Printer WTF



  • One of our users really loves to print to papers which are already printed on one side or even on both sides if there is enough room on the page left. I've already once spent an hour or so removing narrow piece of paper from his printer which was left between used paper. But now he had even better idea: print to a paper from Ikea with instructions. The printer absorbed the whole paper and it stopped working. The paper was nowhere to be found. After something like half an hour I finally found the paper:


    This is already partly removed but originally the whole paper was completely wrapped around the drum in several layers and completely covered with black toner. Suprisingly, after removing the paper from the drum, the drum looks working fine.

    The worst part? I've just send my working coat to cleaning so I wrapped myself into some plastic to protect me against toner. No photo of that :-)



  • I used to work for a guy who was 'saving the planet' by printing on every bit of scrap paper that came along, instead of buying printer paper. He'd go through two or three printers a year as a result of feeding crumpled scraps of paper into them. Clearly better for the environment...


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @TDWTF123 said:

    I used to work for a guy who was 'saving the planet' by printing on every bit of scrap paper that came along, instead of buying printer paper. He'd go through two or three printers a year as a result of feeding crumpled scraps of paper into them. Clearly better for the environment...

    If you need to save the planet that badly you are probably better off stapling[1] used paper to trees.

    pedantic dickweed alert: or using biodegradable string or something to tie it.



  • What is this... I don't even... how did it...



  • I think IKEA instructions are printed on thermal paper, which is kind of sticky, and likely to not come off the roller as the printer designers expected.



  • @Circuitsoft said:

    I think IKEA instructions are printed on thermal paper, which is kind of sticky, and likely to not come off the roller as the printer designers expected.

    Most lasers have a pretty narrow range of paper sizes they take, usually between 16-24 weight. Anything thinner than that'll tear, anything thicker will either jam or get pulled-around the roller like in the photo. (Which is still a jam, I guess. But.) Sometimes they have a setting to reduce tension and allow thicker papers, but even that's iffy.

    I've had to deal with this problem before. "You can't just feed advertising flyers and shit into a laser printer! They wouldn't label the box 'laser printer paper' if laser printers could print on any type of paper!" Of course those lasers were shitty-ass InfoPrint 1120s. I actually liked the InfoPrint 21s much better, those were real heavy, durable IBM equipment. The 1120's were just rebranded Lexmark shit.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @mol1111 said:

     

    I disagree with your choice of footwear



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @Circuitsoft said:
    I think IKEA instructions are printed on thermal paper, which is kind of sticky, and likely to not come off the roller as the printer designers expected.

    Most lasers have a pretty narrow range of paper sizes they take, usually between 16-24 weight. Anything thinner than that'll tear, anything thicker will either jam or get pulled-around the roller like in the photo. (Which is still a jam, I guess. But.) Sometimes they have a setting to reduce tension and allow thicker papers, but even that's iffy.

    I've had to deal with this problem before. "You can't just feed advertising flyers and shit into a laser printer! They wouldn't label the box 'laser printer paper' if laser printers could print on any type of paper!" Of course those lasers were shitty-ass InfoPrint 1120s. I actually liked the InfoPrint 21s much better, those were real heavy, durable IBM equipment. The 1120's were just rebranded Lexmark shit.

    There was a time where I would have sold my soul to work with Lexmark shit because I had to deal with Zebra printers... Those are quite sturdy but printing is a nightmare, there is no PCL or postscript support, each print job is tedious as hell. I remember having to use a ruler and convert units and wasting tons of paper trying to find the sweet spot so the thing would not print on the edges or on the tear line after a page or two. On paper that came in rolls (like tags or wristbands) I had to consider how tight the roll was, how much buffer was to be removed from the next batch, etc. Awful.



  • @Ronald said:

    There was a time where I would have sold my soul to work with Lexmark shit because I had to deal with Zebra printers... Those are quite sturdy but printing is a nightmare, there is no PCL or postscript support, each print job is tedious as hell. I remember having to use a ruler and convert units and wasting tons of paper trying to find the sweet spot so the thing would not print on the edges or on the tear line after a page or two. On paper that came in rolls (like tags or wristbands) I had to consider how tight the roll was, how much buffer was to be removed from the next batch, etc. Awful.

    Oh we had those. It was a hospital, they used the Zebras in the ER to print armbands and in the pharmacy to print labels. They were finicky bastards... although frankly the lack of PCL or Postscript was kind of a blessing to me, since it meant if the printer choked on a command code I could get a packet-sniffer and figure out exactly what data was sent to it to figure out which bit it had trouble with. The stupid light sensor that was supposed to align the labels never worked right, you had to manually recalibrate it* like every 25 prints sometimes, it was a nightmare.

