printers compatible with Gnu&Linux

users
#21

big
        remark:if you use printer with PostScript but print complex
          object you will need a lot of memory in printer.I have got Xerox Phaser 7750 with 384MB ram and on the A3 paper
        from time to time we receive errors on the printouts.This is
        system independent (Linux, OSX, Win).

#22

I use Ubuntu 12.04 on my desktop, with MATE desktop environment.

The key, for the printer drivers/PPDs, is finding the ones that have the most options. When my Epson printer still worked properly, I had 3 printer-driver version of that printer setup. Each had a different combination of print options, with none having all the options I wanted to use. I have 2 installed for the HP2300dn dulpex laser printer. I now have one working for the HP Officejet 7000 wide format printer [finally]. I also use CUPS-PDF as my default "printer".

For FAX, I prefer to use the "stand-alone" FAX options instead of through the computer to printer option. The only reason I keep my Epson Artisan 810 around, after I got the "ink pad end of life warning" is for its FAX machine functions. I do about 1 FAX per month, as an average. Since my only computer that has a FAX/modem phone cable plug-in is a half dead HP laptop with XP on it, I really need to have the outgoing standalone FAX option kept ready to use. All I need to do it plug the phone line in and turn it on.

#23

Does anyone know of companies that do product-lines that are easily
compatible with Gnu&Linux?

Look at Kyocera TASKalfa Series...

fifteen years ago, Kyocera was crap.....
I sure hope they improved their stuff since that time.

I think I have seen this brand here in the Northeast USA.

it is one of the main printers I use at work.

it's in the basement and I'm networked to it but mostly I use it directly to copy stuff or scan stuff in pdf onto a flashdrive; one can also send scanned stuff to a 'mailbox' which can be accessed via a browser; you can set this 'public' or 'private'.

the few occasions I 'send' jobs to it it's via CUPS. I do this so infrequently I'm not even sure it works but I imagine it does. it works fine with another networked printer I use daily at work (an HP laser device, b/w, two trays, duplex).

F.

#24

Printer in the basement of the office building - well that is inconvenient to print and the go there to pick your prints up.

All of the printers I use are left of my desktop [I am left handed] and less than 4 feet away. If I cannot reach them, I just "roll" the chair over to the printer. I have the HP laser printer and the Canon inkjet on the "desk high" shelf and the wide format printer on a shelf 2 feet over top of the laser printer.

My laser printer is an HP laserjet 2300 dn - duplex and network. It has the bottom tray and the fold-out multipurpose tray. I use the bottom tray for the "standard copy paper" quality paper. I use the fold-out tray for the feeding of 1 to 10 sheets of colored paper, cover stock paper, envelopes, and other types of printing.

When I look at the printer's available drivers [i.e. make and model driver list] I get 15 different ones to choose from. I use the one that is named "HP Laserjet 2300 pcl3, hpcups 3.13.4". That one has the most options of all the ones I have tried, so far.

NOTE: I finally got the HP Officejet 7000 wide format printer to work. I had to reserve its network IP address in the router table and define it. Then I had to install all of the packages for "hplip" that was in the Synaptic Package Manager that seemed was not installed, or reinstall the repository versions, if it looked like a non-repository version was installed. Something was missing, somewhere, but is finally prints the 11 by 17 inch paper, instead of just the 8.5 by 11 inch type. It was a pain to boot up a Windows partition on my laptop to print my posters and newsletters via a PDF file on a flash drive.

I keep the following paper in the printers:

HP Laser 2300dn
------- bottom tray - generic/plain white paper
------- fold-out tray - sometimes color paper or cover stock paper

Canon MG6220 inkjet
------ bottom tray - quality bright white inkjet paper
------ back tray - photo paper
------ printer also prints the labels on the DVD media

HP Officejet 7000 - wide format
------ bottom tray - 11 by 17 inch paper of either plain paper or cover stock paper

#25

Hi Tom,

Does anyone know of companies that do product-lines that are easily compatible with Gnu&Linux?

My 2cents :

Canon : OK for workgroup printing, even fairly complicated option stuff *_IF_* you manage to get hold of a PPD file that you can then fiddle with to add the missing options that you don't get with their standard driver...

Absolute crap for everything else, scanning, photocopying, faxing directly from the PC client, even under Mac. They write all their driver stuff for Windows first, then as an afterthought for Mac, and by extension Linux/Unix OSes. This may have changed in the last three years, as I haven't tested recently, but we had one hell of a bad time with the rented Canon iR Fax/Photocopier/Scanner/Printer that a rather clueless associate of mine decided to have put into the firm I was working in at the time. The sales support were equally lacking in proficiency - what's Linux ? No one uses OSX anymore, etc, etc. You might want to check today, though, you never know, they might have had an epiphany !!

We switched to HP - much better support, and the technicians were mostly OS agnostic (sales support as usual only knew that it ran in a Windows OS environment). However, printing quality and colour rendering was not always up to par with the HP device compared to the Canon. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

Alex

#26

I found my Linux packages at the UK support site, since the USA site/division does not support Linux. The USA site supports both Windows and Mac OSX.
For the "quality" issues you have . . .

For my MG6220 printer [bought for printing labels directly on DVD media], The photo copying and photo printing was better than my Epson inkjet ever was. The printer uses Black, Photo Black, Gray, and the 3 colors for ink cartridges. The scanning of a color document/image was better than the other 2 printer/scanners I have/had. It does not have a FAX option, but I have a stand alone FAX option on a different printer so I did not spend the extra money.

Actually the Linux driver was for the "generic" 6200 series, since the 6220 is a USA printer and the 6230 was the same printer but for the UK power and such. Linux has many of the Canon printers included in its printer database, but the new[er] MG6200 series was not and I had to install 2 .deb files for the printing and 2 for the Canon scanner package. The printer has the USB port, but uses wired and wireless network options. I do not use any USB only printers right now.

By-the-way - Linux Mint 13 and 14 will not "find" that Canon printer on the network, even if I give it the network IP address. It will only work as a USB printer. I was testing out Mint/MATE [MATE being the default desktop] for a possible option over Ubuntu/MATE.

#27

Depends on what your looking for. I had a xerox Phaser 6120 (laser
printer), they also make MFC printers)for 7 years on my Linux system.
never burped, Xeror provided drivers. To Negatives, relealily expense
compared to some and toner was expensive.

replaced xerox with Brothers MFC-J6710DW about 7 months ago. Not
problems so far using Brothers Linux Drivers. Have not tested the FAX
part yet, Not sure it will work over my fiber Optic phone network.

Russ

#28

I do my best to find non-OEM ink cartridges and toner.

My HP laser cost me $25 - $30 for non-OEM but $105 for HP's toner.

My Canon set of 6 ink cost $35 for 2 full sets, but cost $80 for a full set of OEM-ink.

My HP OJ 7000 printer - 3 full sets of color cost less than one HP black. 1 full set of color/black cost less than HP's Black let alone a full set of Black and Color OEM ink.

When I buy a new [or used] printer, I first look at the cost of the ink or toner, both OEM and the non-OEM market. I really want to know the ink/toner costs before I buy so I can tell how much that printer will cost me. Then I compare printer models and their features with their ink/toner costs. At that point, I have all of the information on "cost of printing" up front. I cannot tell you how many good looking printers that would cost me $70+ for even non-OEM toner, or $200+ for the OEM toner. I do not have that kind of money to lay out for a toner replacement, no matter how great the printer is.