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More RAM or less SEX!!!
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Posted by: GregM
Recently a mate who deals old computers arrived with a gift - a 266MHz with 32Mb RAM so my teenage daughter could wreak havoc without resetting everything on my main life support computer. School projects came along so I bought a printer - a Lexmark low budget Z603. It wouldn't do more than 30% and then parked. I decided it was faulty as it was second hand. Time flew and I have a need for a scanner so bought a cheapie 3 in 1 Lexmark X1195 with cartridges interchangeable with the Z603. Good thinking if I could get both working.
Shit happens. It stops 30% through print jobs on this same computer. Lexmark says it needs 128Mb RAM but this old thing has only 32Mb of P66. Ram reads 73% free so I can't understand why , all of a sudden it needs 24Mb of RAM to print a <100K .doc ?
Can anyone fill me in and is there a simple way around this , given the old girl (this is the sex bit) still has some go but the RAM is rare and only comes in 32's with 3 slots!
Greg
Posted by: Shalome
Holy crap, man, buy a real computer.
Either that or go buy an ancient dot-matrix printer that's of the same era.
Man, I just took 6 computers to the electronics recycling center that were massively faster than that. I had better computers than that in the early 90s. You can get a better computer for that for less than $50.
Also, you're having your daughter do school assignments on that computer? Do you want her to be technologically repressed?
Posted by: bean
Christ almighty, man! Here, let's make this easy...
CLICK THIS LINK AND BE SAVED.
Posted by: GregM
Appreciate what you're saying but am strapped for cash trying to start a business in Australia where you don't get them for $30, OK. But it's not about throwing money at it - it's more to do with understanding - why? Why does a printer suddenly need more than 24Mb of resources when called upon to print < 100K .doc?
I'll understand if you can't answer.
Posted by: GregM
I want my daughters education to be less a slave to technology (hype) and more of what's needed in this world - understanding!
Cheers.
Posted by: bean
Ah, fair enough. The problem could be any number of things, from the operating system's memory allocation method to the program you're printing from to the Lexmark printer driver. If Lexmark says it needs 128MB of RAM, it's probably because (and I'm not a printer tech, so don't take this as gospel) the printer driver itself needs a good chunk of RAM for it to be loaded by the operating system, store the document, and transfer the document from the computer to the printer.
It's not unlikely that it's simply inefficient programming on the part of the Lexmark driver programmers, as programmers tend to look at resource usage the way filmmakers look at film budgets. That said, since printers have evolved into multi-function input-output devices, their drivers have grown exponentially to accommodate all the myriad features they have to provide. You're probably going to have to spend some more money on it, and whether you spend the money on more RAM (check here if you can't find it, they provide free delivery across Australia) or get a better computer (Here's a PIII 450mhz w/ 128MB of RAM for $39 in Sydney), is entirely up to you.
Posted by: redwench
if the printer says it needs 128 of ram, thats about what it needs. youre just not going to get by with 32. if you dont want to shell out money, either let her use the family comp or she will have to put her files on a disk and transfer them.
Posted by: Lemmiwinks
if you are on a network cant you just send the document to your main computer and print it off?
Posted by: matt.modica
I thought my dads old computer was junk with 128 mb of ram and a 8 gb hard disk. I've seen basic computers for as low as $199 after rebates. Also, get a flash drive and go to your local library or some place where you can use computers for free.
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