (and other formats) tape backup — Gone.
Centronics printer interface — Gone.
8, 5.25, and 3.5 -inch floppies — Gone.
DEC VAX and VMS O/S — Gone.
DECWriters — Gone.
Dumb terminals — Gone.
CRT displays — Gone.
SCSI drives — Gone.

I still use film cameras, vinyl records, and an HP RPN pocket calculator, though.   🙂

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wavy, Cybertooth

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Still find faxing to be useful and more convenient on occasion, in particular cases.  (Not just  for use with medical offices — for material to / from accountants as well, to name another.)  Direct WYSIWYG connection, eliminating the steps of scanning, PDF’ing, and emailing.  I would not want this option to disappear.  The one good thing I see in its much diminished general use is that it’s been many years since I received a junk fax.

Enterprise-grade SCSI HDDs (the IBMs, which were made in Hungary) had a 2 Million MTBF rating, possibly unequaled by what replaced them (?), and I never did have one die on me, but I did not miss the added complexity of their (separate) adapters, and best configuring them.  (Much later on, I’ve trashed two SSDs via static electric spark.  Never seen that with any mechanical HDD, and I’ve handled a great many of the latter over the years.)

I also dread the day when my excellent Japanese-made iiyama CRT computer monitor gives out, as I definitely prefer it on several counts to the 16:9 format LCD ones.  It has lasted around 10 years so far.  But then, tech-wise I’m often found among the dinosaurs.

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When my brother, two others and I started an aerospace & electronics export company in 1972, we had a Telex machine that we used to communicate with our major trading partner in Japan. That was our “fax” of sorts.

A couple years later, our trading partner insisted we get a machine called a fax. We’d never heard of it before. Most of our States-side suppliers hadn’t heard of it either. They were certainly expensive but they were vastly better than international mail and leaps ahead of Telex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax

Our partner shipped a fax to us and our business grew quickly. We were the “quick brown fox” compared to our competion. We pressed our main suppliers to follow suit which they did and our pace pick up commensurately. Of course, the technology didn’t remain unkown for long and we soon had to find other ways to be quicker than all the other brown foxes – as it always seems to go with labor saving devices, yes?

Win10 Pro x64 22H2, Win10 Home 22H2, Linux Mint + a cat with 'tortitude'.

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Cybertooth

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