[kuschku]

I don’t know what kind of printers you buy, but the ones I had – from HP and Canon – solved all those issues:

(a) you can refill cartridges, you know that?

(b) printers will ask you "foreign cartridge detected, accept? yes/no", and it works

(c) refill ink goes for a few cents per liter

(d) the printer works fine without some cartridges, just press "yes" when it asks you "print with just black?"

(e) I print 400 pages university books on one set of cartridges once a semester usually, and have enough left to print another whole semester my homework.

[Ralfp]

Vendors actually hard-code "I'm dry and won't print anymore" kill-switch into chip on cartridge as protection against regeneration. You may refill your cart, but if kill-switch went on already, your printer will not print anyway claiming dry cartrigde.

I've actually experienced this on HP printer, and quick Google search shows that I'm not alone in this: http://www.gadgetspage.com/comps-peripheral/hp-printer-consp...

[kuschku]

Well, my printer allows me to ignore that switch if I keep the "abort print" and the "print test page" button both pressed for at least 15 sec after inserting the cartridge.