Portable Printer

[Sheryl]

As you'll know if you have been following my sad, sad story in another thread , I suffered a major computer catastrophe from a slew of virus all contacted vis flash drive used at a computer shop.

Yes, I know one should never, ever, put one's flash drive into a computer at a computer shop, least of all one in Phnom Penh.

What I don't know is how on earth to avoid having to do so. I'm a freelance consultant, different assignments/places all the time. Some provide me with access to a printer but some do not which is what drove me to use a shop this last time.

I just spent several hours at Pantip looking for a portable printer. They seem not to exist, at least not in Thailand. The closest thing I could find was a Canon Pixma that was expensive (8,000+), still pretty large and heavy...definitely would not fit alomng with my laptop into even into even an extra large computer carrying case .

Is there such a thing as a printer small and light enough to be carried with a lapptop? I do not need photo capabilities or color, just ordinary black and white printing.

Coz god knows I will NEVER go near a shop computer again.

????

[garyh]

As you'll know if you have been following my sad, sad story in another thread , I suffered a major computer catastrophe from a slew of virus all contacted vis flash drive used at a computer shop.

Yes, I know one should never, ever, put one's flash drive into a computer at a computer shop, least of all one in Phnom Penh.

What I don't know is how on earth to avoid having to do so. I'm a freelance consultant, different assignments/places all the time. Some provide me with access to a printer but some do not which is what drove me to use a shop this last time.

I just spent several hours at Pantip looking for a portable printer. They seem not to exist, at least not in Thailand. The closest thing I could find was a Canon Pixma that was expensive (8,000+), still pretty large and heavy...definitely would not fit alomng with my laptop into even into even an extra large computer carrying case .

Is there such a thing as a printer small and light enough to be carried with a lapptop? I do not need photo capabilities or color, just ordinary black and white printing.

Coz god knows I will NEVER go near a shop computer again.

????

Burn the files to print to a cd and take that to the shop. Surely there is way also to make a usb drive read only?

[Tywais]

Is there such a thing as a printer small and light enough to be carried with a lapptop? I do not need photo capabilities or color, just ordinary black and white printing.

What I've noticed over the last several months due to the economic situation that the model choices for many computer items has significantly dropped. Seems the truly portable ones have disappeared all together on the online sites I use. I was planning on a Canon SELPHY portable which were available a couple of years ago can't be seen now. Also, all the portables were photo printers meant to print direct from your camera on the go. Example here. The dot matrix or thermal portables are remarkably expensive running around 20,000 Baht due to being specialized. Perhaps check on e-bay.

BTW: Regarding infection from flash drive. Download Microsoft PowerToys, specifically TweakUI. Run TweakUI and under autorun, disable all devices. This is the primary mechanism they use to get into a computer.

//Edit - just saw garyh's suggestion of putting it on a CD and take to the shop, good idea.

//2nd edit - you can buy USB flash drives with a hard write protect switch on it.

[Deke]

Another solution might be to Email the file to yourself at some webmail account and then print directly from the shop computer.

[borovik]

Canon Pixma iP100 is "mobile" model - 2kg.Some time ago you could buy smaller printers from Pentax and Citizen,which printed on thermal paper,

but now I do not see them - less then a kilo.I had similar disaster like you from my brother's mp3 player,I infected all network in my hotel!But we tend to trust our families?

[Sheryl]

Excellent suggestions, thanks! I especially like the email to myself option - costs nothing and completely safe!