Printing on Linux? Experience with printers from HP?
 

Hello

I am looking at getting an printer, preferably a multifunctional printer in order to both print and scan/copy things.

I've searched and read a little bit on how well printing should work in Linux, and for a printer that seems good. Right now I'm looking at HP, they seem to have a pretty solid support for Linux.

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing
https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-i..._devices/index

HP Color LaserJet Pro 200 M277dw seems like a good printer:
http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-col...pro-mfp-m277dw

Connecting the printer via USB or wired ethernet would be enough for me.

Questions:
- Would a HP printer be a good choice for use together with linux - or would you recommend something else?
- Does anyone have experience with printers from HP, do they work well?
I see that a proprietary binary plug-in is often required for full functionality. Has anyone used this?

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-i...ry_plugin.html

Thanks for your help :)

I've used an HP WiFi scanner/printer from Linux and it worked fairly well, having a web age to configure it and having scanning built into that, for example. I have had some weird issues of not being able to find it recently but I blame that on user error not the device.
I work for the conpetition but can't fault HP devices or their Linux support.

You do not ask about a list of specific models, so this will be a bit general.

I have, in my professional career, worked with MANY business class printers. All of the HP printers in that class worked well as printers. Most of them worked well as scanners, as long as your Linux machine was running RHEL (the Linux drivers were packaged for RHEL and seemed somewhat RHEL specific at that time - the drivers worked in CentOS if you could get them to install).

I have significantly less experience with home and budget printers. Home or commodity class machines are slightly different, and the results are less promising. These are the cheaper printers, but nearly all of them could be made to print, but some of them would not interface to Linux as scanners. In all cases these machines did better as scanners directly connected than connected over network.

I would check the support boards at HP or call and ask. It has been my experience that the direct support teams know, but the sales people have, in general, NO clue. Linux support is rarely mentioned in the specification information, but that does not mean it is not supported.

See if your HP printer is on the supported list: https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-i..._devices/index

On paper HP is your first choice. It comes with an open-source driver package that will work for most printer models and includes a scanner driver called hpaio for all-in-one printer-scanner machines. Most distros have it in their repos.

However you will then have to cope with HP's devious and dishonest policies on cartridges. I have sworn never to use an HP printer again because of these. There is no point at all in providing open source drivers if the machines contain secret firmware that prevents users from doing what they want with them.

As you probably know, HP (like most modern printer manufacturers) makes most of its money out of selling replacement cartridges rather than the printers themselves. These cartridges cost a disgraceful amount, so of course people started buying non-oem cartridges. According to the theories of Adam Smith, that's how capitalism is supposed to work. If someone can provide a service or product more cheaply, good luck to them!

But HP didn't want to lose a profitable source of income so they put in firmware that wouldn't allow non-oem cartridges to be used. The US Department of Commerce cracked down on this, so HP got sneaky. Nowadays, the firmware doesn't blink an eyelid when you first put the non-oem cartridge in, but a few print-times later it mysteriously stops working and tells you there is a "cartridge error". There are various HP help guides on line telling you how you are supposed to deal with this, but none of the methods actually work. And those who have contacted a help desk are told, "Well, what do you expect? We always tell people not to use non-oem cartridges. It's probably a dud."

You see how it works? Officially the cartridge has not been rejected because it's non-oem. That would be unlawful. But in practice...

This isn't just my rant. You can find hundreds of posts online from folk who have experienced the same thing. That's why I don't use HP printers any more.

If your printer is supported by Hplip you should be good to go, if the hplip on your system doesn't have your driver, but the latest version does, it's fairly simple to update to a newer version of hplip.

I could recommend a Canon Pixma too


Most people switch to Windows for printing, I switch to Linux, it's so much faster and you don't need a huge app for every new printer you install :)

@ hazel


I agree with most of what you say here. As a hardware engineer (now retired!) embedded on a Utility's site maintaining their data centre and all HP desktop printers we would indeed advise the customer to use HP's toner and ink because that was what the printers were designed to be used with.

Did the customer do this? Nope! of course not, they used refilled toner cartridges, some of which invariably leaked and messed up the inside of the printer paper path. (OK, they didn't use OEM ink printer carts as most of their printers were laserjets.)

Our solution? For a spill, after we cleaned it up, they got hit with a one off Time-and-materials call for using OEM toner. The cost difference between using OEM carts and our infrequent charges meant that OEM carts were still cost effective and we had a modest extra income. The customer can buy whichever consumables he wants. This is a few years ago now and the chipped consumables were still in their infancy.

I use an HP Photosmart 5520, (Couple of years old?) with genuine HP cartridges... The ink in the cartridges isn't. It comes from a local store, four small bottles, a syringe and some stoppers. Yes, it complains that the ink levels are low but so far my refilling has gone OK.

The printer is connected via WiFi, My Mint system picked it up without problem when I added it to my network.

Just my :twocents:

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

I have had good luck with Xerox and some Brother printers as well. The replacement toner cartridges (laser) are inexpensive compared to HP cartridges. Be advised that many modern printers use software to accomplish most of the printing functions that used to be included in hardware. Brother is a big offender but some of their printers are Linux friendly. Personally, I only buy printers capable of postscript or PCL printing because typically these have the printing functions in the hardware and are more OS agnostic.

My .02.

I've been using HP printers on linux (and Windows) for about 10 years now (currently : model OfficeJet Pro K5400DN). No issues to report for linux. I chose this particular model because, having separate printheads and cartridges, and cartridges of 4 different colours, it is less expensive on ink consumption. The only irritant I had to overcome was the devious code HP embedded in its cartridges to have them "expire" after a certain date, even if they weren't empty. This I found unacceptable and I found a workaround to eliminate the issue. It was a bit technical - involved hex-editing a binary file on each Windows client used to print - but it can be done. Note that this particular issue causes no problems when printing from linux.

Pay attention to compatibility for scanning - my printer is a unifunctional device (I like to keep things simple) - just a printer. Scanning under linux is either supported by the SANE framework or via proprietary drivers. The scanners I have in my home (a Canon LiDE 90 and a Microtek ScanMaker i900) only function under Windows.

Hi, here's some follow up: I got the HP Color LaserJet Pro M277n. Installation was very easy, no problem at all. It was simply to install the required software/driver (hplip), connect the printer (by usb or wired network recommended) and run hp-setup. The binary plug-in was automatically installed during the setup. I took screenshots of the process, I think the images convey how simple the procedure was: https://imgur.com/a/NptR7

Congratulations!