    Like the older IBM Infoprints, they were sturdy as shit, though.

    *) Line up... line down... line down... line down... ok the head looks correct... print... top row cut-off... line up... nudge up... nudge up... nudge moves it like 1 micron, nudge up * 54... print... ok now it's ok.



  • @mol1111 said:

    The worst part? I've just send my working coat to cleaning so I wrapped myself into some plastic to protect me against toner. No photo of that :-)

    Doesn't toner settle into your lungs and stay there forever? And isn't it carcinogenic?



  •  Strange, I feed all kinds of paper into my http://www.bytecollector.com/asr_33.htm and it doesn't jam...



  • You have a working printer? Those are like gold dust or something aren't they?



  • @TheCPUWizard said:

     Strange, I feed all kinds of paper into my http://www.bytecollector.com/asr_33.htm and it doesn't jam...

    My very first experience with a computer was a PDP-8L connected to an ASR-33 Teletype. I'd like to visit that page for old time's sake. Sadly, Trend Micro OfficeScan blocks it as a "potential security risk."

     



  • @HardwareGeek said:

    @TheCPUWizard said:

     Strange, I feed all kinds of paper into my http://www.bytecollector.com/asr_33.htm and it doesn't jam...

    My very first experience with a computer was a PDP-8L connected to an ASR-33 Teletype. I'd like to visit that page for old time's sake. Sadly, Trend Micro OfficeScan blocks it as a "potential security risk."

    I have a fully working PDP-8/e complete with high speed reader/punch,RK-05 ad TU-58. It is what I started wit backi 1972.... If you want to see alot of information, visit my friends site:  http://www.pdp8.net



  • @TheCPUWizard said:

    I have a fully working PDP-8/e complete with high speed reader/punch,RK-05 ad TU-58.

    Is it connected to internet?


    @Swordfish said:

     The screen shows the MIT University logo.      Then "ACCESS
     DENIED." His fingers work the keyboard.
    
                                                       CUT TO:
    

    INT. MIT BASEMENT - NIGHT

     As he talks, we TRACK DOWN an old, concrete stairwell and
     down a long, dank hallway.
    
                                STANLEY (V.O.)
                  My senior year at M.I.T., I
                  created the source code for the
                  worm that I've been using for
                  years.
    
     We TRACK AROUND a corner.
    
                                STANLEY (V.O.)
                  In the basement and through a file
                  room is the only P.D.P.-10 still
                  active and on the internet,
                  although only a few people know
                  this. It's an I.T.S. machine and
                  kept online just for historical
                  sake. I hid my worm inside it
                  where no one would ever think to
                  look.
    
     We DOLLY INTO a CLOSEUP ON a large, ominous, dark
     mainframe.
    

    CLOSEUP ON STANLEY'S FINGER

     hitting a key.
    

    ANGLE ON PDP-10

     as it HUMS TO LIFE.
    

    CLOSEUP ON COMPUTER SCREEN

     as it fills with lines of code.
    
    
     ANGLE ON STAN
    
     who turns around, a cocky grin on his face, like a proud
     parent, she smiles at him.
    
     Gabriel walks in.
    
                                STANLEY
                  Now I just have to modify the
                  code.
    
                                GINGER
                  He's fucking amazing.
    
                                GABRIEL
                  Yes he is.
    



  • @TheCPUWizard said:

    I have a fully working PDP-8/e complete with high speed reader/punch,RK-05 ad TU-58. It is what I started wit backi 1972.... If you want to see alot of information, visit my friends site:  http://www.pdp8.net
    Thank you for that trip down memory lane. 1972 would have been about the time I started, too, my freshman year of high school.

    The 8/L had 4096 12-bit words of core memory. Another 4k could be added in an external chassis (for a considerable sum of money), accessible IIRC by a switch on the front panel; you could use one bank or the other, but not both in the same program.

    The ASR-33 was our only peripheral. We would have died for a PC04 high-speed paper tape reader and the expanded memory; something like the RK-05 or TU-58 was beyond our wildest dreams. As I recall, it took about a half-hour to load the BASIC interpreter through the paper tape reader on the ASR-33. We also had compilers for FOCAL, FORTRAN, (I think) an assembler and maybe some other languages. These were almost never used. The teacher in charge of the computer had a BASIC program for calculating grades, so the computer could never be left without the interpreter installed for very long. Since it took so long to load, we hardly ever used anything else.



