Blag

Epson Stylus Office TX300F

Seeing as there aren’t many reviews for the Epson Stylus Office TX300F, I’ll throw my opinion out there. Skip to the end for the summary. *See footnote. These are the only other ones I’ve been able to find on the internet:

• http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/printers_scanners/epson/stylus_office_tx300f/263373 ; http://www.news.com.au/technology/reviews/epson-printer-affordable-but-slow/story-e6frfrpi-1111117973160 ; http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/review/printers_scanners/epson/stylus_office_tx300f/263373#cb – NOTE – All 3 are the same article by the same author…
• http://www.pcworld.com/article/177825/epson_stylus_tx300f_price_102.html – Isn’t really a review… more of a “buy it if you can find it cheap”. (Part of a top 9 bargain printers for under $125 list).

Then there’s this moron (click to see profile/other reviews) who posted a review on Dick Smith Electronic’s website:

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/XP8303

You’ll notice he gives sparkling 5/5 reviews to EVERY single product, and goes into hardly any relevant detail… he’d be great working in the advertisement industry, the way he writes up products. Sadly enough, people actually get suckered in and purchase products based on his reports. *See footnote

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Scathing comments aside, back to the printer.

Bought the TX300F from Dick Smith on special for $98, normal price was $128. It’s a standard multifunction printer – print, copy, scan but can also send and receive faxes as well. It also has a auto document feeder which is useful for batch copying or scanning documents. I also got a 3 year extended warranty through Dick Smith which sweetened the deal – it even covers wear and tear! Assuming I take the printer back when it breaks, that’s 2 printers for $54.

The printer uses Epson’s DURABrite pigment based ink – 73N series of cartridges (TO731N, TO732N, TO733N, TO734N) or an optional 73HN high capacity tank for black ink. These cost around $16 each, depending on the store of purchase, so it’s $64 for a complete set of ink cartridges. Calidad does offer drop in compatible cartridges – these come in a set of 4 + 2 free magnetic photo frames for $36. Unfortunately, these are the new micro-chipped ink cartridges, so refilling is more complex than drilling a hole and squirting ink in. (Dedicated 3rd party re-fillable cartridges or a CISS will have to be purchased).

In short, the Epson TX300F was disappointing. It takes quite a while to start up and shut down. Print quality and speed were a big let down for an otherwise worthwhile printer. Typical of most Epsons, draft mode is unreadable, but standard and high quality modes take much longer to print documents. While not unbearable slow, it IS noticeable compared to most modern inkjets. Text is crisp, but image quality is fairly average, on par with most $40-60 Canon/HP printers. Photo printing was painfully slow, at over 2 minutes per image. Comparable Canon/HP printers typically take ~45 seconds. Once again, this slow speed doesn’t translate into improved image quality. The TX300F is much better off as a small business workhorse than a home printer.

I cannot comment on scanner image quality, not knowing much about calibration or colour accuracy. Copying however works well, and apart from the speed, have no complaints. The user interface and menu are fairly intuitive, although the “are you sure you want to shut down” question bugs me. I do not have a fax service, and thus unable to test or use the scan function.

Typical of most sub $180 printers, the build quality is fairly mediocre, hence my joy at picking up extended warranty including wear and tear. Printer weight and size is fairly average, so it should fit in the existing space of you already have a multifunction. Being a office printer, it doesn’t have a built in memory card reader, or EXIF based USB printing. This printer comes with a USB cable, RJ11 phone cable and IEC power cord. Disappointingly, there was no sample pack of photo paper.

The software package included with the printer is fairly lightweight compared to other brands. The Epson supports Windows 2000 or higher (including 7) and Mac OS 10.3.9 or later. Apart from the printing drivers, a basic scan utility is also installed and a printer status monitor that sits in the system tray. I’m not a fan of this, but it can be disabled.

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Should you buy this printer? Canon PIXMA All-in-one printers with fax and ADF functionality are available for ~$125-140, can print faster and have higher image quality. At it’s RRP of $149 AUD, it’s not worth it, but on discount, as a document printer, it’s worth considering.

I’ll be fitting a CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) to this printer, something that is MUCH easier to do on this Epson than comparable Canon models – one of the reasons I bought this printer despite it’s drawbacks. I’ll detail the installation process, and list ink/cartridge/CISS suppliers in the next post. (A CISS is a giant external tank for a printer, which supplies ink to the print heads via a series of tubing.)

