Imagewriter II Ink Ribbons

[bigmessowires]

What's a good source for Imagewriter II ink ribbons that will actually work? I see several listed on eBay, but most are described as "POS". I'm not sure what that acronym means (other than piece of sh-t) but I'm guessing it's p----- old stock. I believe these ribbons have a relatively short shelf life, so an old stock ribbon from the 90s has little chance of working now.

 

[bigmessowires]

Rather amazingly, the ribbon that's in there now still works pretty well. I have no idea how old it is, but this is the result from the self-test print. Now I just need some tractor feed paper and a printer cable to relive the glory days of Print Shop.

 

[Johnnya101]

Black ribbons for them are sold everywhere online. Color ribbons are still made in china thanks to Eraser. If he's all out i might sell mine if ya want it.

 

[unity]

The ribbons themselves are not the issues, its the rubber rollers inside that break down and cause it to jam up.

 

[Johnnya101]

ESPECIALLY with the old stock color ribbons!

 

[bigmessowires]

So what are the "POS" ribbons I see advertised? Do they have the old rubber rollers that are likely to have already broken down? They seem to use POS like it's an acronym everybody should know.

 

[Themk]

POS, Point Of Sale?

Dot-matrix printing technology is still heavily used in POS systems. Actually, just yesterday I got a dot-matrix printed receipt!

 

[unity]

I picked up a couple ribbons of black from an office supply store. I am sure they are not exactly new stock, but I am sure they are not super old either. The ribbons are used in A LOT of stuff yet.

 

[CC_333]

I find it humorous that we're well into the 21st century, with all this advanced technology, and businesses still rely on 30 year old printer technology.

I guess, if it works, stick with it.

c

 

[Themk]

It is not a huge surprise that there are businesses that use dot-matrix printing technology. It's incredibly reliable, and extremely cheap (to print). There are also some environments that lead to other print technologies not being a very good fit, such as a kitchen printer, where the heat from appliances may ruin a thermal-printed ticket.

 

[techknight]

The biggest purpose for Dot Matrix are businesses that use multi-copy carbon paper, and still does everything by paper.