RE: How to check ink level on HP Deskjet 5500
On Thursday, August 17, 2006 10:23 AM -0500, Paul Scott wrote:
> Marc Shapiro wrote:
> >
> >
> > CORRECTION: I just found hp-toolbox, which has a 'Supplies' tab
> > showing the installed cartridges and should have the ink levels.
> > But it does not seem to show any ink in either cartridge. The
> > printer is printing fine, so I obviously DO have ink. Is there
> > something that I am doing wrong?
>
> I have the latest HP Toolbox on a Windoze 2K machine and it also
> shows no ink when the printer is printing just fine.
AFAIK, I also have the latest HP tools for my OfficeJet5500 on a Win2K
box and it does show ink levels, but only when logged in as an
administrative user :) Nice tool for some of the people some of the
time. This is, by far, the worst printer software package that I have
ever used. Aside from things that don't really work, it runs five
persistent processes with a total of nineteen threads and takes up 26MB
of memory. It was apparently written and (not) supported by their
operation in Bangalore. I hope the Linux tools were not derived from
this sorry package.
On installs of the earlier versions of this software, many other
functions only worked for an administrative user. When I called in to
report this, they calmly told me, "We recommend all users run as
administrator all the time". When I suggested that some people consider
this a security issue, she ignored my comment and continued to the next
helpful suggestion. This was a recipe for editing the registry to make
_all_ items owned by the administrator downgraded to read/write/execute
permissions for everyone. OK ... I can appreciate artful deviousness.
It took me a while before I figured out she did not seem to understand
my replies, except to determine whether I accepted her current
suggestion. If I didn't, she just read me the next entry on her script
sheet. This explains why it didn't sound at all like a normal
conversation. By the end of the call, it was apparent that though she
comprehended little English, she could read a prepared script with
excellent diction, which was why she got the job. After escalating
subsequent calls up the food chain, I learned that there are no tech
support people to whom you can speak that have any real understanding of
the products for that entire product line. There was no option of
speaking to anyone in the U.S. concerning these products, and calls made
to U.S. offices were quickly referred back to Bangalore.
HP apparently doesn't want to know.
--
Seth Goodman
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