Digital BW, The Print

Meanwhile, here in "temperate" New York City, I've been using an HP  
Photosmart Pro 8750 for close to five years, and in all that time,  
can recall having two clogs, one of which was due to installing a  
used cartridge someone handed me. Part of this might be explained by  
the use of dyes instead of pigs, but that doesn't explain the holy  
Hades I endured while using several dye-ink-based Epsons over the  
years. (And the Vivera dyes are a lot more stable.)

*One* likely explanation might lie in subtle bit of automata built  
into the 8750: if I haven't used it in over a week (on occasion, I've  
gone for upwards of a month without touching it), it will  
automatically fire up for about fifteen seconds and go though a quick  
self-test cycle. It does this rather quietly, so not only do you have  
to be near the thing when it switches on, but also have a keen ear.

It's about the least amount of babysitting I've had to give *any*  
printer. That's why I went to the trouble of sourcing a second,  
barely-touched 8750 to mothball as a spare.


- Barrett