I have a HP Photosmart B109a and every time I try to use it (not very often) I have to clean the printheads at least 6 times to get decent results. Most of the ink I use is wasted just doing this. I installed hplib on Ubuntu 19.10 and it can't detect the printer but CUPS can. Unfortunately I can't clean print heads through CUPS, only print test pages so I have to use an old Windows machine to do this.

Can anyone recommend a printer that has a GUI utility that works decently reliably with ubuntu, has ink cartridges that last more than a few 'clean print heads half a dozen times to print one sheet of paper' cycles and which aren't too expensive?

The few HP ink jets that I've played with have a built in clean head utility but obviously it depends on the model. There is a command line utility called hp-clean but dont know if there is a GUI utility.

I dont print color or have the need to print pictures from home and dont print often so I only buy laser printers.

Thanks for the tip, didn't know about hp-clean. Unfortunately I can't use it as it can't detect the printer, I just get:
I've been thinking of investing in a compact laser printer if I can find one with reasonably priced replacement cartridges.

Try
hp-clean -p <printer queue name>

I have a Brother laser and the toner prints about 3000 pages.

Do you have the 'hplip' package installed? The tools that others have mentioned are part of the that package.

I can't tell if the 'hp-clean' utility will do the trick for you. (Another monochrome laser guy here, I'm afraid.)

BTW, there don't seem to be separate manpages for the utilities in the 'hplip' package so you might not even know that these utilities exist on your system ("apropos HP" didn't reveal their existence). You can issue "<tool-name> -h|--help" but don't expect a lot of detail on the utility's use---the output's pretty terse. I tried "hp-clean $PRINTER -u -i" (where PRINTER is set to the name of my printer on the network and in CUPS) to see what it might do on my M402dn and all I got was a message "error: No device found that support this feature.". Without manpages it's tough to tell what many of the various "hp-*" utilities apply to your printer.

But... if I run "hp-toolbox" and it pops up a GUI interface that seems to be geared toward the type of printer 'hplip' found on the system. I see nothing about cleaning heads but that doesn't surprise me because it didn't see an ink jet printer. I suspect your experience will be somewhat different given your printer type. I rather hoped that the "Supplies" tab would be printer-type agnostic and let me monitor the toner level but, sadly, it doesn't. :^(

Good luck...

Mark_667,

A Brother mono laser printer such as this Brother-HL-L2310D works in Linux and accepts cheaper generic replacement cartridges:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brother-HL-...ct_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/comput...78981-pdt.html

You will need to supply your own printer cable, which I suspect you already have.

Driver download:
https://www.brother.co.uk/support/hl-l2310d/downloads

StinkInk, in Bridgnorth, has a one year money back guarantee on all its products.

I have no affiliation with StinkyInk.

https://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/sear...n+2420&button=

For a long time I have used Brother printers as they installed very easily in my Ubuntu 18 and Linux 19 OS's.

The church that we attend has a Windows 10 and bought a Eco-Tank ET-2720 printer and it performed very good and the cost of ink purchases dropped dramatically.

So, due to the frequency, and cost, of the ink I decided to try the Epson Eco-Tank ET-2720 on my Linux 19.1 OS. The Eco-Tank ET-2720 printer was a major investment.

Even after I downloaded the proper drivers, for the longest time I could not get the Epson Eco-Tank ET-2720 to work.I finally figured out that the problem was in my Printer Settings on the Linux 19.1. After changing the Printer Settings the Epson Eco-Tank ET-2720 has worked flawlessly and has already saved me a bundle of money in ink purchases, time, and effort.

The biggest problem was the installation of the Eco-Tank ET-2720 and then to assure the proper settings in the Linux 19.1 OS. If you can get past the installation headache I would recommend the Eco-Tank ET-2720 printer.

I've installed Brother printers on two machines. The automated install procedure is pretty friendly if your distro uses either .deb or .rpm packages. If not, you will need to convert one or other of these to a more suitable format. I used rpm2tgz to install my printer on Slackware.

