Warning for those buying a new printer

[Free Printer Guy]

Lyn,

You need to think about purchasing the correct printer to do the job.
As you indicate, for most people the pad issue will not become a
problem. You clearly need a printer that can handle greater print
volume at a lower cost per page than using inkjet. You can look at
color laser printers but most of those have a fairly high maintenance
cost when you start to replace fusers, drums, etc..

You should take a look at the Xerox Phaser 8400. This printer can
deliver 24 pages per minute in full stunning color. Granted this
printer priced at $1699 for the duplex / net work version is more than
the $80 you paid for the Epson. Your cost per page will be considerably
less. Xerox is also running some rebates of $500.00 on the printer.

If purchasing the printer is out of the question, you can look at the
Free Color Printer options at http://www.FreePrinters.com. You can get
it the the Xerox Phaser 8400B free just for purchasing $99 in supplies
per month. Probably less than you spend on Epson ink tanks today.

Maintenace cost on this printer is low. You only replace a mainentance
kit every 30,000 pages at a cost of $148.

FYI - The Xerox 8400 is rated to handle up to 85,000 pages per month!

Just a thought!

 

[measekite]

Just to be clear, kudos fro being willing to go to court over
something you believed in, and for going through the process. In this
case, I think the judge made a correct decision, because Epson did not
advertise the printer would work with the paper in question. For
Epson, at least, the concept of a "photo" printer is one that has the
extra low dye/pigment load inks that are supposed to provide greater
blending "more like a photo". As to if that definition hold water is
another issue, however.

Many photos are matte or semi-matte surfaced. I'm sure one can print
glossy prints in the 2100/2200 anyway, by either using different paper
than the one in question, or by removing or adapting the output wheels.


I think a more interesting lawsuit would be regarding the waste ink
pads, the non-refillable cartridges would make a good environmental
legislative issue, etc.

There are a number of issues I'd love to get some activity on regarding
the inkjet ink and printer market.. maybe one day.

Art

Go sue Epson. Old farts have nothing more to do with their time except
to write Epson manuals for free.

 

[Hecate]

That would be hearsay. Where would the proof be.

In print in the magazine as I mentioned before.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Hecate]

Is that Beano or Mickey Mouse you are referring to, of course they can use
high powered lawyers, and there is no case reporting to the press in the
County Court in England and Wales but there is in Scotland. In the UK the
Plaintiff would have to ask for the press to be present and I think any CC
judge if asked would frown at that. So all you have is after reporting and
who the hell is going to give space to a £500 claim apart from computer
mags. The only advantage is that the Defendant if they loose have a
judgement against them and have to pay up and in the case of a large company
that has little meaning.

I take it you are a lawyer?

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Tony]

Art
I stand corrected.
I was guilty of trying to think for the poster, we normally recommend against
the procedure (including the pad replacement) because it is cheaper to replace
the printer with a similarly specified product.
I have generally found Epson manuals to be fine, my suspicion is that if there
is any vagueness it is mainly due to less than perfect translation. They are
far superior to Brother manuals which often require a degree of spiritual
guidance to follow!
Keep up the good work.
Tony

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Can I "speak" to you privately regarding how you've set up your speech
recognition and what products and hardware you are using? I tried this
a few years ago and it wasn't quite there yet. I'd love to consider
going back to it, to save time, but I'd very much like to know how you
set yourself up and how much training was required to get the results
you do.

Art

 

[Shooter]

Hi Art,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I use at this time Dragon Naturally
Speaking Preferred V8 along with a Plantronics DSP 100 head set. First let
me say it is no use using one of the cheaper headsets it needs to have DSP,
this helps to reduce background noise. Then it's just a matter of training,
the basic to get started is about five minutes and if mistakes occur there
are a number of other training software included in the program. Correction
of words in the program work quite well and is a matter of choosing the
correct word and just say Choose and it's corrected. The problem I have is
that I still have to read most of what I dictate but slowly I am getting out
of that habit.

Hope this brief emails helps.

Shooter.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Thanks for the rundown on your choices of software and headset.

I might try again. Dragon is the only one I haven't tried, and it is
probably the best. All the others were pretty much given to me, so I
wasn't complaining (until I tried them ;-))

Art

 

[Hecate]

Thanks for the rundown on your choices of software and headset.

I might try again. Dragon is the only one I haven't tried, and it is
probably the best. All the others were pretty much given to me, so I
wasn't complaining (until I tried them ;-))

Dragon is brilliant. The latest version seems as if it hardly
requires training though the amount of training it does require will
vary from person to person. As an aside I use a Sennheiser
mike/earpiece because I wanted one with dual padded headphones. It
works extremely well.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Thanks, it does sound like the technology has come of age, finally.

Good to hear.

I used to own stock in the company that bought Dragon, (L+H) in fact,
it's the reason I bought the company. But they were involved in fraud,
and indicted, and Dragon was the only valuable asset they had left and
it was sold off again (sad story ;-)). I've tried IBM (which was the
best of the bunch I have tested) L+H's own version (Voice Express), and
two others, whose names escape me, and even after weeks of practice the
errors were still not acceptable. Then again, back then I was running a
much slower computer and using the headsets that came with the software.

I've been told I have good diction, probably from the amount of public
speaking and traveling I have done, so it's not like the software had to
combat a strong dialect, or accent.

Anyway, I'll have to try the new Dragon (which version is that, BTW) and
dig up a good mike (I have some studio quality, somewhere) and try
again. Could save me a heck of a lot of time and typing.

Art

 

[Hecate]

Anyway, I'll have to try the new Dragon (which version is that, BTW) and
dig up a good mike (I have some studio quality, somewhere) and try
again. Could save me a heck of a lot of time and typing.

The version you want is Naturally Speaking Preferred. There is a Pro
version, but it's only really aimed at corporates.

As for the mike, I cannot emphasise enough that you need a headset
with a boom mike - freestanding mikes have a tendency to pick up
extraneous noise which really messes up your dictation or commands.
(How about turning the command "format the <pause>" into format C <g>)

Never happened as far as I know but you do get quite a few more
failures/corrections with a freestanding mike

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Arthur Entlich]

OK, I've got numerous Headsets with boom mike on them with pop filters,
can see if any work well or if I have to purchase a better one.

Thanks again,

Art

 

[Shooter]

Sets with pop filters may not be enough, I have found you need a mike with
DSP, no doubt you will ask what is that, it is a digitally enhanced noise
cancelling microphone, other mikes will work buy you will get errors in
dictation to text, the amount will vary, another problem with non DSP is
while the program is waiting for speech other sound can be translated to
text, so with say a loud computer fan you might keep getting the word "the
or it " or some other word, which means you have to correct what it's
written and while doing that it will write the words again and again. A mike
with DSP reduces that happening. As I have said in my email to you I can get
up to 99% accuracy. Another small pain is using commands, if you want a
capital letter in the middle of a sentence you need to say Caps On and then
Caps off, but you soon get used to doing this. This reply had three
corrections to be made while dictating, no doubt some smart arse will say my
percentage is wrong, ah well in a perfect world eh. The version of preferred
is V8.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Sounds interesting to pursue at this point considering the amount of
typing I'm finding myself doing. I have a number of headsets here, and
I will see if any have digital noise canceling circuits. I have one
here that claims to be DNCT (Direct Noise Canceling Technology) from
Cyber Acoustics, but maybe DNCT is just a fancy term for "the piece of
foam we wrap the mike in" ;-) It claims to be certified by L&H, Dragon
and IBM VIA Voice..

It states "rated as compatible hardware with Dragon Systems software
under their certification #1"

Art