Are vintage injket printers useable still?

[KnobsNSwitches]

This may be a dumb question, but are vintage inkjet still usable? I have an eMate my kids use and it would be slick to be able to print.

Seems like “untested” style writers come up often, are old printers still usable? I know maceffects had some ink for awhile, but do  cartridges dry out in the package?

Just wondering, maybe there are vintage printer enthusiasts, too. 

 

[just.in.time]

Many of the StyleWriters could use cartridges from similar Canon Bubblejet and HP Inkjet printers of the era... maybe some Epson models as well? At any rate, those cartridges were manufactured well into the 2000s. Inkjets.com (or any cartridge remanufacuting company, that’s the only one I know off the top of my head) may have new remanufactured cartridges as well.

I’d imagine there is a chance NOS cartridges from the 90s and early 2000s could have dried out, but not really sure. What I’d be more concerned about with all those printers are the rubber rollers that grab the paper drying out, as well as various plastic bits getting brittle. I’ve had the rollers dry out before. It causes the printer to not be able to grab the next sheet of paper, and it believes you are out of paper despite 30 sheets in the tray.

I wonder if it would be possible to rig up a Raspberry Pi to appear as a StyleWriter and then forward the document to a modern printer. I know it can be done for AirPrint  That way you don’t have to deal with maintaining a vintage printer.

 

[beachycove]

If you are looking for a printer, a StyleWriter 2200 is one of the machines a Newton 2100/eMate most likes to see connected to it, them being contemporaries and all that. The 2200’s cartridges are also easily refilled, as they are just ink containers, with no printhead. You just add (Canon)  ink through the hole in the bottom, right into the sponge, until saturated. Getting the separate printhead cleaned out can be a challenge, mind, but it can be done.

Your eMate will also print to a Laserwriter, either Postscript (i.e., most of them) or QuickDraw (there was at least one little Personal LW that had no postscript support). It will handle serial or AppleTalk connection as needed. 

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

Thanks! I think I'll try and pick one up. Oddly enough, the 2200 was what i was most interested in.

 

[maceffects]

If I can find a source for newly made ink, I have a few new old stock StyleWriters I'd love to use.