Hmm... manual says Windows XP Professional x64 Edition/Windows XP (32-bit)
edit !! found the 32bit driver for XP, vist, win7 etc. Try this one: https://download.epson-europe.com/pub/downloa … son513638eu.exe
webpage: https://www.epson.co.uk/en_GB/support/sc/epso … ndows+XP+32-bit

Thank you, but i might not have expressed my concern clearly, so i try again...

I got the old Epson (with working driver) that has not been used for years. It is blinking and makes noise and tells me 'no ink'. I can't test if it will actually print unless i buy all cardridges. First question: Is this waste of money or is there a good chance, that the internal tubes are not jammed with old ink? Or should i throw it away? In that case i'd have to buy a new printer.
Second question: For new printers, there are no XP-drivers. Now i'm wondering if a new inkjet will work with some old standard-driver, like HP-Deskjet. (If this fails, i would have to print to PDF, send the doc to my mobile and print from there.)

1.- That depends on your printer. If the printhead is on the cartridge (most HP), it would work. If it is on the printer, it probably wont (sadly, most Epson and Canon). You should get your cartridges out and check that before buying anything (BTW, I don't think that an inkjet printer stored for years will work).
rs
2.- You should check your new printer features. If it does support PCL5c, PCL6 or Postscript, there will be "good enough" drivers on XP. Note that most laser printers advertise those features, but they're "hidden" on inkjet or consumer printers.

("Good enough" drivers means drivers that will work; usually some features like duplex or tray selection may not work as intended)

I have a few Epson All-in-One Work Force printers I Used with Win-10
I used inkjet printers like HP, Kodak, Epson, Canon, Lexmark since 1998

These are notorious for having the inkjet nozzles clog up with dry ink.
If you don’t use these everyday the nozzles tend to clog up.

Your best bet is to try to take apart the nozzle assembly and try to clean them out.
You can also put paper towels under the nozzels and flush the nozzels with cleaning solution.
They sell the inkjet cleaning solution kits on Amazon
You may have to flush the nozzels several times to clear them out.

There are videos on YouTube on how to clean the Inkjet Nozzles.

Thanks for the infos! Before putting the Epson on the sidewalk for the scrap collectors, i think of filling the emtpty cartridges with alcohol or lighter fuel to flush its guts. Acetone would make the plastic melt i guess? Am i the first to try this? Will the printer know that it's no real ink? (This may also become a great opportunity to test my fire extinguisher.)

Why not look at acquiring a laser printer?
1) Laser printers are a lot more durable so you might be able to find an older one.
2) Laser printers are more likely to support PCL/PS/etc which allow for more generic drivers.

I would not put any money/time into restoring an old inkjet printer. These things clogged up after a few months of non-use back in the day and you'd just pour your money down the drain running endless cleaning cycles in hope that would fix it.

I have a strong, strong, strong suspicion that, given the lack of any innovations in printers in the past decade and a half or more (at least outside of HP and their money-making schemes), it should probably be possible to get the 'current model vendor X' printer working with the driver for a direct predecessor model from vendor X from ~10 years ago. Especially if you're doing networked printing, and especially on a Brother or maybe Canon. But that's just a hunch and I can't tell you "oh the Brother model Y works great in XP using the model Z driver".

@VivienM: Yes, the business 'model' of the inkjet manufacturers is schidd (= cheap printer - expensive ink). But what can i do? I have to print about 10 pages every 2nd or 3rd year, so costs of an inkjet are: 60 or 80 $/€ for the device incl. fresh cartridges = 20 or 30 per year. Lasers are too expensive. Maybe ebay would be an option, but i have bad experiences with used stuff. Couldn't you please write a letter to HP / Canon / Epson and ask them to bring back cheap needle printers?
Re old drivers: Yes, it might work or not. If not, i can prepare my docs on the PC, print to PDF, send to my Android and print from there via Wifi. So a new printer will work in any case (although this method is a little complicated).

paterpaulandmary wrote on 2024-09-15, 14:43:

@VivienM: Yes, the business 'model' of the inkjet manufacturers is schidd (= cheap printer - expensive ink). But what can i do? I have to print about 10 pages every 2nd or 3rd year, so costs of an inkjet are: 60 or 80 $/€ for the device incl. fresh cartridges = 20 or 30 per year. Lasers are too expensive. Maybe ebay would be an option, but i have bad experiences with used stuff. Couldn't you please write a letter to HP / Canon / Epson and ask them to bring back cheap needle printers?

Huh? Lasers don't cost what they did 30 years ago.

