I’ve briefly tested Linux previously (Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.3), and am thrilled with what I’ve seen, but will be using Linux more in-depth asap over the next few months then full-time eventually, firstly with Puppy Linux as my regular distro (this will bide me time to ensure I safely dual boot Linux Mint with Windows 7).

As Linux has something for everyone to cater for everyone’s different and overlapping needs, I may also try out other distros in due course, but being in my early stages of using Linux, at least for a while, I want to stick with any easy to use distros so that I can enjoy learning but not struggle to adapt to Linux.


Which of the following all-in-one inkjet machines are compatible with Linux?

Do you find Tri-Color and Black or individual ink cartridges the best value?

Is it correct that Auto Duplex peripherals use less ink than fully manual (single sided paper printout) peripherals?


I'm aiming for an all-in-one machine which includes good print quality and a good range of features, if possible with ink cartridges that are good value, as far as possible.

The major differences I've come across between brands and models are: DPI (dots per inch), whether the machines run single or auto duplex printing and costs of ink cartridges which vary considerably per brand and model per brand, in line with whether the cartridges are Tri-Color and Black; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and Photo Black, some machines waste less ink (eg when charging the ink) than others, and some have been reported to refuse cartridges that have first been used on the original machine or to refuse compatible inks to force customers to indefinitely use expensive brand made cartridges. I’m happy to use original brand and compatible cartridges, but with how expensive many cartridges are, I like to be able to have the option to use compatibles to some degree due to a succession of original ink costs mounting up considerably.

I would imagine that the 4 cartridge option (albeit not guaranteeing photo quality perfection) would be the cheapest ink cartridges (even though they have less ink in them) while the more expensive cartridges (with more ink) appear to be the best value.


My top choice of machine is Epson, so I’ve put them at the top of my list, but I'm also keeping in mind either Hewlett Packard or Canon for a potential purchase, as all seem to be on a close par.

It appears that all Canon and HP all-in-one inkjets use two ink cartridges (one Tri-Color, the other Black) whereas the Epson equivalents all use single ink cartridges (4 or 5, depending on the model in question):

Epson XP-435
Epson XP-445
Epson XP-610
Epson XP-640
Epson XP-645

Canon PIXMA iP2850
Canon PIXMA MG3050
Canon PIXMA MG3650
Canon PIXMA MG4250
Canon PIXMA MG6851

HP Deskjet 3636
HP Envy 4524
HP Envy 4527
HP Envy 5544 (I’ve removed HP Envy 5541 from my listing which seems to now be obsolete)
HP Envy 5640

I don't know about Epson and Canon, but HP printers have an open source driver package called hplip provided by the manufacturers. It works for all HP machines including all-in-1 printer/scanner/copiers. Most distros include it.

Don't ask about systemd! You'll start a flame war. I've never seen a subject on which technical people get so hot under the collar.

2 members found this post helpful.

Brother offers .deb & .rpm drivers for their products including AIO. I have an older MFC-5440cn and using it for years. It uses individual ink cartridges. I was able to get non .deb/.rpm distros to work with it for 32 bit flavors but since switching to 64 bit distros, I'm not able to get it working. I'm not sure why.

I have good Linux scan/print functionality on an Epson XP-432.

You can download Epson drivers from http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/se...h/searchModule

My installation notes (Linux Mint 18 MATE; I hope they're comprehensible) are:

I've been using an HP 3522e wireless printer/scanner for the last few years. It works fine, but there's one quirk. Scanning works through the unit's web interface (rather than sane or xsane), and I just save the scanned image to my computer. Don't know if other AIOs do this, too

I can only comment on my own personal experience, but HP almost always works, and works well on linux. I've never used Canon and haven't used Epson in nearly 20 years, so can't speak to them. My personal HP AIO is fantastic IMO. Printing works in every OS I've tested (laughingly, the OS I had the most issues getting it to work in? Windows), scanning works over the network fantastically (using SANE), and the replacement toners aren't too expensive (we don't print enough to keep inkjets from going dry).

