Don't do this with a non-chipped (no chip on the cartridge) Epson printer. Getting air into the heads can permanently damage the heads.

This very much depends on the type of printer. Some cartridges have built in sensors. Other printers can permanently clog if the cartridge really goes empty.

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Does anybody know why Intel Macs use 100% of the processor and take forever to print simple text pages? The drivers I'm using are off the Tiger install CD for my Canon i850.

When I print through Bonjour from a PPC Mac connected to the Intel Mac with the printer it prints quickly and doesn't use the processor.

The printer also seems to use the color ink to print black even though there is a black cartridge in there.

Any help or tips would be appreciated.

As previously mentioned, manufacturers have a reason to stop you from using the last drop of ink. On systems with fixed printheads, specifically all Epsons and some HPs, you don't want to get air into the path between the tank and the head. At best, you'll spend an equivalent amount of ink trying to flush the bubbles out, at worst, you'll destroy the printheads and the whole printer.

They also do it to make you have to buy cartridges (which often times cost almost as much as a new printer) more frequently and increase their profit margin.

HP is actually facing a class action lawsuit because it has been alledged that they program in an 'expiration' date on their cartridges, which renders them useless after a certain period of time.

I've managed the same here with a Canon IP4000R except I didn't have to remove the cartridge, I just kept dismissing the warning and starting the printer going again. No problems. I too got a hundred or so pages extra after the first 'empty' dialog.

Are there cups drivers for the HP photosmart printers? The HP driver refuses to print anything because the Cyan is low. It won't even print in black and white. Of course, my fiancee's XP box is happy to print to the same printer via Bonjour and an Airport base station. Actually, XP works better than my mac for printing via Bonjour. The mac sometimes drops the printer connection during memory-heavy prints.

is this web site "mac os x hints"?

I have done something similar for years. It's actually best to follow the same procedure you did for a new cartridge. That is, gently tilt it from side to side and tilt it toward you and away from you. I'm assuming a good quality laser printer here. My HP 10,000 page toner will get several hundred extra pages this way.

Any printer that can be permanently damaged by removing the toner, I just won't buy.

In the good old days of the StyleWriter and StyleWriter II, one could use the "slingshot centrifugal force trick". Take out the cartridge, put it in a plastic bag, and sling it around so that the centrifugal force pushes some extra ink towards the opening on the cartridge.

This trick probably isn't wise to try on modern printers (that's a not-so-educated guess :)

That will instantly resume printing and dismiss the dialog on the screen.

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