EUSKill cancer Premium Member join:2002-09-10 canada |
EUS
Premium Member
2014-Feb-13 10:37 am
linux friendly home laser color printerI'm looking to buy a simple color laser printer, network printing would be a nice extra, but not a deal breaker. Which brand is linux friendly these days? |
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graysonf MVM join:1999-07-16 Fort Lauderdale, FL |
If it's connected to a network via ethernet or wireless the operating system of what is talking to it is irrelevant. |
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EUSKill cancer Premium Member join:2002-09-10 canada |
EUS
Premium Member
2014-Feb-13 11:26 am
I meant the option of networking printing would be a bonus.
The real question is related to the print drivers; which company has good linux drivers for the actual printing process? |
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BranoI hate Vogons MVM join:2002-06-25 Burlington, ON
1 recommendation |
Brano
MVM
2014-Feb-13 11:30 am
I've had great success with HP printers and linux. |
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uteck join:2009-12-30 Elgin, IL
1 recommendation |
uteck to EUS
Member
2014-Feb-13 11:32 am
to EUS
Just about any should work, but you can check the Open Printer Database for specific models. The site is running very slow, so give the page some time load. » www.openprinting.org/printersHP is usually a good bet since they actively support their printers on Unix and Linux, but people have reported good success with Epson as well. |
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EUSKill cancer Premium Member join:2002-09-10 canada |
EUS
Premium Member
2014-Feb-13 11:40 am
Thanks guys and or gals, I'll take a look at that site. |
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to EUS
I once bought a Samsung ML-1710 (monochrome laser) because it advertised Linux support right on the box. Dunno if that reflects their current policies or not. |
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BinkVillains... knock off all that evil join:2006-05-14 Colorado
1 recommendation |
Bink to EUS
Member
2014-Feb-13 12:58 pm
to EUS
I highly recommend printers that grok PostScript (PS)no Ghostscript, CUPS, drivers or other magic requiredas they work out-of-the box with just the built-in lpr. I have a couple of Brother printers that speak BR-Script, which emulates PS, and these work quite wellpurchasing non-PS printers for UNIX-like OSes is not worth it IMHO. |
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DannyZGentoo Fanboy Premium Member join:2003-01-29 united state
1 recommendation |
to wmcbrine
said by wmcbrine:I once bought a Samsung ML-1710 (monochrome laser) because it advertised Linux support right on the box. Dunno if that reflects their current policies or not. You have to be careful with this. I got bit by a Lexmark that listed Linux support on the box, but would only work with older kernels in a 32 bit environment only. Tech support didn't want to help at all, but after I shared my experience on their Facebook page, they ended up exchanging it for a nicer model that did have current Linux support, so it worked out for me in the end. |
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Fraoch join:2003-08-01 Cambridge, ON SmartRG SR808ac TP-Link EAP225 Grandstream HT502
2 recommendations |
to Bink
Brother's Linux support is pretty good - I've taken my MFC-7460DN and MFC-J615W through several versions of Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Though I have had to futz about a bit from time to time, the drivers generally work well. said by Bink:I highly recommend printers that grok PostScript (PS)no Ghostscript, CUPS, drivers or other magic requiredas they work out-of-the box with just the built-in lpr. I have a couple of Brother printers that speak BR-Script, which emulates PS, and these work quite wellpurchasing non-PS printers for UNIX-like OSes is not worth it IMHO. The MFC-7860DW, the model a step up from what I have, supports BR-Script. I should have spent a little more and gotten that. |
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EUSKill cancer Premium Member join:2002-09-10 canada |
EUS to Bink
Premium Member
2014-Feb-13 5:30 pm
to Bink
said by Bink:I highly recommend printers that grok PostScript (PS)no Ghostscript, CUPS, drivers or other magic requiredas they work out-of-the box with just the built-in lpr. I have a couple of Brother printers that speak BR-Script, which emulates PS, and these work quite wellpurchasing non-PS printers for UNIX-like OSes is not worth it IMHO. Is this the type of thing generally found advertised on the printer's box, or should the homework be done before heading out to the store? |
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leibold MVM join:2002-07-09 Sunnyvale, CA
1 recommendation |
It is best to do some homework before shopping. Some printer boxes (especially cheap printers) advertise postscript capabilities but it is purely software support inside the windows printer driver. |
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linicxCaveat Emptor Premium Member join:2002-12-03 United State |
linicx to EUS
Premium Member
2014-Feb-13 6:11 pm
to EUS
I've used Epson with Mac for years as I gave up on the others long ago. I have no idea how Linux it is, but I will say it prints beautifully. I did buy the latest Workforce 600 home/small office model |
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leibold MVM join:2002-07-09 Sunnyvale, CA Netgear CG3000DCR ZyXEL P-663HN-51
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Epson printers tend to be well supported in Linux. The proprietary printer protocols used by Epson have been reverse engineered long ago and therefore opensource drivers exist for most Epson printers.