Robin Hood,

I second Timothy Miller's sentiments about HP and Linux.

A strong recommendation for the HP 8620 AIO.

It works perfectly in Linux.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/6mo/HP-A7...ter/B00IUBTZ9I

Download and install hplip using the following walkthrough:

http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web...all/index.html

As a general point, I would recommend that you avoid cheap printers.

In my experience you will probably end up paying more in the long run when you take into account the cost of refills. YMMV.

Has anyone else noticed some printers (with Photo Black) absorbing the ink, even when that cartridge is rarely or never used?

Do all printers now have their chipsets designed to stop people from using compatible ink cartridges and notify consumers their ink needs replacing, even when the cartridges still have ink in them?

Hopefully unused coloured ink isn’t absorbed on all printers when it’s not in use.

For my usage, I mostly print text, occasionally spreadsheets. Reviews per brand have varied between high quality and weak colour printouts.

Some printers only switch on automatically the moment a document is about to be printed.


Hazel: I see what you mean about SystemD which seems to be a very contentious topic. I've since found the forum discussion you referred to. I’m mixed about SystemD. It clearly has pros and cons, but I’ve never seen the point of companies making changes for changes sake, eg unifying everything, and when people switched from Windows to Linux, they assumed Linux would remain unique, not have the same elements merged across most distros. My view is that changes are good, provided they’re not controversial. Nowadays, sadly too many businesses put their own interests above customers including Micro$oft, especially with Windows 10.

You and the others have come up with some excellent printer recommendations. Among them, it’s good to know that all HP machines will fully work in Linux. I’ve owned HP machines in the past, which served me well, but later on developed some annoying technical faults that rendered them impractical to continue with including duplex printouts that missed certain pages or printed wrong pages, eg Page 3 on the back of Page 1, instead of Page 2 on the back of Page 1. Those models will have long since become obsolete so today’s HPs are probably much improved on.

I will keep in mind your and the other members’ recommendations. The information from each of you will also be equally beneficial to other members who are contemplating buying a new machine.

FredGSanford: I don’t know how compatible printers are with Linux distros like Manjaro, but as that distro is better suited to intermediate users, at least for now, I’ll stick with distros geared towards beginners to start off with.

I see that there are a fair number of Debian and RPM based distros including Korora, Mageia and PCLinux. I gather that the Debian based distros are the easiest for beginners, but having said that, I believe that some RPM based distros also have ones suitable for beginners like PCLinux.

I also like the sound of the Brother machines. Like other brands, I’ve looked at some Brother machine reviews which have a handy compartment to store each ink cartridge, which I believe is 4 for all models. I think they also used to produce typewriters.

Sadly your model is now discontinued, but some modern equivalents (incorporating A3) are DCP-J785DW and DCP-J4120DW (minus fax); A4 only – DCP-J562DW (minus fax) or MFC-J480DW and the MFC-J680DW (with fax). Some other models use laser ink.

I have a 64 bit computer, so it looks like non .deb and .rpm distros could be a struggle to operate Brother machines, at present, as hopefully this problem will be resolved in due course. All going well, it’s just temporary teething troubles. Sorry I’m not well up enough on Linux to assist, as I would happily offer you a solution to the dilemma you have with your Brother printer, but I keep my fingers crossed that one of the other members will see your reply and have a solution so you can continue with a 64 bit computer.

Hydrurga: This looks very promising.

Do you or any others know if the XP-445 (probably XP-442 in your country) would also work in Linux, due to being the successor to the XP-432/435?;

When the time comes that I get Linux fully up and running (as I had a brief stint testing out Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon live through a DVD before) for regular use beyond testing, if I buy this model, would I type in the code as a whole (like in Windows’ command prompt) or line by line?;

As my version of your Epson machine is under the model number XP-435, would all the code remain the same other than me substituting “432” for “435” in the code?;

Should I install all three Downloads from the above EBZ download page in addition, or is this the same as the code?

