I'm looking for a B&W laser printer with build in networking and double sided printing (duplex). I need to be able to print to it from Linux (Debain 5, Ubuntu 8.04 and 9.04), Windows (XP Pro 32, Vista 64), and OSX (10.5).

Right now I'm considering the Brother HL-5250DN and the Samsung ML-2855ND

Does anyone have any experience with or recommendation on either of these printers or suggestions for other printers I should look at?

My opinion FWIW, I like the Brother lasers. I have an Intellifax 2820 that works nicely in Ubuntu as my daily workhorse. No networking or duplex in this model though so I can't speak to that. Your mileage may vary.

Please follow this link: http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi
FWIW, I like HP printers, they generally have very good support for linux, but it's always worth checking before you buy any printer.

Brother and Samsung both have good support for Linux. I have several Samsung networked printers I use with Debian.

I do NOT however use the samsung unified driver.. I install the networked Samsung printers using just the ppd from Samsung.


For the brother & samsung printers you listed. Supply costs are close enough to be a negligable difference between the two printers. the one difference is the Brother uses a seperate Drum and toner cartridge, where the Samsung has the drum built into the toner cartridge. So obviously the cartrides for the Samsung are a little mroe expensive, but when you buy the New drum for the Brother every couple cartridges it offsets the difference in the price of the toner cartridges.

So ultimately what it comes down to, is that I think both are decent choices. tough call considering price of the unit, speed, functionality, and supplies are right in line with each other, and BOTH companies support Linux.


Brother HL-5250DN OpenPrinting.org listing

Samsung ML2851ND OpenPrinting.org listing (no listing for the ML-2855 yet, but I predict similar results)

HP is also an excellent choice but I doubt you will find that feature set in the same price range on an HP. In my experience the HP's tend to be more expensive to purchase, which is why I have about 20 Samsung printing devices around here.

Thanks for all the info. I found the Brother on sale + a discount code making it a good bit less to buy. I think I'll go with that one.

PLease stop back after you get it setup, and update this post with your experiences, good or bad, any issues, etc.. would finish the thread up nicely

Get the brother printer installed this afternoon. Bottom line first: I'm very happy so far, it works with all the OSs.

On the linux front whatever drivers were shipped in the distros worked perfectly. In Ubuntu 9.04 I didn't even have to tell the OS where the printer was, somehow it found the thing and all I had to do was click okay on a couple of dialogs. Debian needed nominally more help but was still amazingly easy.

It is also working on all the other non-FLOSS OSs. Instead of detailing that I'll just say say the setup difficulty was inversely proportional to my knowledge of the OS on all fronts.

Quality is quite good, it warms up quickly, prints even faster, does all of these quietly (for a large-ish laser printer), double sides well and it is easy to flip between duplex and simplex with all the drivers. I'd say the only area of the new printer I find less satisfactory than my previous setup is the Brother Web UI vs. my old CUPS web UI. The Brother UI is totally fine and can gives me good control (much preferred to a client application) but it's not quite up to par with the CUPS web UI.

Right off the bat I'd say I'm very happy A+.

Great! Thanks for the report.

Thanks for checking in with a report