How to Approach Printing B&W Printing

Preferably with gray inks. 6 years ago a friend printed some technical murals for me. He used a 14X17 inch printer that used about 5 or 6 grey ink cartridges and one large black cartridge.

a)how to folks interested ONLY in printing B&W photos deal with this challenge?

b) are the printers inkjet, piezo-electric, laser?

c) are any such printers flat-bed? To avoid curl.

I live in Los Angeles and will start asking the same questions at the large camera store where I bought all my DSLR gear.

Thanks.