Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

Printers.

Needing a new printer whose accessibility when replacing the ink cartridges is paramount, as well as being compatible with Windows 10. Currently have a Canon which requires the pulling out of the printer's lid towards me and is difficult to replace the cartridge.

Used to have a Kodak, the lid of which lifted upwards and had easy access for replacing ink. That's what I need once more. Can anyone advise, cost being a factor here..

Comments

  • My Epson you lift the lid and the section below, but don't know about the latest.

    Best thing is to look at printers in your price range online- don't go for a cheap one where the colours are all in one, make sure you can change the colours individually. Then go to the manufacturers website and look at the pictures and specifications to see what fits your requirements.
  • We have a new canon this year - the ink cartridges hold more than our last one, last longer and the grey cartridge holds twice as much ink. Still costs a lot to change cartridges. It's easy to change them. It was quite expensive but it does not print as well as our last printer at all.
  • Amazon gave me some advice as to go to their website and check out the customers reviews of their printers. Should be some information on there about all the specifications..

    Actually, this canon printer is a bit fiddly, and even the PC experts I have had here on other matters have had difficulties opening it out to extract the cartridges..

    Thanks for the additional advice about individual colours, rather than all-in-one printers. Sound advice there...

    Merry Christmas to you all on this forum. I hope you all have a splendid day and forthcoming New Year..
  • Hi Lydia. Consider the amount of printing that you have to do. It might be more economical to have two - if you ave the room. If your Canon is still serviceable, use it solely for colour and small black and white jobs. (I use a small HP2130 for this).
    For larger runs (drafts/scripts, etc) consider getting yourself a laser mono only semi-commercial printer. I use a Canon MF226 which has variants in USB and wi-fi connectivity. You will probably find this option very economical - if you can justify the outlay, and of course I base this scenario on your current Canon being reasonable.

    Another option is to purchase or borrow a recent computer magazine in which printers are reviewed. Remember: Boxing Day sales will give you very good purchasing power!
  • Thanks, PET. checked out some mono printers, quite reasonably priced, so think I will indulge by purchasing one... should print speedily all the pages of my writing..

    Just a different question on this thread if it can be tolerated..

    Been advised that, to upload pictures and videos onto one's social media sites you will need a licence to do this? Don't recall this being mentioned in all the advice being given out to me here about free stock images to use for blog posts etc. Seems quite expensive. Can you get a license and still get free stock pictures etc?
  • You won't find too many people with a license. Certainly you will pay for images from Shutterstock, etc, but 'free' images are just that: Free. There might, and probably would, be an exception for commercial use, but we are all 'hobby' writers, aren't we!!

    And Lydia, you won't find a fee or any mention of a charge to upload onto social media. the most you will see is a warning that you must have rights to the image to use as your own.
  • Using a photo on a blog would be commercial use. Licence or not you need to be aware of the terms and conditions that apply to the image you wish to use.
  • Does this person mean a creative commons licence? Some people who take photos are happy for others to use that photo for anything, commercial or personal, with no strings attached. They are few and far between. A lot of people who take photos are happy for personal use, as long as people adhere to the licence conditions attached to that picture. These conditions might be that you can use the picture, as long as you don't alter it in any way, for personal use, as long as you display it attributed (with the photographer's name) and a link to the same licence conditions, so whoever else uses it also uses their name.

    There are several creative common licences and each has slightly different terms. To use those photos all you have to do is obey the terms and display a link to the licence.

    Sometimes the licence lets you use the image for commercial purposes.

    Using it on a blog is not commercial purposes in my book - commercial purpose, that would be using it for monetary gain. It's not monetary gain to illustrate a story that you are not selling (which you can't sell because it's already published on your blog).

    I use creative commons images to illustrate my animal facts and poems all the time on my blog - i also always let the photographer know and link to their Flikr page etc. and link to the licence terms. I'm not getting paid fr the image in any way, so it's fine to use it on my blog.

  • edited December 2016
    Blogs are a grey area. If you use them to promote your author profile they are a business tool.

    An extreme example but a warning to anyone who uses photos for their blog:

    http://roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html
  • Blogs are not a grey area - they have to obey the same rules as anyone else - i have never just 'taken an image' from Google and posted it on my site with a disclaimer. I always, as is the only way that is ok (as said on the above site), used a Creative Commons image and linked and attributed. As long as you use a Creative Commons image you are fine.

    I'm interested in the fact that you can sue though - as many of MY images, none of which has a creative commons licence, have been used by people.

    I suspect that Pinterest will have to be closed at some point because of the gross misuse of images on there.
  • The copyright holders can attempt to sue - just as we might if someone used our writing without permission.
  • edited December 2016
    "Using it on a blog is not commercial purposes in my book - commercial purpose, that would be using it for monetary gain. It's not monetary gain to illustrate a story that you are not selling (which you can't sell because it's already published on your blog)."

    Why risk being sued? Why steal someone's work?

    The owner of the image won't care if it's not for 'commercial purposes' - they will just care about it be used without their consent.
  • But I'm not talking about stealing people's work - only using images that are creative commons. The copyright owners of the images themselves make the rules, and give permission themselves for use of the images in various ways. Some of the creative commons licences allow you to use the images FOR commercial purposes. As long as you attribute, or attribute and give a link to the copyright holder's images, and always you have to give a link to the CC licence you are using the image under.

    If you licence your work under a CC licence, then you cannot sue for its use, unless the person who used the image did not do the things set out in the licence. Consent has been given.

    A lot of the photos on Wikipedia can be used as long as the licence is displayed/linked to and/or original source material.

