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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: quizmaster on Thursday 15 June 06 22:12 BST (UK)
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My mum is looking for a new computer, when all she really needs is a new printer to work with the one she has. The printer that I gave her (bought in 1990) has finally packed in.
Can anyone suggest how to search for a new printer that will work with WIN95? Not sure if new printers will be quite so radically backwards compatible.
Thanks
QM
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Hi quizmaster
I didn't know anybody was still using Windows 95 :o
You would probably have to buy a second hand printer, that is if there are any still around. Try doing a Google search for your current printer and see if it returns any hits. Ebay might have some ancient equipment - it's always worth a try.
I think your mum is right. You might be able to pick up something cheap and a little out-of-date on the second hand market. Most of the older equipment is shipped out to 3rd world countries.
downside
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Quiz,
You are kidding...right?......Win95 is kaput....gone...rubbish......finished.
Mom needs a new puter....and a printer to go with it....there are lots of good deals out there...search the internet.
Indi
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My parents were using Win95 up until early May when the PC finally went Ka-Boom and died. :(
Now they have a new PC running Win XP. :)
Now they can see the photos I send them - they used to not be able to save and print out the photos I sent in my emails.
And I have recently upgraded from Win 98 to Win XP just in the last 2 months as well. :)
Not everyone can afford to keep up with the Jones, however much they would like to. :)
BD
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The obvious answer is to bite the bullet and upgrade...'95' ::) :P....
BUT....I just happen to have an Epson Stylus Colour 440 in perfect working order, that would run a treat on the ole' 95.....don't know where you live but you can have it totally Free and welcome if you would like to collect it....at the moment I have the Epson C42 Plus....but IMO it's not as good or as fast as my old '440'....but the 440 won't work with my XP setup..
And NO....I feel sure that none of the 'New' Printers are retrograde....they will Not run on old Comps....even a lot of new Keyboards etc., are not compatable........
Michael72.
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Quizmaster,
you would have to find a really old type of printer to go with WIN95. I couldn't find any on a quick internet search either.
Another problem you may face is that of getting consumables such as ink cartridges etc.
As has been said, if the budget allows, you may want to think about upgrading.
The problem is that there is no user support for WIN95 anymore.
Good luck,
Thudders
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Michael72
Thanks for the offer. I live in Cambs but my mum is up in Newcastle. Are either of these anywhere near you?
QM
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Did you get my PM quizmaster??...
Michael72.
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Apologies for replying to an old post, but just in case it still isn't solved or other people have a similar problem, one other solution would be to leave Win95 installed as your default operating system, get a newer printer (providing there's a USB socket on your motherboard) then to use your printer, but boot your computer from a live cd such as Knoppix -
http://www.knoppix.com/
This runs an operating system from your CD ROM without having to install any software on your hard disk. It will more than likely detect your hardware, configure your new printer and also let you access your existing hard drive for reading, writing and printing. (Download or buy a copy of the CD & try it before you buy the printer). Then you won't have to worry about drivers or installation etc.
While running from the CD, it's possible to access the internet, write documents etc.
There are other bootable CD ROMs about, you would be best with one that loads a lightweight window manager when you don't have much RAM. I think Knoppix loads IceWM when RAM size is less that about 180Mb.
An alternative, really lightweight distribution, bootable from a CD or USB pen drive and capable of running on a 486DX with 16MB of Ram is "Damn Small Linux"
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
This would be a very low or zero cost way of getting your old hardware to work with a new printer.
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one other solution would be to leave Win95 installed as your default operating system
One possible problem with this approach is that Windows 95 did not support USB which the majority of printers now use. (USB support did not fully appear until W98 SE)...... while the linux system would be able to recognise any added usb ports this would mean that the printer would normally be useless under W95.. requiring a boot into linux every time they wanted to print something - In this scenario they would then be best to switch completely to linux (although this is not normally an option for a beginner except with a few distros)
If looking for a printer to run on W95 you will need to look for one that has a parallel port (or one that has usb and parallel ports)
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The Epson Stylus 440 I've offered to QM is parallel port connected.....I have the cable and disc......
As for Inks..........they are still readily available, our local Spar shop sells them!.......and a Computer shop at Riby Square Grimsby, has them in stock.....1 Colour, 1 Black, at £3.00 the pair....so all is not lost... ;D ;D
Michael72.
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Thanks for all the help guys, this is a really off the wall query that I doubt will be common. Michael's kind offer will keep my mum ticking over whilst I work on her to get a new computer. Although, given that the last one I gave her lasted nearly 15 years, that might take some effort.
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WOW!.....Fifteen years eh?....it wasn't this one by any chance was it?........ ;D ;D ;D
Michael72.
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That's pretty close! It was a dot matrix printer connected to a laptop with a 286 processor - remember them? The laptop, running Wordperfect, still works fine.
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Guys,
For info., you can always partition the Hard Drive on your P.C. (with a prog. called Partition Magic) so you can set up 2 or more Operating Systems on that machine. You get a choice of which Op. System you want to use when you Boot-up, so you can retain your old system and install a later version(s) as well if you want.
This feature was especially useful in the case of Excel Spreadsheet, where earlier versions which ran on Win95 had a much simpler to understand Macro recording and writing system (the code being almost in plain English), rather than the current Excel which uses Visual Basic for Macros.
Hope that helps.
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lol freddietreenut those posts are almost 3 years ago, and looking at the people who posted,
they also havn't been online for 2+ years
they might have upgraded to 98 by now :P
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Les,
Yep I understand that, but my info. is still good for today's op. systems and may be of use to someone. Thanks for spotting my post.
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lol freddietreenut those posts are almost 3 years ago, and looking at the people who posted,
they also havn't been online for 2+ years
they might have upgraded to 98 by now :P
Windows 95/98 are fine if the PC is never connected to a network. Using either of them on a PC which is connected to the outside world is truly asking for trouble, because they are extremely vulnerable to attack.