Printing strictly black and white with a color inkjet

I thought I'd pass along a small and simple solution to one of my client's
problems. The client receives all sorts of spreadsheets, documents, etc. in
color, not to mention garishly colored web pages. When it comes time to print
any of this, the stock driver for an HP Deskjet (or PSC does it all device)
prints in color what is displayed in color. So what if you do not want or need
the color? And what if you don't want to waste the color ink in the expensive
color cartridges, especially the cartridges that contain all the colors?

Solution: Install another printer driver. Select the same port as currently
occupied by your DeskJet, even a USB or network port. Select the HP DeskJet 600
(monochrome) printer driver. Print a test page. It prints only in B&W, and
uses only the black cartridge.

This solution works because HP, like most other companies in the industry, has
evolved its printers and the printer control language used to feed the data and
data attributes to the printer. HP has not, with good sense for a change,
thrown away PCL and started all over again. As a result, the black and white
command subset is present in (almost?) every DeskJet printer. The DeskJet 600
driver predates the development of bi-directional print drivers and software to
monitor the printer, print status, and cartridge status, so I can connect to
most any type of port... Ben Myers