[GTALUG] Request for printer recommendations

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Malgosia Askanas <maskanas at pair.com>

| I am a new and green Ubuntu laptop owner in the GTA, and am wondering if you
| could recommend a b/w laser printer (preferably USB-wired) that would work
| smoothly with Ubuntu.  As I discovered, my Lexmark E232 (that works
| beautifully with my Macs) is not (at all) Ubuntu-liked...

The devil is in the details.

You cannot completely judge a printer's support by its brand.

Example: I've had two (older) Lexmark printers that were well
supported.  And yet you say that your Lexmark E232 isn't supported.

Example: I've had a lot of random inexpensive Brother printers that
were well-supported with open-source drivers (PCL6 and sometimes
PostScript).  I was surprised and disappointed to find a brother MFC
that I bought actually required closed source drivers (but at least
they exist and work).

Some printers outsource page imaging to the host computer.  Some of
those use proprietary protocols.  Some of those are not documented and
are not reverse-engineered, so CUPS cannot support them.  It is very
hard to tell from the printer's documentation whether this is the
case.  Looking up the printer on the databases previously mentioned is
the thing to do.

Some manufacturers produce closed-source drivers for some models of
their printers.  That's useful but:

- how long will support continue?

- will support work on your distro?

- support is likely x86-only

- it is annoying to have to go through a driver installation process
  every time you install a new Linux distro or try to use the
  printer from a new machine (each machine on the network that
  can access the printer)

When it comes to scanners and MFC devices, support is more spotty.
Again, look up the SANE database to find out if Linux support exists
for a particular scanner (or scanner part of MFC).

(So far, Brother's support for my MFC has been pretty good.)

Uncalled for recommendations:

- duplex printing (ability to print on both sides of the paper) is
  something I will not do without

- I like network printing (but security depends on all threats being
  from outside your network because the printer trusts stuff on the
  LAN).

  + for security reasons, I don't like wireless printers.  But I
    haven't looked into how printers actually deal with this issue.

  + It is nice to not have to turn on a particular computer to print.

  + It is nice to not have to wire a printer to a laptop.

- Consider getting an MFC (combo printer-scanner)

  + it is nice to have a scanner.  Especially one with an Automatic
    Document Feeder.

  + Some MFCs are very inexpensive.  For example, Brothers' sometimes
    go on sale for ~$100.

  + downside: MFCs are big and awkward

  + downside: MFC toner cartridges seem to be smaller and thus more
    expensive per page than cartridges for some printers.