How often do you print anything (for personal reasons)?

[rjh01]

Well, color me surprised!!!

I just printed out a pdf from a law office and it must have overwritten my printer settings, because it printed on two sides! I had no idea my printer did that (and I must have read the manual when I first got it a few years ago.) I know I've always set it to 1 page per print because I never thought it would work with two. But I changed the setting to test it out and lo and behold, it works! I could have saved a lot of paper in the last few years.

Ironically, this is the one I just tried using the Fax option for the first time a couple weeks ago, with an incredibly escalating and ineffective result.

The ink would cost far more than the paper. So you have not wasted much money.

 

[Chanakya]

I haven't had a printer in years because I almost never have a need or even interest in printing anything. I've printed something like twice in the past 5 years. Just wondering if that's typical

Used to, a lot. I know, the trees. But I'm more comfortable reading more involved reports the old-fashioned way.

But I'd been away a month, and came back to find my printer dry. The month since then, I've managed okay with no prints. ...So now I'll try this for another few weeks, and see if it's good. If not, I'll get new cartridges again.

...Thing is, no ink means the scanning doesn't work. And that I do need. For now I'm managing with my phone camera, but that's ...not a happy compromise. So I guess I'll get those cartridges regardless, after a week or two or four.

 

[Orphia Nay]

...Thing is, no ink means the scanning doesn't work. And that I do need. For now I'm managing with my phone camera, but that's ...not a happy compromise. So I guess I'll get those cartridges regardless, after a week or two or four.

CamScanner is a handy free app that creates pdfs via your phone camera, if that helps.

 

[Chanakya]

CamScanner is a handy free app that creates pdfs via your phone camera, if that helps.

I'll check it out, thanks.

For now I take pics, then print it from my phone but select the "save as pdf" option, that came inbuilt in my phone settings. So getting a pdf isn't an issue really. It's getting the full page pic with good res and no warp. Doable, but takes some patience. And not very doable when it's more than two or three pages, not unless you have the patience of a saint.

(But I'll check out your app, looks like a handy thing to fit out your phone with.)

 

[Orphia Nay]

I'll check it out, thanks.

For now I take pics, then print it from my phone but select the "save as pdf" option, that came inbuilt in my phone settings. So getting a pdf isn't an issue really. It's getting the full page pic with good res and no warp. Doable, but takes some patience. And not very doable when it's more than two or three pages, not unless you have the patience of a saint.

(But I'll check out your app, looks like a handy thing to fit out your phone with.)

The app de-warps the image and you can do more than a few pages.

Hope you find it useful, as I do.

 

[Delvo]

If the printer ink problem is preventing you from using the printer's scanning ability, the solution is to get an independent scanner. It only costs the total cost of a few ink cartridges.

 

[Chanakya]

The app de-warps the image and you can do more than a few pages.

Hope you find it useful, as I do.

Really? How would it do that, some kind of AI thing? …But let me just check it out myself. Absolutely, both those features would be very useful.

 

[Chanakya]

If the printer ink problem is preventing you from using the printer's scanning ability, the solution is to get an independent scanner. It only costs the total cost of a few ink cartridges.

Yep, that would work too. Thing is, I’ve always had a printer to scan with. This one’s from before the pandemic, so I guess around 5 years? Normally it tells you you’re running low on ink, so you can keep cartridges handy if you haven’t already got them. I think this is the first time it’s dried out on me like this; and my not refilling it so far is due to nothing more than inertia, is all. …But it’s an idea, this, if I can get used to going without printing. Because long term I’ll absolutely need a scanner.

 

[Mongrel]

If the printer ink problem is preventing you from using the printer's scanning ability, the solution is to get an independent scanner. It only costs the total cost of a few ink cartridges.

Personally I'd be out and buying a new printer\scanner just out of spite. Can't scan because no ink is possibly the most ridiculous extortion from a sector that prides itself on extortionate practices.

 

[Darat]

If the printer ink problem is preventing you from using the printer's scanning ability, the solution is to get an independent scanner. It only costs the total cost of a few ink cartridges.

My last printer packed up and it had an integrated scanner, I looked at getting a new printer with a scanner but the ones with scanners didn't have the print quality and features I wanted. Ended up buying a separate scanner second-hand - £15 on eBay - plug and play runs off a single USB cable.

 

[Cat Not Included]

I print a LOT. But, like, 99% of it is for tabletop gaming stuff.

