Hi-Touch S400

This unorthodox-looking printer can create 6x4in images and its detachable wired controller means it can print either with or without a PC.

The 10-button controller gives quick and comfortable access to all of the printer’s functions.It’s a dyesub limation printer,which means it uses colored ribbons to create prints, rather than ink from tanks.The ribbons also include a protective layer that stops the print smearing and makes them somewhat water-resistant.The ribbon technology means that part of the image can be from one of nearly 17 million colors as opposed to inkjets,which can only use the colors contained in the ink tanks.



The design means it’s easy to access the print ribbon as well as giving the device a small footprint.

The printer can print straight from a memory card or a PictBridge compatible camera,and if connected toa PC,the supplied software can help format pictures so they’re suitable for printing.However,the printer’s on-board controls are disabled when USB-connected,and the short lead on the control made for a little discomfort.

Office Printers

The trick to buying printers? Figuring out how much you actually print, rather than basing your decision on how many people you have on your staff. For instance, an insurance firm or law office will print significantly more pages daily than a much larger office group. If you are printing out e-mails, contracts, and the occasional memo, you may be better off with an office AIO (all-in-one printer, for scanning, faxing, copying, and printing) instead of a heavy-duty workhorse that can handle thousands of pages a month.

If you choose an AIO for a small office, there are two key features you need to make sure the printer has. Look for a network connection for sharing it around the office and an automatic document feeder for the scanning and copying functions. Also keep in mind that the scanners you usually find in AIO printers are suited more to documents, so don’t expect to make high-quality scans of your vacation pictures.

For a good-size small biz, go with two Brother MFC-8860DNs ($480 each). These monochrome AIOs are great for a small offi ce workgroup, and a pair of them will prevent a backlog of print jobs from bogging down your network. The Brother is extremely fast and has a long list of features. Unlike other AIOs, the MFC-8860DN seamlessly integrates into a small-business environment once it’s behind your firewall, and it becomes the hub of all your document needs—printing, e-mailing, and copying.

Why does my printer jam, and how can I stop jams from happening?

There is no way to prevent every jam, but there are a few common causes that you can address. Check the paper path for any obstructions, such as torn paper fragments, staples, or even bits of adhesive label that might have come off from a previous sheet. Any foreign matter in the paper path can cause jams. Make sure that you’re not over filling the paper supply, because too much paper can bind up the feed mechanism.

Paper that is too humid, wrinkled, or textured/coated can cause jams, so try a bit of fresh, dry, clean 20-pound xerography-grade paper. If the problem persists, there may be a more extensive problem with the paper feed mechanisms that will require service or replacement.

Linux Printing

Over the course of my Linux adventures, I’ve discovered that I am still doing everything Windows has to offer, only without Windows. Whether I’m surfing the Internet, playing a computer game, tinkering with a spreadsheet, or playing a computer game, Linux gives me a computing experience that ranges anywhere from acceptable to preferable.

But until now, my Linux PC has been lacking a very common peripheral: a printer. You know, that noisy thing that sits next to your computer and is always groaning for more ink or paper. If you ever decide to upgrade your Linux system from plaything to household workhorse, you’ll eventually need to print a document, Web page, or photo. And for anyone courageous enough to venture into open-source scrapbooking, having a functional printer to accompany your Linux PC is all but essential.

Linux detractors quickly point out that driver issues are a prime reason for sticking with Windows. They complain that your peripherals, when connected to a Linux machine, will become little more than expensive doorstops. Although this might have been true in the past, Linux has come a long way. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even a task such as installing a printer is relatively painless in Ubuntu.

To start my foray into Linux printing, I connected an Epson Stylus Photo 925 to my Linux PC via a USB cable and turned on the printer. Then, I clicked System, pointed to Administration, and clicked Printing, which opened the Printers window. I double-clicked New Printer, and Ubuntu automatically detected and properly identified the Stylus Photo 925.

In Step 1, both relevant radio buttons, Local Printer and Use A Detected Printer, were selected by default, so I clicked Forward to continue.

