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Have a read of this..

Epson Foul Play
by Andrew Charnley on July 8th, 2003. 0 comments

Dutch Consumer Association consumentenbond has released a statement to its
650,000+ members advising them to boycott Epson printers because of the so
called 'smart' chip inside of the cartridges.

The cartridges were recently exposed by the which? association when an average
of thirty percent more pages could be printed with the special chip bypassed.
The Dutch Consumer Association warns that the chip stops printing after a
number of prints rather than low ink levels.

By 2006 the use of chips to prevent refills will be made illegal under
European legislation. Meanwhile manufacturers are raking in as much cash as
possible, before having to raise the price of hardware currently subsided by
the high cost of cartridges.

In article <beg1uj$hmd$>, "Nicholas Sherlock" <> wrote:
>"Master Tech ©" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> Have a read of this..
>>
>> Epson Foul Play
>> by Andrew Charnley on July 8th, 2003. 0 comments
>>
>> Dutch Consumer Association consumentenbond has released a statement to its
>> 650,000+ members advising them to boycott Epson printers because of the so
>> called 'smart' chip inside of the cartridges.
>>
>> The cartridges were recently exposed by the which? association when an
>average
>> of thirty percent more pages could be printed with the special chip
>bypassed.
>> The Dutch Consumer Association warns that the chip stops printing after a
>> number of prints rather than low ink levels.
>
>The reason for this is simple: It's too hard to install sensors inside chips
>to measure ink levels (I assume). I don't think that any manufacturer has
>sensors inside their cartridges to measure ink levels. The usual practice is
>for the printer to count how many dots it has been requested to put on the
>paper, then when the number of dots exceeds a certain level, the ink must
>have run out.

Question : why can't the user tell when the ink has run out by looking at the
most recently printed page and saying words like ... "bugger, the ink has run
out - better get another ink cartridge" ?

What benefit is there in the hardware telling us ? ... particularly if it
isn't true

On the up side, Epson actively support linux

Bruce


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Oook !
NOTE remove the not_ from the address to reply. NO SPAM !

On Wed, 09 Jul 2003 14:35:31 +1200, Master Tech ©
<> wrote:

>
>

>The cartridges were recently exposed by the which? association when an average
>of thirty percent more pages could be printed with the special chip bypassed.
>The Dutch Consumer Association warns that the chip stops printing after a
>number of prints rather than low ink levels.
>


Has anyone got informaion on how Which? did that please.

Is there anyo9ne here who works for Epson NZ who wants to comment


Patrick

"Master Tech ©" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
>
> Have a read of this..
>
> Epson Foul Play
> by Andrew Charnley on July 8th, 2003. 0 comments
>
> Dutch Consumer Association consumentenbond has released a statement to its
> 650,000+ members advising them to boycott Epson printers because of the so
> called 'smart' chip inside of the cartridges.
>
> The cartridges were recently exposed by the which? association when an
average
> of thirty percent more pages could be printed with the special chip
bypassed.
> The Dutch Consumer Association warns that the chip stops printing after a
> number of prints rather than low ink levels.

The reason for this is simple: It's too hard to install sensors inside chips
to measure ink levels (I assume). I don't think that any manufacturer has
sensors inside their cartridges to measure ink levels. The usual practice is
for the printer to count how many dots it has been requested to put on the
paper, then when the number of dots exceeds a certain level, the ink must
have run out.

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

z (Bruce Sinclair) wrote in
news:FdMOa.3714$:

> In article <beg1uj$hmd$>, "Nicholas Sherlock"
> <> wrote:
>>"Master Tech ©" <> wrote in message
>>news:. ..
>>> Have a read of this..
>>>
>>> Epson Foul Play
>>> by Andrew Charnley on July 8th, 2003. 0 comments
>>>
>>> Dutch Consumer Association consumentenbond has released a statement
>>> to its 650,000+ members advising them to boycott Epson printers
>>> because of the so called 'smart' chip inside of the cartridges.
>>>
>>> The cartridges were recently exposed by the which? association when
>>> an
>>average
>>> of thirty percent more pages could be printed with the special chip
>>bypassed.
>>> The Dutch Consumer Association warns that the chip stops printing
>>> after a number of prints rather than low ink levels.
>>
>>The reason for this is simple: It's too hard to install sensors inside
>>chips to measure ink levels (I assume). I don't think that any
>>manufacturer has sensors inside their cartridges to measure ink
>>levels. The usual practice is for the printer to count how many dots
>>it has been requested to put on the paper, then when the number of
>>dots exceeds a certain level, the ink must have run out.
>
> Question : why can't the user tell when the ink has run out by looking
> at the most recently printed page and saying words like ... "bugger,
> the ink has run out - better get another ink cartridge" ?
>
> What benefit is there in the hardware telling us ? ... particularly if
> it isn't true
>
> On the up side, Epson actively support linux
>
> Bruce
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Oook !
> NOTE remove the not_ from the address to reply. NO SPAM !

I wonder what the original source of the information was ? - no url
supplied or source cited so that one can read the "whole" story

--
Chris Mayhew using Xnews !

In article <FdMOa.3714$>, Bruce Sinclair
wrote...
> Question : why can't the user tell when the ink has run out by looking at the
> most recently printed page and saying words like ... "bugger, the ink has run
> out - better get another ink cartridge" ?
>
Because the next words might be "bugger, the print head is stuffed.."
One manufacturer has detector system that shines a light through the
cart. All seem to err on the full side of empty.

> I wonder what the original source of the information was ? - no url
> supplied or source cited so that one can read the "whole" story

Not the original article, but a link providing details on the same
announcement, can be found at;
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/31623.html

The latest NZ Consumer magazine has a similar expose on Epson "smart" chips
ripping you off by telling you the cartridge is empty when it really isn't.

In article <isNOa.3725$>, Bruce Sinclair
wrote...
> Really ? ... do modern cartridges not have the print head as part of the
> cartridge now ? .. if they're separate, why aint the ink cheaper
>
Printhead as part of cart is an HP thing.

The ink is so expensive because they have to pay for all the ads telling
you how good the "genuine ink" is.

In article <>, colinco <> wrote:
>In article <isNOa.3725$>, Bruce Sinclair
>wrote...
>> Really ? ... do modern cartridges not have the print head as part of the
>> cartridge now ? .. if they're separate, why aint the ink cheaper
>>
>Printhead as part of cart is an HP thing.

Ah ... thanks. That accounts for it

>The ink is so expensive because they have to pay for all the ads telling
>you how good the "genuine ink" is.

... as does this

Bruce


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Oook !
NOTE remove the not_ from the address to reply. NO SPAM !