On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 19:44 -0800, Mark Knecht wrote:
> Does anyone have a good way of figuring out what printers that you can
> actually buy in the retail market place actually have support in
> Linux? I sure don't.

My first Linux printer was a *used* Apple LaserWriter (with serial
port). I knew it worked with Linux because it had built-in PostScript
and they guy I bought it from actually used it on his Sun workstation.
It weighed 600 lbs and printed 0.25 pages per minute but the output was
awesome!

My second Linux printer was a Lexmark LED printer. I knew it was
Linux-compatible because it actually came with a CD that had Linux
drivers on it. It was relatively inexpensive although the cartridges
weren't.

My third Linux printer was a Canon ink jet. It would be my first and
last ink jet printer. I bought it because it was cheap, color and
worked with Linux. Big mistake. I rarely print out color and the color
jets dried out and were unusable. Tossed it.

My fourth (current) printer is a Ricoh color laser. It was not cheap
though. I knew it worked with Linux because it has built-in PostScript
*and* PDF, supports ipp, LPD, etc. and it's built-in OS is actually
based on FreeBSD. It also comes with PPD files on CD. Although the
printer itself wasn't cheap, the cartridges are actually not bad.

My suggestion would be not go go cheap. Nowadays you can get a color
laser w/ built-in PostScript for around $400. The output is fast and
great (compared to ink jets) and It Just Works [tm] with Linux. I'd
rather spend the extra money and be happy with my choice, but that's
just me.

-a

G'day;

Most Manufacturers support Post Script out of the box (it's a 30 year old standard); you just need to make sure that your kernel has the appropriate driver. And you have the appropriate sub-system installed.


(LPR, CUPS whatever).

HP makes a concerted effort to support all operating systems (linux,Unix, BSD, Windows, QNX ...) you get the picture.

So get a low cost HP printer and you'll do fine; lexmark is also a very good place to look but make sure that the printer is supported by whatever subsystem you choose (let's say you choose CUPS then make sure it's compatable with the model you are interested in first).


This is the bane of the linux camp; enjoy.

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 11:25 AM, Albert Hopkins <marduk@letterboxes.org> wrote:

On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 19:44 -0800, Mark Knecht wrote:

> Does anyone have a good way of figuring out what printers that you can

> actually buy in the retail market place actually have support in

> Linux? I sure don't.



My first Linux printer was a *used* Apple LaserWriter (with serial

port). *I knew it worked with Linux because it had built-in PostScript

and they guy I bought it from actually used it on his Sun workstation.

It weighed 600 lbs and printed 0.25 pages per minute but the output was

awesome!



My second Linux printer was a Lexmark LED printer. *I knew it was

Linux-compatible because it actually came with a CD that had Linux

drivers on it. *It was relatively inexpensive although the cartridges

weren't.



My third Linux printer was a Canon ink jet. *It would be my first and

last ink jet printer. *I bought it because it was cheap, color and

worked with Linux. *Big mistake. *I rarely print out color and the color

jets dried out and were unusable. *Tossed it.



My fourth (current) printer is a Ricoh color laser. *It was not cheap

though. *I knew it worked with Linux because it has built-in PostScript

*and* PDF, supports ipp, LPD, etc. and it's built-in OS is actually

based on FreeBSD. *It also comes with PPD files on CD. Although the

printer itself wasn't cheap, the cartridges are actually not bad.



My suggestion would be not go go cheap. *Nowadays you can get a color

laser w/ built-in PostScript for around $400. *The output is fast and

great (compared to ink jets) and It Just Works [tm] with Linux. *I'd

rather spend the extra money and be happy with my choice, but that's

just me.



