Comment by 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.