Epson also creates Linux drivers and those can be downloaded if they are not already included with your Linux distro.
Nevertheless I would still recommend to check the level of support even for Epson printers before making a purchase. For multi-function devices be sure to separately check that you can use both printer and scanner in Linux. |
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linicxCaveat Emptor Premium Member join:2002-12-03 United State |
linicx
Premium Member
2014-Feb-13 6:46 pm
Thank you! This is good to know. I live too far from retailers to fool with returning a printer. They will prove to my satisfaction this $150 printer scans and prints properly before I walk out the door. I bought one too many that wouldn't print Verdana or Tahoma fonts.
I bought a Canon one year at BB that was marked Mac on the box that would not work. All I wanted to do was trade up. I brought a copy of what how it printed. The BB tech showed me how nicely it printed in Windows. I asked him to use his Mac to print. He was furious. I should bring my PC in for him to fix. ??? He informed me I could trade once, but if I tried it again I would be escorted out of the store and banned. I never did understand why paying more for an exchange was a bad thing. The store manager was not amused with his employee. I have not purchased a product from BB since. The Epson printed perfectly out of the box. I am not on my third model. So far the Workforce has been a work horse for me. |
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uteck join:2009-12-30 Elgin, IL |
uteck to EUS
Member
2014-Feb-13 10:29 pm
to EUS
You can also look for printers that are Mac compatible since Apple uses the same softeware (CUPS) for printing as Linux. |
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JohnInSJ Premium Member join:2003-09-22 Aptos, CA
1 recommendation |
to EUS
This is my newer Wireless color laser printer in CUPS: laser (Idle, Accepting Jobs, Shared, Server Default)
Description:Brother HL-3170CDW series
Location:By fireplace
Driver:Brother HL-3170CDW series CUPS (color)
Connection:ipp://laser.schettino.local/ipp/port1
Defaults:job-sheets=none, none media=na_letter_8.5x11in
He's working great from Linux/Mac/iOS/Windows :) Good energy saver standby mode, quiet, small, and wireless (it has wired too, if you want that) so setup was simple. |
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me1212 join:2008-11-20 Lees Summit, MO |
to EUS
I've always had great luck with hp. |
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EUSKill cancer Premium Member join:2002-09-10 canada |
EUS
Premium Member
2014-Feb-14 11:04 am
Very good info given, thanks to all. |
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to EUS
Brother seem to have great OS support, some printers still have NT and 2000 drivers for them |
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dennismurphyPut me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold Premium Member join:2002-11-19 Parsippany, NJ |
to EUS
I just bought a HP Officejet Pro X476dw.
It's rocking my world. Inkjet that prints 50+ pages/minute? Oh my. |
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graysonf MVM join:1999-07-16 Fort Lauderdale, FL |
How many minutes per ink cartridge is that? |
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dennismurphyPut me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold Premium Member join:2002-11-19 Parsippany, NJ |
said by graysonf:How many minutes per ink cartridge is that? Actually, each cartridge is good for a little over 9,000 pages. Not bad. BTW, I use it on a Mac exclusively and it works great. Splendid! I realize the original spec called for a laser but I really recommend at least checking out the pro X series. Very impressed, and the per-page cost is less than laser. It prints the entire page width at a time which is why it's so fast. Couldn't be happier with it! |
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graysonf MVM join:1999-07-16 Fort Lauderdale, FL |
Keep track of your page count and update us when you replace the ink cartridge. I have yet to get even close to what a printer vendor says a cartridge is good for. |
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dennismurphyPut me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold Premium Member join:2002-11-19 Parsippany, NJ |
Will do. I'm enthralled with it so far! |
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Wily_One Premium Member join:2002-11-24 San Jose, CA |
to graysonf
said by graysonf:I have yet to get even close to what a printer vendor says a cartridge is good for. I did! » [Rave] My Dell printer(not ink, but toner) To keep OT, the Dell does use a proprietary engine, and only supplies Windows drivers; not sure the status of any Linux drivers for it. |
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drjim MVM join:2000-06-13 Long Beach, CA |
to EUS
I've used HP and Brother for years, without any problems.
BUT...since YMMV, check the Open Printer site as uteck suggested. |
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XCOMdigitalnUll Premium Member join:2002-06-10 Spring, TX |
XCOM to EUS
Premium Member
2014-Mar-7 9:01 am
to EUS
I just went through this ordeal a few days ago.
I went with the HP LaserJet 200 color M251nw.
Works perfect with HPLIP and CUPS.
Good luck.
Regards, |
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Another vote for HP and Brother. Never hooked up one of their laser printers without it working for me. I always used the Brother drivers - a bit of a convoluted process but in the end it works great especially for the scanning function. HP's have always been plug and play for me. |
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