Pros:

• Good value if on special/you have a discount
• Ideal small business/office printer
• Automatic Document Feeder + Fax functionality
• Includes USB and RJ11 cables
• Can be fitted with a CISS/Re-fillable cartridges/Compatible drop-in replacements

Mediocre:

• Photo printing speed and quality
• Re-filling is slightly more complex than other Canon/HP/Lexmark/Brother printers

Cons:

• Unreadable text and images in draft mode
• Build quality

*I am not affiliated with DSE, Epson, News Limited, PC World, GGG or DaleB545 in any way. Opinions expressed in this article are purely my own and written for my personal amusement. If you incur any losses as a result of comprehending and/or following the advice of this post, you hold the author free of any indemnity or damages claims. Please see the complaints page for more information. If you disagree with any of this, please leave this website immediately and clear your browser’s cache.

The Japanese seem to pioneering the way for weird and wonderful USB flash drives – take the Sushi inspired storage devices for example (http://gizmodo.com/archives/sushi-usb-flash-drives-023561.php)

(I’m a too lazy to upload pics, so follow the links (they open in new tabs/windows))

Actually wanted to buy a few of them while I was in Japan last year but couldn’t justify paying the 40% markup to purchase a rice and seaweed adorned flash drive. Also wanted to take a few pics too, but the security guard was giving me the take-a-photo-and-i-will…-politely-gesture-you-to-leave-as-I-don’t-speak-good-English look.

Fosfor has a top 10 list of weird USB flash drives – (http://gadgets.fosfor.se/the-top-10-weirdest-usb-drives-ever/)

In ascending order of wackiness

• iDuck
• Sake Bottle
• Sushi
• Mikan Seijin USB Memory
• Big Tiki Drive
• USB Dimsim
• iDisk
• USB Shrimp
• USB Thumb
• Barbie

SanDisk, OCZ, Corsair, Lexar etc etc have all got in on the game and made their own themed storage devices (ducati motorcycles, caution tape, XBOX themed and so on) but newcomer to flash storage manufacturer Lacie takes the crown for style and functionality. Introducing the new Lacie key range: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/02/lacies-new-sally-struthers-approved-usb-key-drives/

Shock proof, fast read and write speed and some models support expansion via Micro SDHC cards.

Still waiting for someone to produce a Cockroach flash drive though…

Edit: Everything USB has a giant collection of reviews on everything USB related, news articles, software etc. Check it out http://www.everythingusb.com/hardware/Storage/USB_Flash_Drives.htm Not the most complete portal of information nor the most technical, but good for starters.

Nero Burning ROM/Nero AG’s website is useless – there are news articles and mention of a Nero SDK on many the websites, but nowhere on the internet can you actually find information about it, or download it. Nero AG’s FAQ, support and corporate info are all useless waffle. All the links that ARE on Google no longer work since Nero AG took to restructuring their website every few months. Great way for attracting developers there.

…are their web designers that bored? Or are they struggling to lift their image after 3 successive bloatware releases?

At least Roxio tells you upfront that an API is not available, Gear sells their API to developers, and CDBurnerXP redirects you to their corporate website/online store. InfraRecorder and CDRTFE are the only decent open source “burners” for Windows, but are purely front ends (they are based on cdrtools) which has severe limitations and most other free burning applications have no scripting support/APIs available, without contacting corporate sales and ponying up anyway.

Edit: Decent apps with scripting support – CDRTFE, CDBurnerXP, Nero. Still waiting for a reply from Nero about their SDK, and CDBurnerXP has an known bug with the command line that keeps cropping up in tests

Chop chop! Faster faster!

Internode’s been shipping the new Billion 7401BGP R3s (which replaced the Billion 7401VGP-M) for a few weeks now, but they still haven’t updated their website, support section, or the FTP mirror (firmware, user manual, settings). Kinda annoying, as they ship with the 5.53.s5.rc8 firmware yet the latest is 5.53.s5.rc11 I think, but even Billion hasn’t listed the model on their website yet, as it’s so new.

Speaking of which, what should I do with my Netcomm NB5Plus4 and my Acer 56k modem while I’m at it? Thermite? Keep for spares? Throw it out?

