Canon are rubbish
 

This is a rant. I have a dual boot box and have a Canon PIXMA ip4200 printer. It doesn't work with Fedora 4. After some considerable googleing it seems it 'may' only work with TurboPrint which is about 20 quid to buy. Called Canon UK and the blunt answer:
"Linux?? Sorry we don't support err Linux"

Is it hardly suprising that people struggle to find a viable alternative to the M$ rubbish that is pedalled everywhere you look?? It is compounded when corporations such as Canon take this stance.

NVidia and ATI have taken the plunge to provide drivers for there hardware to name but a couple.

It is pathetic, can I urge people to steer away from Canon unles they want an expensive paperwieght.

So you're saying you don't get a BLAST out of canon? :D

you have to vote with your Wallet. HP provides drivers and even now a sort of printer management tool for linux. I bought the thing about 4 years ago and support has gone better and better.

i also have a canon printer. next time i'll buy a HP if they hurry up and make drivers for lightscribe!

I love Canon printers - Turboprint is great. I will never buy an HP, Epson, or Lexmark printer again because of the expiration dates in the cartridges and the DRM blocking refill and third-party cartridge options.

If you want a good, solid printer with native linux support, check out Kyocera's laser printers. :)

Well--let's not have a printer flame on a Linux site---we're above that...;)

My reading is that the best choices in GP printers--including inkets--for running under Linux are: HP and Epson. It is also gratifying to find Laser printers--eg Samsung--that openly state Linux support. Some HP Lasers also have linux support statements right on the box. The IS hope....

I've just installed Turboprint, and it handles my Canon S600 very nicely. I will not buy any more Canon, however, as it seems they are not supporting linux at all (Need research before actually doing anything.)

I've had the best overall luck with Epson Printers--Windows or Linux. They are still the only photo printer with a true archival solution. They also have the widest choice of third-party inksets and accessories (The cartridge chip nonsense has an easy fix.)

I rather use laser printers because printer head alignment is not needed and cost per page is a lot lower than ink jet printers. I feel guilty printing color pages with ink jet printers because it costs about $2 per page and the quanity is about 10 to 15 pages per cartridge.

When I saw Konica Minolta magicolor 2400W ranging $300 to $400, I should of put it on my christmas list. Also the next model up is not that bad on price. Usually color laser printers costs $600 and up.

WHAT????????????
I am swimming in InkJet printers and have never aligned a print head in my life.
You might spend $2 on an 8X10 if you used really expensive paper, but this would be the exception.
I could not use up a cartridge by printing 15 pages if I TRIED. Are you talking 13X19 or what?
You can save money on inkjet printing by using 3rd party ink.
Laser printers cannot match the photo quality of a good ink jet.

Other than that, I agree with you........;)

IP4200 prints with SuSE 10...
 

small, but it prints

I tried the BJC 4200 foomatic/bjc600-ppd and it yields a small (quarter-sized (600/2400) but legible color output. any ideas if there's a better ppd?
main printer is a kyo 1010 though, use IP4200 for pictures mainly. anybody tried gimp with
IP4200?

by the way, i found this thread
http://www.linux-club.de/viewtopic.php?t=13490
and am checking if the link to canon.jp is of any use

by the way, i d like to support KimVettes opinion about kyo lasers - they are great for linux

Yes you can bitset the cartridge using a 1.5v battery cell however that does not negate the fact that they've implemented DRM in the first place.

Oops, the above paragraph is a violation of the DMCA. I. am. so. scared.

If I set out to list all the unfriendly actions of vendors, the Epson chips would be lucky to make the top 100. At least they have some token support of Linux.

I could also mention that Epson has the best printers for serious photo work, but that would risk starting another flame-war......;)

I do agree with that but there is another reason I dislike Epson:

Their print heads are prone to clogging, especially if you use the printer only once a week or less. We have multiple printers here, some used as workhorses and others used for proofs. We USED to use Epson until the heads clogged - I called Epson to try to get printheads but they wanted me to go to an "authorised service center" (last time I took it to one all they did was run the "clean cycle" and waste my ink - I resorted to soaking the heads in isopropyl after paying those bastards $60 and the heads were STILL clogged)

So: I called around for the parts. and found a couple of sources. They wanted $120 for the printheads. Why bother with that crap when if a Canon printhead fails for the models I've purchased, they'll send out a replacement under warranty? Ask them nicely and they WILL cover your printheads because they see the value in maintaining customer satisfaction. Not so with Epson.

*bleep* Epson.

To each his own.....
My perspective is that the clogging issue is completely manageable---although it does often take some work.
This has now strayed enough that we may want to agree to disagree...........

Hello all,

Don't know if it helps or not, but I am using a Pixma 5000 with FC4, and getting reasonable results using teh Canon BJC-7000 driver. I can't take credit for figuring out that this works though. I picked up this tip from a thread here on LQ.

Anyway, hope this is of some use.

Hi all,
Canon S4500 seems to work fine but without empty ink warning - however if anyone can help getting a canoscan D1250 U2 scanner working you'll get a big kiss (metaphoric) Sane doesn't support and as someone said canon couldn't give a sh*t.