I will not use HP printers, although they are easy to install, because I'm furious at their dishonest firmware which always goes on strike when you try to use replacement ink cartridges.

As I understand it, Brother and/or HP are often recommended to be the easiest-to-install in Linux.

Personally, I've always used Epson printers; in fact, I don't think I've ever used anything else during more than 35 years of playing around with these things.

Many people turn their noses up at Epsons because they often come across as somewhat 'agricultural' in operation, compared to offerings from other manufacturers. Be that as it may, I've never yet had one break down on me.....they just seem to keep chugging away for ever.

Epson do provide a GUI facility for monitoring ink-levels, and cleaning/aligning print heads, performing nozzle checks, etc....which is pretty effective. Their own inks will cost an arm & a leg, but everybody and his dog do 'generic' Epson cartridges at a fraction of the price. My suppliers, Prink here in the UK, last time supplied me with 16 cartridges for just over £18. They might not last as long as the originals, but pound for pound they beat Epson's own cartridges hands-down.

The current GUI utility app looks like this:-


https://i.postimg.cc/s27NtYh9/image-187.png


(I've looked at the 'Eco-Tank' models, as mentioned by greencedar above, but TBH I just don't print often enough to warrant the outlay.)


Mike.

1 members found this post helpful.

Here is another vote for Brother. My Brother HL-2140 monochrome laser printer is ten years old and still on the starter cartridge. I put a piece of tape over the sensor so that the printer can use up all the toner.
Ed

Mike,

Coming from Norfolk, it's only natural for you to choose an "agricultural" printer.

Happy Christmas.

Mike Walsh stated:

Mike is correct. The initial financial outlay for an Epson Eco-Tank is considerable compared to other models. So the cost of the printer must be taken in careful consideration of any printer.

I have used both Brother and HP models and do like the ease of installation in both models. But, in my case, due to my studies on several subjects, both technical and Christian, I print most of the material that I read on the internet, including Linux Questions, so I can study them when I have more time. And, with Linux Questions as a prime example, I created some "Personal Manuals" of the different subjects encountered at Linux Questions so I can use the information later on in my leisure. So, I need a printer that can print a large volume of material without the huge financial outlay for ink every month.

Laser printers are more expensive than inkjets but they come significantly cheaper per printed page because the toner is cheaper than ink. Also, because it's dry power, it can't dry out and get wasted. If you are printing mostly text (or music in my case) you can save money on the printer by buying a monochrome one.

However I have noticed that they don't print as black as an inkjet does. It's more like a very dark grey.

Ha! Thank you......

And a Merry Xmas, and a Happy New Year, to you & yours, too!

(The current incumbent, a 7-yr old Epson Stylus SX218, is actually using a set of drivers that were intended for the then 'upcoming' enterprise WorkForce series. The RX/SX/TX series were where Epson did most of the 'blue-skying' for the WF-series.....but when it comes down to it, despite the huge range of different models they've produced over the years, every one of the several hundred printers they've built has made use of one of a very limited range of drivers. Which to me indicates that they've actually been interested in maintaining some kind of 'customer loyalty', since it's never been a major issue getting Epsons operational. Even under Linux.

Epsons only have two long-standing 'issues', neither of which are biggies. Third-party cartridges sometimes have trouble being recognised, though this is becoming rarer.....obviously to do with the on-cartridge chip. And the other is the occasionally-encountered issue with the overflow, 'waste pad', situated in the bottom of the chassis. After prolonged, heavy use for a period of time, the 'print count' gets up to a point where Epson have deemed your printer will require a visit to one of their Service Centres - primarily to replace the (presumably) now saturated thick cotton pad. Which will cost you a small fortune.

There are third-party printer utilities available that will permit resetting of this counter.....and presumably allow you to carry on using the printer happily again. Only trouble is, these are invariably only for Windoze.....and we haven't had a Windows install in this house for several years.)

(*shrug*)

Mike.

We just bought a printer that's been great, even in Linux.
That's never happened before.
This is the model, if you want to check it out: Brother MFC-J995DW
(Spousal Unit tells me it wasn't cheap, though)