Seeing as I’ve been getting a lot of hits from Whirlpool users, for all you those who have ended up here looking for the firmware updates, or help with Bit Torrent and/or NAT, try sending a Whim to Quentin (Rep for Billion/Minitar). His profile is at: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-user.cfm?id=87096

Related: Billion 7401VGP R3 (http://oztecheducate.org/WP/?p=155), Netcomm NB5Plus4 (http://oztecheducate.org/WP/?p=79)

Edit: Updated with correct firmware revisions

Time for all the frugal, miserly, el-cheapo diehards (damn, whats the name of that guy in the Christmas story?) to rejoice!

Cheap deals selection for the bored geek:

• $9 TP-Link 5dbi Wifi Antennas
• 50% off Scanpan cookware at Myer
• $79 Norton Internet Security 2009 @ Big W + Further $20 cash back!
• $96 Norton 360 v2.0
• $12 24x 375ml Crate of Coke/Diet Coke/Zero/Fanta/Sprite
• $12 250psi Air Compressor @ Big W and K-Mart
• $0.05 Pack of 5x 64 page exercise books at most stores
• 25% Cash back on Microsoft Hardware
• $11 8GB USB Flash Drives
• $20/30/40 cash back on Symantec software
• $7 Cadbury Chocolate Fondue Sets
• $17 50-pack AA batteries
• $29 Wireless-g USB Adaptors
• $22 Verbatim Spindle 50 DVD+R at Dick Smith Electronics
• 25% off TV Antennas at Dick Smith Electronics
• $29 Ex-demo printers
• $179 Western Digital Essentials 1TB External HDD USB2.0
• $0.89 32 pack Sparklers
• $40 Car (Auto) 12V to 240VAC Inverter 150W
• $39 DVD Player
• CD/DVDs from $2+ at JB Hifi
• $105 Billion 7402VGO ADSL2+ VPN Modem/Router at JMG Technology

Of course, there’s the usual boring stationery/clothing/furniture sales on as well.

Seems like a reincarnation of the Y2K bug has slipped into 2006 30GB model Zune media players. They all bricked themselves on December 31st 2008, but Microsoft reckons that their internal clock should reset and all will be fine within 24 hours, on the 1st January 2009.

Dodgy leap year handling code apparently…

More info:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1784

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3233

Woo! Replacement for my crappy Netcomm NB5Plus4 (see this post) finally arrived – the Billion 7401VGP R3

As it turns out, I bought a 7401VGP-M but actually got a free upgrade to a 2009 model (7401VGP R3), which isn’t even in the stores yet, let alone listed on the manufacturers website. Doing a Google or Whirlpool search brings up nothing – that’s how new it is. Perhaps Internode got a very advanced shipment of them.

According to the helpdesk dude, its got exactly the same features, but with a faster CPU, more ram, and newer OS which should make it more stable and increase its routing capabilities.

As side bonus, it has WiFi built in – 802.11g 54mbps admittedly, but now I have 2 wireless networks in my house. How useful…

But boy, is it an improvement.

4 wired PCs + 1 wireless laptop, all streaming data continuously, and one of the PCs running 14 active torrents and it still hasn’t crashed after 4 days now. Web interface is as responsive as ever, and includes everything AND the kitchen sink too Ambient temperature has no effect whatsoever on it, and wireless range is damn good. Not a single dropout so far either, and it syncs relatively high, considering the crappy phone line I have. The included extras were good too – 2m Cat5 cable (what, is E more expensive now?), RJ11-RJ11 6P4C telephone cable, 12v 1A power adaptor (switchmode, so no clunky hot transformer), obligatory quick start guide, warranty card, utility CD-ROM, and a very nice (and expensive) C10 Communications ADSL2+ filter/splitter  Those things cost a LOT when purchased retail…

The only downside really is that it takes a while to boot up before its usable (~1-2 minutes). However, it does sync and authenticate in <8 seconds which is a HUGE improvement on the NB5Plu4′s 2-3 minutes (important if your internet drops out frequently).

So myes, I am a happy chappy.

If only Billion would list the model on their website, so I could download a newer firmware.

Edit: Seems like more people are getting their hand on the 7401VGP R3 now. Posts are slowly starting to crop up on whirlpool about them – mainly Internode customers though.

