Digital BW, The Print

Hi,
Please help me. I'm in desperate need of knowledge!

My Epson 1270 is having difficulty printing. I fought with it Monday 
night for about 3 hours. Tonight I did manage to get the red light 
to go out and got the new MIS UT2 eboni black ink working, however I 
cannot seem to get one "jet" to fire. I've done many (after reading 
some stuff, I'm slightly worried I may have run too many) nozzle 
cleanings and nozzle checks.
I've enclosed a link that shows what I mean about a "jet" not firing 
using the MIS 6 ink purging sheet.

http://www.ptfoto.com/Test.jpg

1. Is it possible that the one "cylinder" (I'm tired and don't know 
the terminology) may be out of ink and the printer driver not know 
it? The larger cartridge is low enough on ink that I would only be 
able to do 46 more purge prints like the one in the link. The black 
cartridge is new.

2. I do not have an Epson brand color cartridge to verify that it's 
working because I'm on the verge of buying a continuous flow system. 
Actually, I almost bought another MIS UT2 cartridge, but decided I 
want the continuous to save money in the long run.
I was hoping to use the UT2 inks which is what cartridges are in 
currently. I understand that I'll have to buy the empty system and 
inks separately. Is this okay to do? I've read that I'll need to use 
the 1280 driver to do this. I've downloaded the driver but can't 
figure out how to get it to work on the 1270.

3. Would I be better off using an MIS "offical" ink system like the 
MIS FS or VM? My goal in order of importance is B&W prints, 
archival, the ability to do sepia or neutral depending on my mood. 
I'd like to print on glossy paper as well, but this isn't a deal 
breaker. I can be happy with matte paper for awhile (I have plenty 
of it). However, I do have some 13x19 Epson Premium Semigloss that 
I'd hate to see go to waste.
4. I can not afford to buy a 1280 or 2200...or RIP software or 
luxuries like that. I'm more interested in camera lenses currently. 
I have been pretty happy with my results and have even participated 
in a print exchange.