[sillysaurusx]

Can I get your autograph? The 500 mile email story has been a story since I was a teenager.

Thank you for the comment. It was delightful to hear your take on the (mildly apocryphal, but highly enjoyable) tale.

[sah2ed]

How about a joint autograph from both the protagonist—Trey Harris, and the antagonist—the consultant to the Stats department :) ?

Trey Harris also on HN [0].

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=TreyHarris

[techdragon]

Yes. Seriously... I’m willing to pay for the shipping and everything. I’ve told this story countless times to people over the years. This and the “OpenOffice can’t print on Tuesday” bug are two of my favourite troubleshooting stories.

[franky47]

HN thread for the OpenOffice story:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8171956

[dang]

Also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11717010

and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22157430

[zemvpferreira]

I would also be ready to pay for a signed copy of this story. I’d frame it up in the office :)

[hardsoftnfloppy]

Can I get a signed copy on dot matrix printout please

[markstos]

Finding a working dot matrix printer may be the most expensive part!

[ISL]

My father recently retired his printer (Epson LQ-850) not because the printer had failed, but because driver support was lacking. We had used the same printer since ~1992. He was super bummed; he had stockpiled ribbons and still had a full box of tractor-feed paper.

The explanation he was given by the person in charge of administration on his university-department computer: At least on the system he was using, modern drivers expected a reply from the printer in response to commands, but apparently, the LQ-850 only receives commands but does not reply.

[freiheit]

They still make and sell new ones. Niche market for them because they can print onto transfer paper (with or without putting ink onto the top paper).

[tambourine_man]

We need a video of you both discussing this tale. It has become part of our culture.