Edit2: Seeing as I’ve been getting a lot of hits from Whirlpool users, for all you those who have ended up here looking for the firmware updates, or help with Bit Torrent and/or NAT, try sending a Whim to Quentin (Rep for Billion/Minitar). His profile is at: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-user.cfm?id=87096

Related: Internode/Billion 7401VGP R3 (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=242), Netcomm NB5Plus4 (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=79)

Nearly all tech gadgets are shipped with preset defaults, for quick setup and ease of use for the less technically minded. People use IE6/7 as it’s shipped with their computer (*gag*), browser home pagea are set to incumbent websites (www.tpg.com.au, www.msn.com etc), mobile phones get sold with cellular network kow-towing built in, Windows XP is sold with the garish “luna” theme etc etc.

This leads to problems when the usernames and passwords are left as publically known defaults – admin, user, abc123, username, and so on as it left people open to hijacking, identity theft, malware infections and the like. Manufacturers soon cottoned on and most devices now ship with stickers advising owners to create their own unique login, and to customise their security settings.

Which leads to some rather unusual names. Take the following wireless router SSIDs discovered while cruising down the street in the car with a laptop:

• ya-mum
• PENIS
• motorola8805 (default, no doubt)
• TPG_internet
• Myrouter
• bigtits
• Belkinrouter
• iinetadsl1500256
• fruitcake
• lollipops
• vaginaface
• subaruimprezzaftw
• lol
• myneighbourisgay
• rosepetal
• pencil
• fuck
• shitface
• johntchaikovsky

Interesting insight into people’s minds… makes you wonder what they were thinking when they set up their internet connection to go a-surfin.

The Netcomm NB5Plus4 ADSL2+ Modem Router. The perfect example of German engineering and precision.

Whoops, did I say German engineering and precision.? I meant cost cutting and poor design.

The modem/router is useless. It constantly crashes, and I have to reboot it up to several times a day. Symptoms include:

1. Forgetting what DNS is, whenever you run bittorrent, or any other program which opens many network connections simultaneously. The only way to access websites is by entering in the IP address directly
2. Refusing to route any data whatsoever when the ambient temperature exceeds 25*C
3. Overheating and locking up whenever the throughput is higher than ~ 1mbps, or when you stream multimedia or download large files
4. Internal web server/user interface not responding to commands after the modem has been left on for more than ~ 7 days
5. Throughput slowly decreasing over time to the point where the LAN connection is dropped, especially noticeable when transferring large files between PCs
6. Freezing, and refusing to do anything when there are more than 5 clients connected at a time
7. Randomly disconnecting computers

Rather than rant and rave unproductively, I shall point out its flaws… before melting a hole through the f!@% thing with thermite.

There are two problems with the router – insufficient RAM, and poor enclosure design, leading to overheating.

Whenever you open multiple network connections (e.g. Bit torrent, which may open hundreds at a time), the router chipset, or CPU, in this case the Texas Instrument AR7 chip can not handle the load, and in combination with the limited ram available, simply crashes or drops connections. Think of it as like running Windows Vista on a Pentium 200mhz with 8MB of RAM. It would have cost Netcomm all of… 40c more to upgrade the RAM and cache size, but they decided to reduce costs and make an inferior product.

Also, the enclosure which Netcomm designed for housing the circuitry is unsuitable, as it provides inadequate ventilation. Like conventional PCs, the router also crashes when overheated. It looks as though Netcomm has gone for style over functionality, though to be honest, it looks like rubbish anyway.

While upgrading the RAM and cache is not possible without extensive effort, a simple hackjob fix would be to either remove the top of the enclosure, or to fit the chipset with a heat sink and drill additional ventilation holes in the case.

*NB: I think Oz Techeducate (www.oztecheducate.org) (the site providing free blog hosting for me) was run using a NB5Plus4 router several months ago, when they had server issues and had to resort to a backup link. Explains why the backup was frequently offline too… crappy router :@

Seeing as I’ve been getting a lot of hits from Whirlpool users, for all you those who have ended up here looking for the firmware updates, or help with Bit Torrent and/or NAT, try sending a Whim to Quentin (Rep for Billion/Minitar). His profile is at: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-user.cfm?id=87096

Related: Billion 7401VGP R3 (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=155), More (http://theparanoidtroll.com/blog/?p=242)