10th July 2001

Lockergnomie Jeff Stanford is outraged at the premature rejection of his ink cartridges. When your printer squawks about being out of ink and refuses to print any further, it may not be entirely accurate. You see, when some printers detect that the ink cartridge is running dry, they head things off at the pass before printing gets sketchy or sloppy. While the concern is appreciated, leaving a spot of useful ink in the well adds up over time. And we all know how outrageously expensive those things are. Sometimes you can cheat the system by removing and shaking the cartridge ever-so-lightly before putting it back. Many printers will consider it a new cartridge, possibly resulting in dozens of additional pages being printed. Not all printers have an automatic ink level detection feature, so this will vary in practice among printer models. While we're on the subject, it's always a good idea to give your printer a spot of work to do once a week (or so) because the ink tends to dry out and gum up the print heads during long periods of inactivity. You don't have to print a book, of course; a page or two from your favorite tech newsletter (with some color) should do the trick.