Unix and Linux → linux friendly home laser color printer

I'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?

If it's connected to a network via ethernet or wireless the operating system of what is talking to it is irrelevant.

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?

I've had great success with HP printers and linux.

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/printers

HP 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.

Thanks guys and or gals, I'll take a look at that site.

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.

I highly recommend printers that grok PostScript (PS)—no Ghostscript, CUPS, drivers or other magic required—as 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 well—purchasing non-PS printers for UNIX-like OSes is not worth it IMHO.

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.

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.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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

You can also look for printers that are Mac compatible since Apple uses the same softeware (CUPS) for printing as Linux.

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.

I've always had great luck with hp.

Very good info given, thanks to all.

Brother seem to have great OS support, some printers still have NT and 2000 drivers for them

I just bought a HP Officejet Pro X476dw.

It's rocking my world. Inkjet that prints 50+ pages/minute? Oh my.

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!

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.

Will do. I'm enthralled with it so far!

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.

I've used HP and Brother for years, without any problems.

BUT...since YMMV, check the Open Printer site as uteck suggested.

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,

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.