Best supported printer for Linux
 

I can see this question has been asked before (kind of) but I am finding that finding a suitable printer for Linux is not always straight forward. I don't really need a top end machine but rather something that will print crisp clear black & white documents. I don't print that often 4 or 5 times a week. Color would be nice but not critical. A all-in-one type of printer if preferable

Currently I have a all-in-one Lexmark x1185 that is nothing more than a paper weight. I have spent countless hours from several Linux forums to no avail. Anyway my printer is 7 years old and I kinda need a new one.
What is best supported with Linux? I'm using Ubuntu 10.10.

Thanks in advance
Wdhpr

HP printers have the best manufacturer support under Linux. Check the HPLIP compatibility list and see which ones you can find a good deal on.

There are a lot of printers that will fit your need. I am using a Brother MFC 3360C multi-function that prints, scans, copies and faxes and prints color. Mine works well with Mandriva and Ubuntu Studio. You can get Linux drivers for this device from Brother.
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com...html#MFC-3360C

Maybe network based and that have a common format like postscript.

Hello,

I have a Kyocera FS1100 B&W printer. You can download a Linux app from Kyoceras website if your Linux OS doesn't find a driver for the printer, which mine did immediately.

The printer has never jammed or failed in any way. The only drawback I can find is that the paper drawer tends to drag on the table surface when being opened. A piece of half inch chipboard cured that. The print quality is fine.

The big advantage of Kyocera's machines is that the drum lasts the life of the printer. I had a great OKI printer before this but the cost of a new drum was exorbitant.

Brother has a linux support site. I have a MFC-7840W multifunction printer which works very well for both scanning & printing.

Regards,
Stefan

I have a Brother MFC-5440cn, that prints, scan, fax & copy but have better luck with Mandriva & Fedora...I never can get a .deb based distro to print. Using Debian & Ubuntu, it was setup okay and when I tried to print a page, nothing ever comes out.

HP, brother.

and NOT Nikon, Epson.

Samsung and Brother
 

Samsung and Brother are Linux Friendly. I have a Samsung ML-1750 and a Brother HL6050D and both have worked well but manufactures quality variates from model to model. Not all Brothers or Samsungs are good. Cartridges are usually reasonably priced for both of these. I got the Brother refurbished for two hundred and it is a Post script duplexer with a one year factory warranty. The image drum does have a squeak though. If you just want cheap copies don't go with the higher resolution ones because they will double the price of the printer it's self. Take your time and search on the web a lot to see what is out there. Printers pop up on the web like mushrooms. Make make sure you can get a ppd file for the printer you want to use and go to the Linux, Foomatic and Cups sites to see what is recommended. There are list of Printers that work well with Linux on these sites.

I would not say that HP is the best manufacture for Linux compatibility when there are other manufactures have the same. Brother supports more printers for Linux than HP. Some manufactures makes it easy on you by stamping a Linux icon on the box. Though a better option is go to Linux Foundation and check what printer has at least two penguins, but three penguins are better.

I have a Brother HL-5140 monochrome laser printer and it is reliable. I use hl1250 as the driver or the library for the printer.

I have seen and experience HP printers be unreliable multiple times when the documents that they are trying to print are not complex. If you want to rate which printer brand is reliable, I suggest Brother printers. It seems HP have too much internal software junk that is making it unreliable.

Setting up any printer for any distribution, do not use the distribution's GUI utility to add a printer or configure CUPS. It is best to use CUPS' web interface. It knows it self best on how its configs are formatted and what information should be stored. If you use the GUI utility from the distribution, it will cause problems.

Both my HP Officejet L7680 and my Epson CX3200 work flawlessly with Linux. If I were in the market for a printer, I'd get an HP because of HPLIP.

I have a Brother HL-2140 monochrome laser printer that works great with the Ghostscript hl1250 driver. The Brother replaced an HP Deskjet 882C ink jet printer that worked well with the hplip driver.
Ed

I Have an Office jet j4660 all in one that works perfectly.

Not sure what dE_logics is referring to but I had an Epson NX515 WiFi All in one and since have upgraded to an Epson Workforce 610. Both were perfect in Fedora 13....

he's probably saying that epson and nikon are two of the worst manufacturers in terms of linux support, not that there are NO epson or nikon printers that work with linux, just that a smaller percentage of their printers have linux support then do hp/brother