needs advice

[Jay Daniels]

On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 03:12:13PM +0800, Edward wrote:
> Jay Daniels wrote:
> 
> 
> <SNIP>
> 
> >I try to avoid multifuction fax/printer/scanners in windows or linux.
> >They seem to be cheap devices and the paper feed does not work
> >properly on most grabing 2 sheets at a time.
> 
> <SNIP>
> 
> Just want to chime in here Jay.
> 
> Please refrain from being that harsh and general. I've sold 
> multifunction devices since the first OfficeJets that ever existed to my 
> customers. I think it was 1997? Could have even been before that (I
> am getting too old methinks).
> 
> Anyway - in a nutshell, we've sold heaps of them here and have had none 
> exhibit paper feed problems.
> 
> Maybe stay away from the cheap ones?
> 
> Or start your sentences with IMHO or "in my experiences". Don't scare 
> people away from things just because you had a bad experience.
> 
> Regards,
> Ed.

You are right Ed.

In my experience, I have had bad luck with these multifunction
devices.  I compare them to TVs with build in DVD or VCR's... if the
DVD or tape part breaks, you are left with a plain ol' TV or have to
send it out to repair the VCR part and you don't have a TV!

Of course these devices are getting cheaper and most people don't
repair them, they just buy a new one.

The Xerox WorkCentre I was referring to wasn't actually cheap.  It was
around $399 +tax when I purchased it.  The $199 HP Multifunction
devices at our business are ink-jets.  Even though these devices are
cheap and do function fairly well (stand-a-lone), the total cost of
ownership (purchasing ink-jet cartridges) outweighs any savings.

When it comes to Linux, you still can't just go into Office Max and
purchase one of these multifunction device at random and "hope" it
works with Linux.  You must do research and even then you may have to
resort to searching for a specific model and have to order online to
get it.  Models avialable yesterday, may not be in stores today, so
many users here can recommend a model but he may not be able to find
it in a retail store.

Then again, you do have some cowboys out there and those users find
out which one's will work with Linux.

If you sell these devices and run Linux, you have the perfect
opportunity to test and see which ones fully work in Linux and write a
review.

Is it too much to ask that hardware manufacturers put a "Designed for
Linux" logo on their products?  We can only hope, maybe one day.

JMHO:)


jay