By Brian Grainger: brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk

I have a friend who is not rich but wanted a PC to run a small business. They got a second hand PC of a type around a few years ago. The machine did all the basic stuff using Windows 3.1. I decided to buy them a printer. Now this is an old machine I thought. Check that the printer you buy has drivers for Windows 3.1. I did not know whether the printer port was bi-directional so check that printer works with a uni-directional port. Did the printer come with a cable - no you had to buy one extra. I thought I had covered everything, certainly more than the non technical person would have thought of. I finally decided an Epson Colour 640 was the answer. I know the photo imaging software that came with it would not work because it needed a higher specification machine but the basic printer was nice. OK, get my credit card and phone my favourite supplier, Technomatic. Yes, they had one in stock and they could deliver next day. I gave them the address of my friend. They delivered it at 07.30 the next day which is incredible service. However, the point of this article is not to praise Technomatic but to damn Epson!

I was expecting some problems. My friend was not technical. However, they managed to follow the instructions to wire up the printer to the mains and to connect it to the PC. Now for installing the driver.

Problem - where is the driver software?

Answer on a CD-ROM

Problem - they don't have a CD-ROM drive. The paper instructions say that if they want software on a floppy to copy it from the CD-ROM.

Problem - they don't have CD-ROM drive so they cannot copy from the CD-ROM!

They have a nice spanking new printer but cannot use it. Fortunately they have me as a friend and I had recently got access to the Internet. I get the driver from there, put it on a floppy and post it. They get it next day and problem solved.

Problem - Where is the user guide for the printer

Answer (I expect you know by now!) - It is on the CD-ROM!

OK. Send me the CD-ROM and I'll see what I can do.

Problem - The user guide is in HTML format. No good copying that to a floppy. My friend does not have a browser and I would not dream of asking them to install one. What I will have to do is print the guide page by page.

Lessons learned from this experience.

1.     Even when you think you have covered all the angles, you haven't.

2.     Epson now expects the base requirements to run a printer are to have a CD-ROM drive and a browser.

3.     Be wary about buying old computers. You even have to keep up top date to run a printer now!

Goodness me, or words to that effect. All I want to do is print black and white and the odd colour pages. Was it too much to expect software on a floppy with the printer? At no point in the purchase was a CD-ROM drive mentioned as a requirement but why should it be. Is it also too much to expect to have a printed copy of the user guide? I know Microsoft do it but this IS a printer company after all.

Dear Epson. The printer is nice but this sort of attitude is going to really irritate the non technical, not rich user. It is like opening a Christmas present only to find the batteries are not supplied and the shops are not open for three days.

[Webmaster's Comment: Brian makes another very valid point here, but in Fairness to Epson, it's not just them who are guilty of this practice. Just about everything now comes with a CD-ROM, and those of us with CDs don't give it much thought. Some manufacturers put both a CD and a Disk in the box, and some tell you to send off for a disk if you require one. That, however, is not much fun when you have just unpacked a new toy and want to play with it. Perhaps the answer is for manufacturers to state clearly on the product box exactly what's inside (CD-ROM, floppy disk or both). If it's not clear on the box, then ask at the point of purchase. If they can't tell you then ask them to open the box to find out. If it's a CD-ROM and you don't own a CD then ask the vendor to copy the necessary files onto floppy for you there and then! Bill]

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