Recommend a Linux-compatible Laser printer

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 02:56:19PM -0500, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> I have heard enough horror stories to recommend that people stay away
> from Lexmark if they intend to use Linux. When a Lexmark system works at
> all it's more likely accidental than any deliberate attempt at support.
> 
> Generally the common wisdom I follow is that HP support is the best,
> followed closely by Brother which is also very good. Cannon and Lexmark
> are to be avoided, and most of the rest (Epson, Samsung, etc) have
> support that can be good but is inconsistent.

HP does a great job supporting linux for their printers these days.  I
still think their inkjets print rather poor quality, and some are very
unreliable.

For inkjets, nothing beats an epson in print quality.  gutenprint tends
to get support for all the epsons pretty soon after they are released,
so they tend to end up supported very well.  It's not support from epson
(other than they do provide documentation), while HP actually writes the
open source drivers.

For laser, so far I will continue to recommend xerox.  They work great,
and as long as you buy a postscript enabled version (which is most of
them) they simply work and they work well.

> Even if you find a Canon or Lexmark printer with some Linux support, if
> the purchase decision is in your hands why not financially encourage
> those for whom FOSS support is corporate policy?
> 
> Of course, if you have the oppportunity, don't forget to consult the
> printer database at openprinting.org --
> http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi

Not always very up to date though.  But it helps.

-- 
Len Sorensen
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