In Step 2, Ubuntu again automatically selected the Stylus Photo 925 from among its list of known Epson printers. It also chose the Gutenprint printer driver, so I clicked Forward to continue. Finally, I clicked Apply in Step 3.

To test the fruits of my labor, I loaded a small stack of paper in the Stylus Photo 925’s tray and opened the OpenOffice word processor to create a test document. Like Microsoft Office, I clicked File and Print to open a Print window. Then, I clicked OK, and the Stylus Photo 925 roared to life and presented me with a printed copy of my test document.

The test print’s quality was initially lackluster and became progressively worse after I fiddled with some of the print settings. Concerned that it could be a driver issue, I connected the Stylus Photo 925 to a Windows PC. The test prints on my Windows PC were just as ghastly, so I assumed the problem lay in the printer itself. After performing the usual printer maintenance (cleaning print heads, checking ink cartridges, etc.), the Stylus Photo 925 decided to shed its surly demeanor and produce an acceptable print.

The successful outcome of my amateur printer repair service emboldened me to try the Stylus Photo 925 on my Ubuntu system again. This time, the test page was just as good as the successful test print on the Windows PC. It seemed like the printing time was longer on the Linux system, but the difference wasn’t large enough to matter. The fact that installing a printer on a Linux system required such little effort on my part more than made up for the slight printing delays.

Obviously, I may have lucked out by having a printer that worked well with Linux. Although Ubuntu’s list of printers is long, you may have to manually hunt down and install drivers for your printer. If this turns out to be the case, I’d go to the Linux Foundation’s OpenPrinting Web page. It has an enormous database of printers, as well as instructions for installing drivers.

And be sure to tune in next month, as I embark on the final voyage of my “Learning Linux” expedition.

Certain colors on my printouts appear fuzzy

If any of the colors on your printed pages appear fuzzy or seem to have a shadow around them, chances are good your print head is misaligned. Refer to your printer’s documentation or check your printer’s software utilities for an option that fixes the alignment.

Fast Disc Label Printer

If you’re looking for a quick way to produce CDs or DVDs in quantity and you want your discs to be presentable, step away from the Sharpie marker and check out the Rimage 360i. It has a bigger footprint than traditional external burners, but it features 16X DVD recording and 48X CD burning, creates discs in stacks of 25, and prints a 4,800-dpi label on each disc with its integrated thermal ink jet printer.

Brother QL-500

Of all the things people have said that are clearly devoid of thought, ‘paperless office’ has to rank in the upper echelons of stupidity. The truth is that we’re printing as many documents as we ever have, but even worse than piles of paper are piles of parcels. These need to be labelled up one way or another and there’s no simple way to do that with your usual A4 printer. You either use multiple A4 sheets of labels, makeshift folded bits of paper or simply break out your marker pen.

Brother believes that it has the solution with the QL-500. Give the company credit, it’s made a mini label printer that we don’t want to hand back. A major plus point is its tiny size: with a footprint around the size of a DVD case, it’ll sit innocuously on your desk. Another thing in its favour is its speed. This is a black and white, 300dpi, thermal printer that can spit out 90mm of printed label a second. In realworld terms, individual labels are printed almost instantaneously.

Printing media is supplied in the form of various widths of sticky-back label rolls, and you’ll find 62mm and 29mm width labels in the box. When it comes to buying replacements, these will cost between $10 and $15 a roll. To create tidy individual labels the printer has an integrated manual cutter, which you’ll need to use after printing each one. The next model up, the QL-550, offers an electronic cutter that can be activated automatically after each print. Unsurprisingly, this is necessary if you’re churning out a lot of labels.

Text quality is good, but because the QL-500 is only capable of black and white you shouldn’t expect anything from the graphics, as it even struggles with basic greyscales. This aside, with integrated Word, Outlook and Excel features and a comprehensive standalone labelcreating program that offers plenty of templates, it’s certainly a good single label maker.