    Some writings are also 'free to use' under Creative commons licence. If someone says 'you can use my writing as long as you do so under the terms of this licence' it is not stealing to use it. Consent has been given.

    The thing about Google is if you Google 'Creative Commons' images images come up that aren't. Many people seem unable to work that out. The person on that blog Baggy quotes above used an image on Google by a professional photographer whose images will in no way be creative commons. You have to check each image ay source individually to check which can be used and which can't.

    the best place to get images with Creative Commons licences is Flikr - there are many, many people who are just casual photographers with good cameras who are quite happy to licence some of their images for use in various ways. Flikr packages these licensed photos up into different areas - so if you want an image which allows to you to use an image for commercial purposes, you look at all the images that fir your search under that licence, and further check the individual image you have chosen to check which licence it is under again in case they have changed it. Then you can use that image according to the licence rules with no fee except attribution and whatever else they ask for. This is NOT STEALING.

    Stealing is just choosing whatever you want off the internet and putting it on your blog for commercial use or not because it fits what you want.

    Furthermore, it is sensible and good manners to let the person whose photo you are using know which one you are using and where and give them a link. Sometimes they send back a nice message.

    I chose an image from Flikr for an artist to paint from for the cover of my book - it was NOT creative Commons. I wrote to the Flikr photographer to ask her permission, which she gave. I asked her what renumeration she would like and she said she loved the idea of the book and letting people know about animals was what she does - so there would be no charge. I sent her a picture of the painting and a copy of the book anyway.

    Communication and knowledge of how to use images is the crucial point here.


  • I'm sure Lydia will follow the rules.
  • Dunno. I think Lydia will be scared off!!
  • Read through all the comments carefully and have some further questions to these, if you don't mind.

    Flickr seems the be ' The Website' to go to for images. Just been checking out some images on there. Baggy Books appears to have it right, as usual, when she says you need permission, or a licence, and a link etc, to the photographer, in order to use that image. If the rules are followed then you can you use them for your social media sites, including Facebook accounts and blog posts...

    Just wondering. Checked out an image on Flickr and couldn't see where to request permission from the photographer. Under 'additional info', there are the words 'viewing privacy and safety level'. Does this imply that it is not to be used at all and that other images on Flickr do give permission? Is that what is meant by gaining a licence... it also mentions the words 'all rights reserved'. What is actually meant by this, could someone please tell me..?
  • I don't think BB has said that once, but I certainly have.

    'All rights reserved' means that image is NOT under Creative Commons and can't be used.

    Google Flikr Creative Commons.
  • LizLiz
    edited December 2016
    Here is the link to the creative commons licence pages.

    https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

    Each licence listed on this page has different rules, and these are listed down the side.

    So all the images you search under the heading 'Attribution Licence' mean:

    "You can copy, distribute, display, and perform the copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if you give the person who made it credit."

    But when you look at the image on the page you must still check, in the place where you saw 'all rights reserved' and see what it says. It will normally, under the search under the licences, say something like "some rights reserved'. You then click on that and see which licence is attached to the work.

    Sometimes an image is put under every licence, so you might be searching under the licence that only allows few rights to copy, but the actual licence it is under is is actually only asking for attribution.
  • Checked that link, Liz. Thanks for that. Tapped onto 'public domain dedication' then typed up the image that I am after, in explore. Images came up and tapped onto one which said that this photo was in the 'public domain'. So assume those type of images are able to be used on Facebook and in blogs?

    When I tap on the arrow pointing to the right, the word share comes onto the screen. When I tap on share Facebook, tumbr etc symbols come up. If I select one of these symbols will the image upload onto my Facebook page, let's say, automatically.

    Also, what do the words embed and bbcode stand for? Will I need to tap onto them at all? And will I need to adjust the dimension of images for my social media sites? How to do this, please..?
  • edited December 2016
    Public domain does not necessarily mean free to use for everything.

    This explanation from Pixabay may help:

    https://pixabay.com/en/blog/posts/public-domain-images-what-is-allowed-and-what-is-4/
  • Do you need lots of photos? Just words is fine for a writer.
  • Been watching Michelle Shocked on video. A lovely woman. Information came up onscreen about Vimeo PRO. Took a quick glance at this and it intrigued me. About how to get your message, of whatever that may be, out into the larger online community and, maybe even make some money from your videos...

    Does anyone know anything about this service? It looks promising and inviting and a way of sharing my ideas, whether creative or political etc to a receptive audience. Has anyone tried this and what was the result...?
  • Lydia, again some of us might be plagued by the continual conundrum: what do you have to put to an 'audience' and who is that audience?

    We are all, everyone one of us, eager for exposure, whether to seek fortune (an unrealistic objective) to achieve recognition (a realistic expectation) or merely to share our work with like-minded colleagues (an honourable quality). In trying to achieve this, we must achieve a 'writers' balance' -- our version of the 'life balance'. To that end, we acknowledge the need to apportion, say, 80% of our resources to writing, with the remaining 20% to marketing.

    Might you have inadvertently transposed this formula?
  • Right again, PET. Just have these 'flights of fancy' every now and again. Need to continue on with my writing.

    Have decided to spice things up by adding the additional theme of mental illness, with everything beginning to fall apart. Also, have downloaded some books on the topic of writing, especially characters with pulsating inner lives.

    The idea that these characters are being driven by hunger, boredom, need for excitement etc which would add texture upon texture to a plot as well as the required depth to it and open up more imaginative suggestions for plot developments.

    So browsing through that jotting down ideas. It's fun being creative if only for one's own delight..
  • Go Lydia! You must be well delighted!! :D
Sign In or Register to comment.