Printing B&W Images

[ArthurDent]

I have a couple of B&Ws  I would like to print. My reading indicates that just changing to a dot/inch setting of 300 won't result in a very good print. The author I read states that most printers don't handle B&W well because they only have  a black cartridge and there are 256 possible shades from pure white to pure black to print. One possible solution was stated to be to convert the image to a duotone. I have  no experience printing my images, let alone printing them in B&W.  I have no experience with duotones. I would appreciate any guidance you might care to offer. Thanks in advance. As an alternative, can you suggest a printer that does a good job on black and white images? It would be a simple thing to send the file to them to print and not have to worry about the rest, at least for the moment.
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[HCS]

I have a couple of B&Ws  I would like to print. My reading indicates that just changing to a dot/inch setting of 300 won't result in a very good print. The author I read states that most printers don't handle B&W well because they only have  a black cartridge and there are 256 possible shades from pure white to pure black to print. One possible solution was stated to be to convert the image to a duotone. I have  no experience printing my images, let alone printing them in B&W.  I have no experience with duotones. I would appreciate any guidance you might care to offer. Thanks in advance. As an alternative, can you suggest a printer that does a good job on black and white images? It would be a simple thing to send the file to them to print and not have to worry about the rest, at least for the moment.
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I have no experience printing, but the book you're reading must be of (quite some) age. There are a number of printers that sport various blacks and grays to accommodate B&W printing. Google is your friend. Others will chime in. More disclaimers 

[Bent Hjarbo]

Ny Canon Pro-100 does fine B/W print. The B/W was made from a digital colour file converted to B/W, I don't know if makes any difference to a real B/W file.

[Bjørn J]

Many dedicated photo printers have one or more grey inks in addition to black. I have an Epson P-800, it has a black ink and two shades of grey. Or as Epson calls it - black, light black and light light black. It prints stunning BW prints with amazing tonal range.

[ArthurDent]

I'm sorry, I should have said general purpose printers. I know there are dedicated photo printers that can handle b&w, but I don't own one, and don't want to buy one to make just a few prints. So my question really had to do with a general purpose printer,which I have, and not a photo printer, which I don't have.

[HCS]

I'm sorry, I should have said general purpose printers. I know there are dedicated photo printers that can handle b&w, but I don't own one, and don't want to buy one to make just a few prints. So my question really had to do with a general purpose printer,which I have, and not a photo printer, which I don't have.

Oh, yes, that does make a difference. Even though, couldn't hurt to just try once and see. I bet it does better than you'd expect.

But, if you're going for "professional" results, it may pay off to find a good print house and have it done there.

[pluton]

B&W files printed on a inexpensive desktop inkjet printer will look their best on so-called "photo"paper, usually glossy,luster or matte are available.  Expect a slight color cast:  bluish is common.
Also, many desktop inksets are relatively impermanent, often fading in just a few years if displayed.