recommended printer/3-in-1 laser B+W for general (Linux and Windows clients)
Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm taking feedback on what some of you already know to be a "solid" not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my experience. Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly recommend for ex-win users) --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done. Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came out, from where! Losing my mind. Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx!
"Doug" == Doug Mildram via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> writes:
Doug> Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm Doug> taking feedback on what some of you already know to be a "solid" Doug> not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no Doug> top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN Doug> is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my Doug> experience. So you want an MFC type device. I'm still using my Brother MFC-8860DN from June 2006 without major problems. It's the older BR2 postscript engine, and the SANE drivers aren't supported on new linux distros because they use a library that's not available any more. I should be able to fix it with some LD_* trickery, but instead I just SSH into an older box with the library and run the GUI over X. Doug> Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother Doug> HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 Which driver are you using? It looks like it only support the BR3 PostScript, so make sure your driver is using that release. And make sure that you have cups configured with the right PPD for the printer. Doug> --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly Doug> recommend for ex-win users) Me too... Doug> --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. Yup. Every once in a while is flakes out on me too. Doug> --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; Doug> DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Doug> Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, Doug> sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", Doug> BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it Doug> must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I Doug> -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done. Have you tried using one of the PDF to PDF converters to sanitize the output? Doug> Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few Doug> $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I Doug> suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it Doug> does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came Doug> out, from where! Losing my mind. I'd seriosuly be tempted with another Brother printer, using the latest BR4 PostScript engine. But I'd also go color laser too. Doug> Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most Doug> of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but Doug> things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx! Still recommend the Brother printers, they have Linux support for sure on their web site, so you have to give them that. John
I've never had any problems printing from Linux to HP printers connected via IP over Ethernet or via USB. I've also had good luck with HP and Fujitsu Snascan scanners via USB, but not over the network. Scanning over the network is something I haven't figured out since I scan so infrequently and I just go plug the laptop into the scanner via USB. On Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 01:06:04PM -0400, Doug Mildram via WLUG wrote:
Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm taking feedback on what some of you already know to be a "solid" not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my experience.
Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly recommend for ex-win users) --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done.
Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came out, from where! Losing my mind.
Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx!
Here's a possibly useful source of recommendations. And laser, even color laser, is getting much cheaper these days. Consumables are the gotchas of course... https://haydenjames.io/finding-linux-compatible-printers/ I still think the Brother MFC are good. And network scanning works for me too using SANE and gscan2pdf. Really handy. My next printer will be a brother, but this one refuses to die...
Thanks! Gotta buy something uncursed, and the curse may vary per user so I feel positive on my hopes when I choose/toss-dart/intuit the right new....still sleeping on it..... hp or ? lightweight ( sits near my knees, barely fits ). But how do we know the Linux driver? printers.conf and output of lpinfo -v seem cryptic if they do show a driver (.ppd?) On Wed, Jul 8, 2020, 4:33 PM Chuck Anderson <cra@alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
I've never had any problems printing from Linux to HP printers connected via IP over Ethernet or via USB. I've also had good luck with HP and Fujitsu Snascan scanners via USB, but not over the network. Scanning over the network is something I haven't figured out since I scan so infrequently and I just go plug the laptop into the scanner via USB.
On Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 01:06:04PM -0400, Doug Mildram via WLUG wrote:
Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm taking feedback on what some of you already know to be a "solid" not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my experience.
Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly recommend for ex-win users) --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done.
Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came out, from where! Losing my mind.
Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx!
Doug, Granted, not an laserjet printer, but for what it's worth I've got the $179 HP Envy 7155 All-in-one inkjet printer. Networking is wireless only. Both printing and scanning just work on Ubuntu. From Linux I can't see the ink levels, that's my only annoyance. We buy the XL print cartridges which seem to last a long time.. Thanks, Tim. On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 7:20 PM Doug Mildram via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
Thanks! Gotta buy something uncursed, and the curse may vary per user so I feel positive on my hopes when I choose/toss-dart/intuit the right new....still sleeping on it..... hp or ? lightweight ( sits near my knees, barely fits ).
But how do we know the Linux driver? printers.conf and output of lpinfo -v seem cryptic if they do show a driver (.ppd?)
On Wed, Jul 8, 2020, 4:33 PM Chuck Anderson <cra@alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
I've never had any problems printing from Linux to HP printers connected via IP over Ethernet or via USB. I've also had good luck with HP and Fujitsu Snascan scanners via USB, but not over the network. Scanning over the network is something I haven't figured out since I scan so infrequently and I just go plug the laptop into the scanner via USB.
On Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 01:06:04PM -0400, Doug Mildram via WLUG wrote:
Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm taking feedback on what some of you already know to be a "solid" not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my experience.
Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly recommend for ex-win users) --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done.
Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came out, from where! Losing my mind.
Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx!
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-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".
From Linux I can't see the ink levels, that's my only annoyance. I'm under the impression that "Ink Levels" in that printer and my Envy 4500 is really "page count" I don't think there is any type of sensor, but I'll keep an eye out for interesting behavior as I'm all set to refill my own cartridges now...