I happened to get very lucky, I got a factory-refurbished (i.e. effectively brand new) Brother MFC-9325CW 10 years ago for around CAD$70. Colour laser MFP. I, like you, print very little... and that printer is still running on its original starter cartridges, 10 years later. (I have two replacement cartridges for two of the colours waiting, but so far... they haven't been needed).

So... my printer has cost me, not including sales tax, about CAD$7 (or USD$5) per year for the past decade. It has printed a total of 880 pages in that decade.

Now, that was an absurdly good deal, and it looks like printer prices have gone up quite a bit during the pandemic, but... still...

Why would you spend 3-5X as much on an inkjet you keep having to throw out?

Oh. Lucky you! Congrats! I think i was offline for too long and will do a little market research this eve... The next (small, neat, almost new, ...) laser is see in small-adds, collectable here in town, for less than 100 €/$ is mine.

Locally there is a very good condition HP Color Laserjet M551n for $90, I do not need one but it would be a good one if space was not an issue (is about 20"x20"x15") and has XP drivers.
Might be a bit hard to find a newer printer that is XP compliant but if it a HP you can use their UPD v6.1 driver for PCL5 and PCL6 under XP and it should work......
My Samsung color laser came with XP drivers in 2018 and still works like new (C430W), got it for $120 new during the Holiday sales back then.

Horun wrote on 2024-09-15, 18:56:

Might be a bit hard to find a newer printer that is XP compliant

I bought a new Epson EcoTank ET-16650 printer this year. It is somewhat expensive and A3 size, but the funny thing is, the supplied drivers are still working in Windows XP 32-bit. Both the scanner and the printer one.

I know the trouble with Epson print-head clogging, with third-party ink that is. In our small office I have seen it with multiple such printers over like 15 years. I never tried "do it yourself" unofficial tricks with cleaning agents. It was Warranty or Service Center or Written-off.

gerwin wrote on 2024-09-15, 19:49:

Horun wrote on 2024-09-15, 18:56:

Might be a bit hard to find a newer printer that is XP compliant

I bought a new Epson EcoTank ET-16650 printer this year. It is somewhat expensive and A3 size, but the funny thing is, the supplied drivers are still working in Windows XP 32-bit. Both the scanner and the printer one.

I know the trouble with Epson print-head clogging, with third-party ink that is. In our small office I have seen it with multiple such printers over like 15 years. I never tried "do it yourself" unofficial tricks with cleaning agents. It was Warranty or Service Center or Written-off.

Wow spendy printer 😀 I see it does have XP drivers !! Most the other companies have removed XP (and some Win7) drivers since Intel and MS have dropped the OS support.
The Epson WorkForce Pro WF-3823 is reasonable and has all the right connections and XP drivers (looks like nearly all the Epsons currently do)..Nice !

VivienM wrote on 2024-09-15, 14:07:

Why not look at acquiring a laser printer? 1) Laser printers are a lot more durable so you might be able to find an older one. […]
Show full quote

Why not look at acquiring a laser printer?
1) Laser printers are a lot more durable so you might be able to find an older one.
2) Laser printers are more likely to support PCL/PS/etc which allow for more generic drivers.

I would not put any money/time into restoring an old inkjet printer. These things clogged up after a few months of non-use back in the day and you'd just pour your money down the drain running endless cleaning cycles in hope that would fix it.

Second this!

We had three inkjet printers over the years (1998-2010, we still own them...somewhere). Since 2015 we have a HP LaserJet 4350n that I got for free from work. When it boots up it sounds like it will explode within a few seconds...but it's a working horse -> no more dried out ink or other problems you could imagine a consumer inkjet will have, which were always just a disaster! When I got the 4350n, it had already over one million pages printed - but no problem, it still prints fast and in very good quality (black only, for sure).

If you print documents every half year or so an inkjet is definitely the wrong decision. If you don't want to print photos or colorful charts, a B/W business laser printer from 10-20 years ago is what you need if you want to have an inexpensive and extremely reliable printer. The most important thing to me is that it has a LAN/RJ45 interface so we can print from several Windows XP/7 PCs/notebooks via LAN or WLAN with PCL5/6 drivers. OK, AirPrint is missing...that would be great to have for printing documents from our Apple devices (f.e. iPhones and iPad).

kind regards
soggi

Also, you could try to NOT having a printer at home. If you only print a few pages every year, it may be cheaper to print to PDF and then go to your work or to a shop to get it printed.

If you absolutely need to have a printer but you don't mind color, a cheap or second hand laser mono printer is the way to go. It will work nicely after being forgotten for months, it will be easier to find a printer that works with Windows XP (even with 9x!) and it's easier to find a printer with ethernet (useful if you have more than one computer at home).