[NFBCS] Printer Recommendation

[Christopher Chaltain]

Ah, I see, and I get it. I was just interpreting Curtis's statement to be that if you only print occasionally you should get a laser printer but if you're going to print frequently then you want an ink jet printer. Since toner cartridges over time are more economical than ink jet cartridges, it's always been my opinion that if you are going to do a lot of printing then a laser printer will more than pay for itself over time. It's all good man!

--
Christopher (AKA CJ)
Chaltain at Outlook

-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Buhrow <buhrow at nfbcal.org> 
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2022 11:01 AM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Christopher Chaltain <chaltain at outlook.com>; Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com>; buhrow at nfbcal.org
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Printer Recommendation

	hello Chris.  Curtis may have already answered this question, but in case he has not, the reason you want a laser printer over and ink jet printer if you only print occasionally is that, as Jim mentioned, ink jet printers have a tendancy for their ink to dry up after they sit for a long period of time unused.  Worse, the printers will function as though they're working, but will produce blank or unusable pages without complaint.  Depending on how dry things get, it can also be insufficient to just replace the cartridges.  Depending on the design of the printer, it can be necessary to replace the printer to get it working because the ink has dried up and clogged the print head.  Monochromatic laser printers do not have this problem.  They can sit for long periods of time, unused, and print just fine when needed.  

	Also, it's worth noting that if your wireless and wired networks are bridged, i.e. have the same IP address range, you do not need to buy a wireless printer for iOS to use it.
The wired printer's advertisements, the ones that let the iOS devices see it, will be transmitted over the wired and wireless links.  If you have a wired network and even if you have printer capable of wireless operation, you  will probably want to use the wired connection both because it will be more secure and because it will be easier to set up as a blind person.  Most printers will, by default, when plugged into a wired network, try to acquire an IP address via DHCP.  Assuming you have access to your DHCP server, it's usually the same device that serves as your Internet router, you can easily determine which IP address belongs to your printer and you can very quickly point your browser at it and get started setting it up.

-thanks
-Brian