  • @FrostCat said:

    stapling[1]
    Where's the footnote?



  • @Zecc said:

    @FrostCat said:

    stapling[1]
    Where's the footnote?

    No footnote, he's just accessing the first element of an array.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @morbiuswilters said:

    @Zecc said:

    @FrostCat said:

    stapling[1]
    Where's the footnote?

    No footnote, he's just accessing the first second element of an array.

    HTH. HAND. etc.



  • No. Not this discussion again.

    Can we just agree that he is accessing the 1st element of an array, and leave whether there is a 0th element or not up for interpretation?



  • @PJH said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    @Zecc said:

    @FrostCat said:

    stapling[1]
    Where's the footnote?

    No footnote, he's just accessing the first second element of an array.

    HTH. HAND. etc.

    In Pascal it would be the 1st element, because Pascal is retarded.



  • @Ronald said:

    @TheCPUWizard said:
    I have a fully working PDP-8/e complete with high speed reader/punch,RK-05 ad TU-58.

    Is it connected to internet?


    @Swordfish said:

         *** OMITTED SCRIPT ***

     

    Thank you for reminding me, I need to burn that film to disc so I can throw it at people I don't like. Maaaaan that film sucks. Although I must admit, the idea of some tape spooling and causing havock instantly makes me think of the Italian Job and suddenly I feel happy again. Good ol' Professor Peach.

     



  • @CaffeinatedNoms said:

    @Ronald said:

    @TheCPUWizard said:
    I have a fully working PDP-8/e complete with high speed reader/punch,RK-05 ad TU-58.

    Is it connected to internet?


    @Swordfish said:

         *** OMITTED SCRIPT ***

     

    Thank you for reminding me, I need to burn that film to disc so I can throw it at people I don't like. Maaaaan that film sucks. Although I must admit, the idea of some tape spooling and causing havock instantly makes me think of the Italian Job and suddenly I feel happy again. Good ol' Professor Peach.

     

    What is terrible is that at first the movie looked interesting, with people exploding and John Travolta being the cool customer and all. The car chase scene was also interesting. But the more they went deep with the computer stuff the less interesting it became.



    Also next time they do a hacker movie they should hire Alan Cox or RMS as the main character. That would give a different spin on things, instead of casting a male model. The Aaron Spelling approach (hiring attractive actors to play regular people) mostly work with soap operas.



  • @Zecc said:

    No. Not this discussion again.

    Can we just agree that he is accessing the 1st element of an array, and leave whether there is a 0th element or not up for interpretation?

    I'm being good and not taking the bait.



  • @Ronald said:

    RMS



  • @Ronald said:

    @CaffeinatedNoms said:

    @Ronald said:

    @TheCPUWizard said:
    I have a fully working PDP-8/e complete with high speed reader/punch,RK-05 ad TU-58.

    Is it connected to internet?


    @Swordfish said:

         *** OMITTED SCRIPT ***

     

    Thank you for reminding me, I need to burn that film to disc so I can throw it at people I don't like. Maaaaan that film sucks. Although I must admit, the idea of some tape spooling and causing havock instantly makes me think of the Italian Job and suddenly I feel happy again. Good ol' Professor Peach.

     

    What is terrible is that at first the movie looked interesting, with people exploding and John Travolta being the cool customer and all. The car chase scene was also interesting. But the more they went deep with the computer stuff the less interesting it became.



    Also next time they do a hacker movie they should hire Alan Cox or RMS as the main character. That would give a different spin on things, instead of casting a male model. The Aaron Spelling approach (hiring attractive actors to play regular people) mostly work with soap operas.

     

    I think the most heinous crime might have been "But they have 512-bit encryption! There is no way I can break that FireWall" ... uh yeah, nice try, but my gut groaned at that. It's akin to something as silly as "But I own a Prius! There is no way I can start that lawnmower!"

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Zecc said:

    No. Not this discussion again.
    Spoilsport.



  • @PJH said:

    Spoilsport.
    Is that the name you give a port where the spoils from a shipwreck end up?



  • @Zecc said:

    Can we just agree that he is accessing the 1st element of an array, and leave whether there is a 0th element or not up for interpretation?

    Sorry buddy, we're in the 21st century now.



  • @Faxmachinen said:

    @Zecc said:

    Can we just agree that he is accessing the 1st element of an array, and leave whether there is a 0th element or not up for interpretation?

    Sorry buddy, we're in the 21st century now.

    Yeah, what kind of dipshit language would still use zero indexing?


Log in to reply