Desperately seeking Linux compatible printer

Hi

I am running Suse 10.0 and I live in the UK. I was using an Epson Stylus C20UX, over the last couple of months it has started to give me trouble and I have been looking for a new printer. I believe the yellow is blocked and now it is making a maintenance request so I think it has finally given up the ghost.

I would like to buy another Epson as the ink replacement cartridges are not too expensive. I have had a HP before and would consider another.

I really would consider anything that works out of the box. With the C20, I just plugged it in and it went. As I have been unable to sucessful download and install anything in my two years of using Linux, I don't really want to have to start downloading drivers.

I have visited linuxprinting.org, but the printers listed seem to be somewhat behind what is available.

I did post on this thread:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=442132

But the printer that is in the shops is the Epson D78. PC World did list the D88 on their website, but they are all sold out. The only other place that seems to have the D88 is Ebay.

I use my printer mainly for printing black text, but I probably only print once or twice a week. The other time I use it, is to print out photographs, probably not more than once a month.

I don't want to spend over a £100 and would like to spend nearer £50. There seems no point in buying a printer were the heads clog and can't be fixed for a lot of money.

So have you bought a printer recently? (Make/Model)
Does it work okay?
Did you have to tweak it, download drivers etc?

If not I will go for one of the D88's off Ebay.

Regards

Nappy501

Originally Posted by nappy501 Hi I am running Suse 10.0 and I live in the UK. I was using an Epson Stylus C20UX, over the last couple of months it has started to give me trouble and I have been looking for a new printer. I believe the yellow is blocked and now it is making a maintenance request so I think it has finally given up the ghost. I would like to buy another Epson as the ink replacement cartridges are not too expensive. I have had a HP before and would consider another. I really would consider anything that works out of the box. With the C20, I just plugged it in and it went. As I have been unable to sucessful download and install anything in my two years of using Linux, I don't really want to have to start downloading drivers. I have visited linuxprinting.org, but the printers listed seem to be somewhat behind what is available. I did post on this thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=442132 But the printer that is in the shops is the Epson D78. PC World did list the D88 on their website, but they are all sold out. The only other place that seems to have the D88 is Ebay. I use my printer mainly for printing black text, but I probably only print once or twice a week. The other time I use it, is to print out photographs, probably not more than once a month. I don't want to spend over a £100 and would like to spend nearer £50. There seems no point in buying a printer were the heads clog and can't be fixed for a lot of money. So have you bought a printer recently? (Make/Model) Does it work okay? Did you have to tweak it, download drivers etc? If not I will go for one of the D88's off Ebay. Regards Nappy501

I'd like to know myself. Quite frankly, it's got so that every printer in the store is a photo printer, which is swell for what they are, but Linux support among these seems lacking. OTOH, if this is all you got and you have to kludge any old driver just to get some text output well.....this is the 21st century. Which printers can Linux properly exploit and actually use every feature?

I recently got this HP all-in-one. So far I am very impressed. Printing and scanning work great. Still haven't gotten around to trying the fax. When I do, I'll add it to the HCL if it isn't already there.

Originally Posted by rickh I recently got this HP all-in-one. So far I am very impressed.

Hi,
Thank you for the link. It looks very impressive. I had previously considered an all in one, but then people were saying it was a bad idea. If you got the printing to work then there were problems with the scanner.

Printing and scanning work great. Still haven't gotten around to trying the fax. When I do, I'll add it to the HCL if it isn't already there.

I've checked out the prices on Amazon for about £90. The ink replacement cartridges seem quite expensive at about £15. Does it only have a black and a combined colour cartridge?

Did it work straight out of the box? If it didn't was it complicated to sort out?

Regards

Nappy501

Black and tricolor cartridges ... The drivers come straight from linuxprinting.org ... Best to install sane and xsane first ... Printing worked immediately out of the box ... Since I didn't have a scanner before, it took me a little while to figure out about sane and xsane. Overall setup for print/scan/copy was very easy.

I have had good luck with all the HP inkjet printers using CUPS and the HP HPLIP driver(s). All the low cost USB single function printers (my favorites) have been "plug and play" on Mandriva 2006 and 2007. HP has an exclusive Linux support site for their printers, HP Linux Inkjet Driver Project.

Scott

I have a HP Deskjet 5440. It works flawlessly, using the HPLIP drivers. These should be installed already, or available through your distro's package manager.

I also had good success with Epson C41, C43 and C45. These all worked very well, but they were quite slow. The HP is much faster and quieter.

--Ian

Except for the most recent models HP's are very well supported (for the newest one it always takes some time till the drivers make it to the distribution). I mainly use those cheap multifunction printers. The original ink is very expensive (especially for N°21/22 cartidge) though, so you shouldn't shy away from refill ink if buying one.

Brother MFC's (also multifunction) doesn't work too bad neither (have a MFC-410CN lying around), but the print quality isn't that good (Linux drivers are visibly worse than those for Windows), especially for colour prints/print at high quality settings. On top of it, the (proprietary) drivers are somewhat a hassle to install. The good news is you get almost everything too work here too.

A funny story about a HP All-in-one:

In our office we have a HP 7140. It is connected thru Ethernet. It includes a scanner. I have installed umpteen All-in-ones in Winblows, but usually only the user physically connected to the device can scan.

About a year ago I upgraded SANE on my computer, and suddenly I did not just see my own scanners, but also this HP. I was the only one in the office being able to scan over the network!

This machine has a sheetfeeder. Once I wrote a script to scan a batch of paper in my own sheetfed scanner, convert it to PDF or e-mail it. Now half of the office logs in to MY computer using Putty, to scan and convert a batch of paper in their own scanner. They are only half aware that they're on Linux

BTW, all HP printers that we have function great in Linux using CUPS. BUt most printers are 2 years or older, which is about 8 product cycles ago. I hope HP support has not degraded yet.

jlinkels

Hi Everyone,

I think I have made a decision. I visited the HP UK site and the 3 printers they listed under £100 were Deskjet D2360, Deskjet 5940 and Photosmart D5160.

I have checked them out at linuxprinting.org the first two have 'perfectly' and the photosmart a mostly.

And they are listed a Amazon UK and PC world, so it is not discontinued. The only downside is the cost of the replacement cartridges. However, is it worth using the injection type refill inks?

Sorry not to have used any of your recommendations in the end (just like a woman). A lot are no longer available, but it has lead me back to HP. Fingers crossed it will work out of the box when I get it. Thank you all very much.

Regards

Nappy501

Well, most HP's are usually very similar to the modell preceding them ...

For the refill, it depends if you are ready going through the hassle. You need to monitor your cartidges more closely and treat them with more care (I strongly recommend to fill cartidges before they are empty, less problems). Also, use adapted ink from a reputable dealer (Inktec or DataBecker work well, but there are others), not the cheaper "universal" one which WILL damage your printer head (the ink must have special caracteristics which is specific for every ink cartidge family, not printer -> same ink for N°21, 27 and 56 cartidges!).

In financial terms, if you are printing on a regular basis, refilling is very interesting. Especially with HP, as if things go wrong, just throw away the cartidge and put in a new one (at least with the models with print head on cartidge). Don't forget you will have to replace the cartidge all 3-5 refills, using a original one (generic often make problems).