As far as re-inking is concerned, my main suggestion would be to search the internet.  There's plenty of DIY re-ink kits, but if the cartridges that you have on-hand are too old, they're probably too crusty to re-ink and should be replaced. Are you talking a printer that is the old parallel port and you want to connect it to a USB-based computer?  There are protocol converter boxes that can do that, but honestly, if it's that old I'd seriously consider replacing it.