You’ve got to love HP Printers. Slight crisis at the Sheep Pen when the smallest Sheep in the household needed to print out her homework. Of course, the black ink cartridge chooses that moment to run out, and homework has to be in tomorrow and the shops are shut. Having located a spare cartridge, I note that the “install by” date is sometime in 2003, but carry on regardless.
A couple of cleaning cycles and the output, is to say the least, streaky, and it looks like nothing is getting printed tonight… however, a rinse under the tap, a few rubs with some tissue to get the ink going, and a print run later… the output isn’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
Many years ago, at work, we dug out an old HP Deskjet (possibly a Deskjet II, that’s how long ago) from a dusty store cupboard where it had sat for at least 4 years, stuck in a fresh cartridge, and away it went.
Maybe you can get something cheaper, maybe you can get something that printers higher quality. But, they do seem to work even after being ignored for years.