“It was a simple twist of fate: my HP Scanjet 5200C scanner gave
up the ghost at the same time my HP Deskjet 842C ink cartridges
went dry. I set off to do some comparison shopping for new
cartridges at Office Depot and Best Buy. I decided to check the
prices on new scanners as well. Instead of coming home with the
best deal on the cartridges, and pricing info on scanners, I came
back with an Epson Stylus CX5400. It’s a multi-function device that
replaces both the HP scanner and the printer, and gives me a
standalone personal copier as well. Here’s my rationale for getting
the Epson CX5400, and the story on how I got it to play nicely on
my SUSE 9.1 desktop.“The why is Gillette’s razor blade marketing all over again.
What I discovered while shopping for cartridges was that the two
new cartridges (one black, one color) cost more than half of what a
nice All-in-one printer–like the Epson CX5400–costs…”