-a









--
Hazen Valliant-Saunders
IT/IS Consultant
(613) 355-5977

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 9:05 PM, Volker Armin Hemmann
<volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de> wrote:
> On Donnerstag 04 Dezember 2008, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 8:16 PM, Volker Armin Hemmann
>>
>> <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de> wrote:
>> > On Donnerstag 04 Dezember 2008, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> >> Does anyone have a good way of figuring out what printers that you can
>> >> actually buy in the retail market place actually have support in
>> >> Linux? I sure don't.
>> >
>> > forget the 'opensource' printers, and buy a turboprint licence. It rocks.
>> > It really does.
>>
>> I'll have to write them and get some answers. Can I run it on multiple
>> machines using a singe license. None of my printers were in their
>> supported list so do they support them or not? They should be able to
>> answer those sorts of questions.
>>
>> However, their list of supported devices is still much smaller than
>> the Open Source list so it begs the same question... Even though they
>> have support for a nice set of printers, which of those printers can
>> be purchased new today through normal retail channels?
>>
>> Thanks for the idea. I'd not heard of them.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Mark
>
> my story: I have a canon pixma ip3300. With opensource drivers I got either no
> picture, wrong colours or the paper was completly wet.
>
> I asked turboprint, shortly afterwards I was able to buy a licence for a
> driver perfectly supporting my printer on amd64.
>

They seem to be nice guys. Responded to my questions pretty quickly.
Basically it seems that they try to support new printers as soon as
reasonably possible. I guess they wait for requests and queue your
printer up or something. No input from them as to finding a new
printer that is supported out of the box.

They may be getting a bit expensive for me. Our printers are attached
to 3 different machines in different houses. Their single license only
allows me to run two printers on a single machine so I have to start
buying licenses for each house.

I will definitely keep them in mind.

thanks,
Mark

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Heinrichs, Dirk (EXT-Capgemini -
DE/Dusseldorf) <dirk.heinrichs.ext@nsn.com> wrote:
> Am Mittwoch, den 03.12.2008, 20:29 -0800 schrieb ext Mark Knecht:
>> Thanks for the idea. I'd not heard of them.
>
> TurboPrint is actually a port of an old Amiga software. They already
> were ahead of time in the printing area back then.
>
> OTOH, there was this article on german Heise Online (english version) a
> few weeks ago:
> http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/Gutenprint-5-2-1-drivers-for-Linux-and-Mac-OS-X-improve-printer-support--/111788
>
> However, version 5.2.1 didn't make it into portage, yet.
>
> HTH...
>
> Dirk
> --

Thanks. No change in support for two of my currently unsupported
printers in earlier versions of Gutenprint. However it does look
pretty good on the surface.

Thanks,
Mark

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:52 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dominic Kexel wrote:
>> That's right, i totaly agree. If you buy a HP-printer, you (almost) can't do something wrong. I am using a HP Deskjet F2180 (40€). Printing and scanning both work without problems.
>>
>> On Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:00:28 -0800
>> "Manuel McLure" <manuel@mclure.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>
> I have a HP Deskjet D4260 that I got from newegg for less than $50.00.
> It works very well. Before that I had a little Deskjet 3820 which I had
> for years. It finally lost its head. Turn it on and it just goes from
> side to side until I cut it off. The 4260 also has the option of using
> the hi yield cartridges too. It can print for a long time without
> running out of ink.
>
> I think if you get a HP printer, you will do all right. I wouldn't get
> the latest thing unless I checked for drivers first tho. Also, to get
> my old 3820 to work, I googled for the ppd file and put it in the right
> place for cups. That was before hplip came out. I don't remember
> having to do that with the 4260.
>
> Hope that helps give you some ideas.
>
> Dale
>

Thanks Dale, and everyone who suggests HP. This is probably the best
way to go if he decides to stay with an inexpensive ink-jet.

I'm intrigued by Albert's suggestion to look for a $400 color laser
printer. It's not a great solution for my house by my Dad's flush so
he might like that sort of solution.

A question I have about laser printers, from the old days whn I had
one, is aren't they really pretty bad reliability for low print volume
applications. My old laser printer, made by some off-brand company
that was early into the Postscript clone game, was that the rollers
very quickly got flat spots because we didn't print every day. When we
would print the paper wouldn't feed correctly and the quality was bad.
I don't think my Dad is going to print more than 2-3 pages/day on
average and since they travel now and again it could sit idle for a
week or two.

I suppose I could make some sort of cron job that printed one page a
day if that was a reasonable solution.

Very interested in your ideas and greatful for all the responses.

Cheers,
Mark

On 12/4/08, KH <gentoo-user@konstantinhansen.de> wrote:
> Some weeks ago I bought Samsung clp-300 color laser printer for less
> than 130 Euros. I use cups and I don't have any problems. Did not have
> to by new "color" jet. I have been told I can print 7000 pages before I
> have to :-)
> You can go cheap and good. The model is from 2006 or so.

