suggestions

The answer may be to get a new printer, possibly this Epson Stylus C86. It’s about $90 at Amazon, $70 with a mail-in rebate.
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=46048263

Its predecessor, the C80 was reviewed favorably my Macworld a couple years ago:
http://www.macworld.com/2002/02/reviews/epson/

HP also offers some cheap entry-level printers for about $50:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/generic_store/generic_subcategory_view.jsp?landing=null&category=inkjets&subcat1=entry_level&catLevel=2&BV_SessionID=@@@@1684231570.1107488483@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdiadddkhfiihicfngcfkmdflldfgg.0