Thanks Conram,
I have tried bjfiltercups-2.4 with no sucess. It seemed to load a ppd for an i860 (not i850) resulting in no printing at all.

I found a manual on BJ filters for i250 on www.canon.com.au/drivers/download.aspx and
/products/printers/colour_bj_printers/i250_drivers.html. This showed all the ink monitoring details but with no indication of how to use this option.

Is it an OPTION and how do you start it? Is there anyone out there using a Canon i850 and getting the Maintenance tab on the Canon PIXUS 850i window. I must rest from this fruitless quest for a while, but I will try to translate the Japanese manual somehow - or has someone done that?

The i850 is such a great printer it's a shame not to use all the facilities.

Tony