After doing a bit of research, I’ve since found out that the Epson XP-432 is released as XP-435 in some countries, so as your XP-432 works fine with Linux, the XP 435 version of the same model should work fine with my computer. This is excellent news:

https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/epson_xp_432.html
http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/se...h/searchModule
http://www.epson.co.uk/gb/en/viewcon...units/faq/3458

Thanks for the code information. I will copy and paste this ready for when I make Linux my regular computer usage and retain the EBZ link you’ve given me in case I buy this product. The fact that it works in Linux is an added bonus so I might choose Epson again in the end.

I’ll keep my options open about Linux distros, so might try out a few over the course of time, but as Puppy and Mint are two of the most popular and, I believe, two of the many distros well suited to beginners who’ve had little or no previous Linux experience, I’ll stick with Debian based distros indefinitely or for a good while. I think that there are also some easy to use RPM based distros, but from my research, the Debian based distros tend to be the ones most newcomers start off with.

RockDoctor: According to this site the HP 3522e uses 4 ink cartridges:

http://www.electronicexpress.com/cat...3715/HP-DJ3522

This must mean that HP has since discontinued individual cartridges in favour of Tri-Color and Black, but nevertheless, there are certainly some excellent models in the Brother, Epson and HP ranges.

I’m not sure if the scanned image situation is unique to HP printers or every all in one, but hopefully it affects only some models.

Timothy Miller: Your own personal experience is most invaluable. It’s useful to have feedback from you and other forum members about Brother, Epson and HP machines. A lot of food for thought which will help contribute to whichever machine I choose in the end.

As Windows is the most well known operating system, i’m not sure why Windows gave the most issues for your machine, unless Micro$oft’s big reduction of skilled developers in recent years has had an impact, but Linux has come on leaps and bounds, partly due to M$ but also out of more awareness of Linux’s existence and the added benefits of Linux. Open Source is an excellent concept which I hope will continue to grow in popularity over time.

As far as I know, there are no brands and models where ink cartridges are cheaply priced, but there are some big variations between models’ cartridges – mainly 2 – Tri-Color and Black (Canon and HP); 4 (Brother and Epson); 5 (Epson, with Photo Black); 6 (Canon, but not all-in-ones).

Due to the costs, I try, as far as possible to do the same as you, to limit how much I need to print. Not always easy, but it helps in the long run.

beachboy2: It will take some thought to decide upon which product I choose in the end, as machines vary considerably in price, quality, range of features, ink cartridges value and sizes, but you, Timothy and the others have come up with excellent information and links/codes relating to all-in-ones.

One of the factors that I’ve noticed crops up online at a few sites is that at least some printers have the option to install Firmware, or it’s automatically installed preventing compatible cartridges from being installed. I hope that this doesn’t apply to all printers. I’m happy to buy original and compatible ink cartridges, but due to the costs of originals, they are too expensive to buy long term, and the choice of which cartridges customers use (other than during the guarantee period) should be up to the consumer, not the printer manufacturers, as otherwise they are in effect monopolizing like M$.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that some machines look good on the surface but when you analyze the various aspects of quality, even black text is weak, but I think the most noticeable drawback of all with printers is how much companies exploit customers with the price of ink cartridges, and if they put a chip in that forces customers to replace their cartridges too early, even when there is still ink in them.

If you go with a Inkjet instead of a Laser printer, don't print TOO little. The ink will dry on the print heads, making that ink cartridge useless. Primary reason why I switched to laser.

Hi Robin Hood. Only the first line of the notes I sent you was actual code to be typed in at the command line. The other three lines were notes in English on what to do:

Download the two packages above from the Epson link I provided. Double click on both deb files in turn to install them.

Use your archive manager (whichever you use on your system) to unarchive the imagsecan archive that you downloaded from the Epson link. Place the resulting folder in the folder /bin/epson-imagescan under your home directory. Using the command line, change to that new directory and then run the command ./install.sh

This is specific to my MATE desktop environment, but you should find an equivalent in yours. Press the Menu button on the main panel, then Control Centre. After that, select in order: Administration, Printers, Add, Network Printer. Add the details as described.

Can I add to previous posters that I have also had success with HP printers using hplip.