Labels

[snousle]

I got a super good price on a Brother QL-570 label printer for the kitchen. I was pretty sure it was going to suck, but for $40 (!) I figured I would give it a try.

It most definitely does not suck! It's fast, the software makes perfect sense, the label paper they ship with it is surprisingly water resistant, and after a bit of time figuring things out I was able to print a whole stack of task labels from my kitchen database all at once. If I can keep the database up to snuff, I should be able to make package labels, ingredient labels, all kinds of things, just by punching a few things on the touchscreen. Woo hoo!

So instead of a long task list, there's a stack of labels to stick on each package that's going out to an event. When there are no more labels left, it's ready to go.

Never have the results so exceeded my expectations for a consumer tech product. That's what's nice about having suffered through this sort of thing in the Bad Old Days of RS232 and DIP switches. Once the initial shock wears off, the warm glow of having something Actually Work can cheer me up for a whole week.

Comments

[dhpbear.livejournal.com]

RS232 & DIP switches?

Just how old are you? :)

I just love it when that happens!

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

Isn't it great when technology exceeds your expectations! The good feeling is the mystical "Gadget Orgasm" WOOO-HOOO!

[snousle.livejournal.com]

I started real young. Daisy-wheel printers and jury rigged cassette tape players for storing data!

Oh, the trauma.

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

Yeah that's the thing now is that you don't get to tinker when you get a new thing. It used to be that it would be a few weeks of trying to get something to work. Now it just works. Kind of a let-down if you wanted a hobby but it is nice if you just want to do something with it.

[dhpbear.livejournal.com]

I used punched cards in college between 1974-1976. Somehow, I "missed out" on punched paper tape.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

It's safe to say that I'm not looking for any new hobbies right now!

Re: I just love it when that happens!

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Really? I haven't had one of those since my parents got me an electric toothbrush.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Does its software print Postnet barcodes for address labels?

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Very cool! And the labels mean you don't have to have transparent/translucent containers to tell what's inside, which might make other optimizations possible.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

And if you did - you'd want to specifically select it as such, not have it revolve around a piece of equipment that's supposed to make your life easier. ;)

[urbear]

I have a box of old high school projects on paper tape. I keep it next to my stone knives and bearskins.

[urbear]

Many fancy label printers are cheaper than you'd expect; it's the old razor-vs.-blades trick, committing you to expensive, proprietary supplies.

Punched paper tape

[ursine1.livejournal.com]

Sadly, i didn't miss out on that. I guess you never had to "correct" or "splice" paper tape used on a real Teletype™ machine.

Chuck, ten years before you

[dhpbear.livejournal.com]

Ah, right next to that mnemonic memory circuit ;)

[urbear]

Actually, right next to the 1K core memory card from the PDP-8e that the programs ran on...

[progbear.livejournal.com]

Tee hee!

EML SynKey

RMI Keyboard Computer

Re: I just love it when that happens!

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

Ah the secret of enjoying your life, you have to lower your expectations!

"Sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crap. That's because ninety percent of everything is crap."

Sturgeon's Law