I have bad experiences with Samsung, though not with that exact model.
Samsung proprietary driver may be some sort of world record of ugly
hacks and hairy stuff. See, e.g., Gentoo bug #139715 and all the
complaints from Samsung-trying Linux-users in the blogosphere /
Intertubes.

But I'm glad if they've fixed their stuff recently.

--
Arttu V.

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:18 AM, KH <gentoo-user@konstantinhansen.de> wrote:
> Albert Hopkins schrieb:
>> On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 19:44 -0800, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>
>>> Does anyone have a good way of figuring out what printers that you can
>>> actually buy in the retail market place actually have support in
>>> Linux? I sure don't.
>>>
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> My suggestion would be not go go cheap. Nowadays you can get a color
>> laser w/ built-in PostScript for around $400. The output is fast and
>> great (compared to ink jets) and It Just Works [tm] with Linux. I'd
>> rather spend the extra money and be happy with my choice, but that's
>> just me.
>>
>> -a
>>
> Some weeks ago I bought Samsung clp-300 color laser printer for less
> than 130 Euros. I use cups and I don't have any problems. Did not have
> to by new "color" jet. I have been told I can print 7000 pages before I
> have to :-)
> You can go cheap and good. The model is from 2006 or so.
>
> kh
>
>

Is it roughly this model?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828112054

Do you plug this into a PC via USB or run it over the network using
the Ethernet port?

Any comments on the roller problem I had on my old laser printer? do
the paper rollers remain engaged when the printer isn't printing and
thus potentially cause flat spots?

Thanks,
Mark

Arttu V. schrieb:
> On 12/4/08, KH <gentoo-user@konstantinhansen.de> wrote:
>
>> Some weeks ago I bought Samsung clp-300 color laser printer for less
>> than 130 Euros. I use cups and I don't have any problems. Did not have
>> to by new "color" jet. I have been told I can print 7000 pages before I
>> have to :-)
>> You can go cheap and good. The model is from 2006 or so.
>>
>
> I have bad experiences with Samsung, though not with that exact model.
> Samsung proprietary driver may be some sort of world record of ugly
> hacks and hairy stuff. See, e.g., Gentoo bug #139715 and all the
> complaints from Samsung-trying Linux-users in the blogosphere /
> Intertubes.
>
> But I'm glad if they've fixed their stuff recently.
>
>
I have been told not to touch the Samsung drivers. I am using
net-print/foo2zjs.

kh

I've heard the some Samsung laser printers will only print a pre-set
number of pages for each toner cartridge even if you have toner
remaining.

I would probably stay away from the 510s.

http://www.dunfield.com/clp510/


-Chris


On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 1:47 PM, KH <gentoo-user@konstantinhansen.de> wrote:
> Arttu V. schrieb:
>> On 12/4/08, KH <gentoo-user@konstantinhansen.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Some weeks ago I bought Samsung clp-300 color laser printer for less
>>> than 130 Euros. I use cups and I don't have any problems. Did not have
>>> to by new "color" jet. I have been told I can print 7000 pages before I
>>> have to :-)
>>> You can go cheap and good. The model is from 2006 or so.
>>>
>>
>> I have bad experiences with Samsung, though not with that exact model.
>> Samsung proprietary driver may be some sort of world record of ugly
>> hacks and hairy stuff. See, e.g., Gentoo bug #139715 and all the
>> complaints from Samsung-trying Linux-users in the blogosphere /
>> Intertubes.
>>
>> But I'm glad if they've fixed their stuff recently.
>>
>>
> I have been told not to touch the Samsung drivers. I am using
> net-print/foo2zjs.
>
> kh
>
>

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:56 AM, Chris Thomas <sruchris@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've heard the some Samsung laser printers will only print a pre-set
> number of pages for each toner cartridge even if you have toner
> remaining.
>
> I would probably stay away from the 510s.
>
> http://www.dunfield.com/clp510/
>
>
> -Chris
>

Resourceful guy. Interesting page and interesting that he replaced it
with an HP 2605DN which is, as per one of my original comments about
buying printers, no longer available through NewEgg so it's not clear
to me what price range his printer was in. Clearly the cartridges are
expensive though.

These printers have short lifetimes in the retail chain...