 

[catsmate]

I can't even say what a toner cartridge would cost because the biggest difference between laser printers and ink printers for me was not needing to keep getting more of anything anymore, which is not only definitely cheaper but also less annoying.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

The way a classic car tag is registered in Nevada, you have to either mail/bring a couple of forms to the DMV, or fax them. As I don't have a land line and don't feel like screwing with a free online fax service, I use the printer once a year for 2-3 pages. I have plenty of Forever stamps so I mail them as well.

 

[arthwollipot]

I print a LOT. But, like, 99% of it is for tabletop gaming stuff.

I've gone paperless for TTRPGS.

 

[Mongrel]

I've gone paperless for TTRPGS.

I much prefer scribbling on a paper character sheet

Also, if the rules setup allows it then printing out the pages that effect the character to make a rules portfolio for them.

 

[arthwollipot]

I much prefer scribbling on a paper character sheet

Also, if the rules setup allows it then printing out the pages that effect the character to make a rules portfolio for them.

Software includes all the rules as tooltips. It also never forgets to add a bonus.

 

[thines]

I print a great deal. When I'm proof reading of my own papers, I always print them out. Same for student papers (I'm a college professor). I always print them out and copy edit and comment, yes, in red ink. I also print out important scientific papers that I rad - I refuse to read these from a screen. However, when I'm done with a paper or other things I've printed that I no longer need, I put these into a pile under my printed and use the blank side to print things that I know I won't need to keep for a long period. I'd guess that this has cut my paper use by over 50%.

 

[Orphia Nay]

When I first got a computer in the mid-nineties I printed everything I wanted to read.

I still have a huge box of those printouts buried somewhere in the garage of all the crap I read.

It wasn’t long before I realised that this could not continue, and so I soon became used to reading on-screen.

Although I still prefer reading hardcopy books. I should probably set myself the task of moving to Kindle.

 

[Mongrel]

Software includes all the rules as tooltips. It also never forgets to add a bonus.

Ehh - it never feels the same and that's if you're lucky enough to have your game supported within the software

 

[arthwollipot]

Ehh - it never feels the same and that's if you're lucky enough to have your game supported within the software

I recommend Hero Lab. The base app is free, the 5e SRD is a small cost, and the rest, including all published modules, is provided for free by a community of enthusiastic volunteer creators.

 

[Wudang]

If the printer ink problem is preventing you from using the printer's scanning ability, the solution is to get an independent scanner. It only costs the total cost of a few ink cartridges.

Yes our Canon multifunction refused to scan because of a non-existent paper jam. We got a basic scanner powered by a USB connection and it lives in a drawer. We also switched to a Brother laser printer.

 

[Mongrel]

I recommend Hero Lab. The base app is free, the 5e SRD is a small cost, and the rest, including all published modules, is provided for free by a community of enthusiastic volunteer creators.

I tend not to play 5E any more, and of the games I do play or want to run none are on their list.

I have used some of the online options and I much prefer actual pen & paper, even if I'm sitting at a VTT. It's the same way that I vastly prefer reading a paper book rather than on a device, and while searchability can be better as a PDF it's just not as personally satisfying.

 

[arthwollipot]

I have used some of the online options and I much prefer actual pen & paper, even if I'm sitting at a VTT. It's the same way that I vastly prefer reading a paper book rather than on a device, and while searchability can be better as a PDF it's just not as personally satisfying.

I'm the opposite. I'd rather an electronic version - except for rule books, where I'm flipping pages to find the particular thing I need, rather than reading sequentially like a novel. It's easier for me to flip paper pages than search for something in a PDF.

And trust me, I've been playing TTRPGs with paper and pencil since the 70s. I know the joys of erasing holes in the hit point box.

The upshot of this is I haven't printed anything in many years.

 

[steenkh]

I'm the opposite. I'd rather an electronic version - except for rule books, where I'm flipping pages to find the particular thing I need, rather than reading sequentially like a novel. It's easier for me to flip paper pages than search for something in a PDF.

That is odd: For me it is exactly opposite: it is easier to search in a PDF than flipping pages - believe me, I have been playing wargames for years, and I own more than 400 of them. It was a revolution when they became available in PDF form, and I have myself scanned, and OCR‘ed a lot of them.

Yes, in the old days, I printed the PDF‘s, but that was before I got an iPad.

 

[arthwollipot]

That is odd: For me it is exactly opposite: it is easier to search in a PDF than flipping pages - believe me, I have been playing wargames for years, and I own more than 400 of them. It was a revolution when they became available in PDF form, and I have myself scanned, and OCR‘ed a lot of them.

Yes, in the old days, I printed the PDF‘s, but that was before I got an iPad.

My iPad is 150 years old. I bought a whole laptop to use as a D&D accessory.