-drew On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 10:30 AM Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
Doug,
Granted, not an laserjet printer, but for what it's worth I've got the $179 HP Envy 7155 All-in-one inkjet printer.
Networking is wireless only. Both printing and scanning just work on Ubuntu. From Linux I can't see the ink levels, that's my only annoyance. We buy the XL print cartridges which seem to last a long time..
Thanks, Tim.
On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 7:20 PM Doug Mildram via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
Thanks! Gotta buy something uncursed, and the curse may vary per user so I feel positive on my hopes when I choose/toss-dart/intuit the right new....still sleeping on it..... hp or ? lightweight ( sits near my knees, barely fits ).
But how do we know the Linux driver? printers.conf and output of lpinfo -v seem cryptic if they do show a driver (.ppd?)
On Wed, Jul 8, 2020, 4:33 PM Chuck Anderson <cra@alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
I've never had any problems printing from Linux to HP printers connected via IP over Ethernet or via USB. I've also had good luck with HP and Fujitsu Snascan scanners via USB, but not over the network. Scanning over the network is something I haven't figured out since I scan so infrequently and I just go plug the laptop into the scanner via USB.
On Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 01:06:04PM -0400, Doug Mildram via WLUG wrote:
Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm taking feedback on what some of you already know to be a "solid" not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my experience.
Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly recommend for ex-win users) --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done.
Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came out, from where! Losing my mind.
Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx!
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-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers". _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug@lists.wlug.org To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave@lists.wlug.org Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/O4JNPG...
It's not that big of a deal as there is a touch screen on the front that'll tell me what the ink levels are. On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 12:45 PM Andrew Oprea via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
From Linux I can't see the ink levels, that's my only annoyance. I'm under the impression that "Ink Levels" in that printer and my Envy 4500 is really "page count" I don't think there is any type of sensor, but I'll keep an eye out for interesting behavior as I'm all set to refill my own cartridges now...
-drew
On Thu, Jul 9, 2020 at 10:30 AM Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
Doug,
Granted, not an laserjet printer, but for what it's worth I've got the
$179 HP Envy 7155 All-in-one inkjet printer.
Networking is wireless only. Both printing and scanning just work on
Ubuntu.
From Linux I can't see the ink levels, that's my only annoyance. We buy the XL print cartridges which seem to last a long time..
Thanks, Tim.
On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 7:20 PM Doug Mildram via WLUG < wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
Thanks! Gotta buy something uncursed, and the curse may vary per user so I feel positive on my hopes when I
choose/toss-dart/intuit the right new....still sleeping on it..... hp or ? lightweight ( sits near my knees, barely fits ).
But how do we know the Linux driver? printers.conf and output of lpinfo
-v
seem cryptic if they do show a driver (.ppd?)
On Wed, Jul 8, 2020, 4:33 PM Chuck Anderson <cra@alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
I've never had any problems printing from Linux to HP printers
connected via IP over Ethernet or via USB. I've also had good luck with HP and Fujitsu Snascan scanners via USB, but not over the network. Scanning over the network is something I haven't figured out since I scan so infrequently and I just go plug the laptop into the scanner via USB.
On Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 01:06:04PM -0400, Doug Mildram via WLUG wrote:
Hi! Hope this doesnt start a HUGE preference debate, but I'm taking
feedback
on what some of you already know to be a "solid" not too big laser black+white, flatbed/top scanner+copier (no top sheet feeder please, adds too much space/width) BUT THE PAIN is always in the PRINTER drivers/software, win or linux, in my experience.
Honestly, been battling w/PDF's too long, to an old-ish Brother HL-L2395DW 3-in-1 --I'm working mostly on Linux Mint 19 (a deviant ubuntu I highly recommend for ex-win users) --Printing most things OK. IIRC, didnt have to find Linux drivers the hard way. --Printing PDF's gets iffy. LibreOffice sometimes cures my blues; DocumentViewer is probably the worst, "evince" also iffy, etc. Sometimes "Data received"....ends with a silent chirp, sometimes printer panel indicates a quick reject (nothing printed) saying "Out of Memory", BUT REALLY it's not the job == big, I think it must be a nasty runaway/leaky PDF->driver thing, but if I -- copy/email/send the nasty job to a win7 laptop and use AcroRead, USUALLY gets it done.
Until today when ALL seemed to fail, I'm ready to cough up a few $hundred for a better beast, with wired ethernet+USB though I suppose it's pointless to avoid wireLESS interface as long as it does wired ethernet. Oh look! Today's impossible job just came out, from where! Losing my mind.
Budget: since not color, I could go over $300 or so, where most of the decent ones sit. Been an HP fan for a long time, but things change, and I'm open to other solid models. Thx!
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-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers". _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug@lists.wlug.org To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave@lists.wlug.org Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/O4JNPG...
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-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".
participants (5)
-
Andrew Oprea -
Chuck Anderson -
Doug Mildram -
John Stoffel -
Tim Keller