So about 8:30 I come home with a brand new HP OfficeJet j5780 which I got from my nearby Staples. It’s cool; it’s small, it has a sheet feeder and a pretty small footprint… smaller than the one it replaced.
I’d forgotten the goat dance that goes on when you get new equipment.
First, there’s the unpacking. Then there’s taking all the shipping tape off. HP knows I won’t read a manual to start so provides a big sheet with drawings of what I’m supposed to do… which works pretty well until I get to the USB cable.
The software kept saying I …read more

My printer has finally given up the ghost. It’s an HP PhotoSmart 2410 and I got it free because I became a beta tester for them. That was over five years ago, maybe more than six. I remember when they came to set up the test unit, and how I had to go to a special website and answer certain questions and forward them stuff. It was a cake walk.
Then, they came and took the test unit away and in about a week I received a brand new unit as a reward. I think, back then, the printer sold for …read more

A bunch of years I beta tested a hp psc 2410 photosmart all-in-one printer. (Yep, on the printer it’s all lower case.) When I’d finished the test, they gave me a brand new one which I’ve used ever since. Yesterday I went through one of the goat dances we all face from time-to-time.

A client wants an actual fax from me, complete with paper and real signature on a non-disclosure agreement.
I prepare and sign the fax and place it on the scanner.
Because I’ve never figured out how to keep the fax hooked up, use my phone, my computer, and my …read more

So someone sends me a 58 page paper on a subject that’s dear to my heart. Since I’m feeling time pressured, the best thing to do seems to be to print it out for reading on my flight Wednesday. I click my print button and instead of the usual smooth printing, with occasional shouts for more ink or more paper, darn thing starts clicking… a fairly loud, very annoying and rhythmic clicking. And it won’t turn off.
Not to be done in, I quickly unplug it. Turning a printer off and on solves more problems than you might suspect. Not this …read more