recommend a laser printer that works well with Linux

Pedroski · 09-11-2016, 11:45 PM

I want to buy a laser printer b&w is good enough, not top of the range. Which make works well with Linux? I usually use Ubuntu or Fedora.

Any recommendations or tips please?

Timothy Miller · 09-12-2016, 12:37 AM

Pretty much any HP will work perfectly. I had a Laserjet 4250N up until recently, and now I have a 1415fnw multi-function that works perfectly. Every HP that I've ever tried that isn't the latest model released has worked without issues in linux.

albinodrew · 09-12-2016, 02:31 AM

I agree with Timothy Miller, anything HP is a safe bet, now if you had something in mind have a look at http://www.openprinting.org/printers their database is pretty exhaustive.

ardvark71 · 09-12-2016, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedroski

I want to buy a laser printer b&w is good enough, not top of the range. Which make works well with Linux? I usually use Ubuntu or Fedora.

Any recommendations or tips please?

Hi...

I also agree that HP would be the way to go. You can also use the HP Open Source driver (HPLIP) list here to check for compatible printers.

Regards...

Pedroski · 09-12-2016, 04:03 AM

Thanks!

What I'm thinking about, as it is for home use, although I print quite a lot for my classes, is the cost of new cartridges. Can you buy refillables?

Here in China, I suppose I can find them. I remember I messed up 2 HP multi-function inkjet printers with 3rd party cartridges. I swore I would not buy another HP, as the ink runs at about $ 600 dollars a litre when you buy it that way. Now I use an Epson L351 with easily refillable tanks on the outside. It's great, just a little slow.

So I'm looking for a Laser with refillable cartridges. I saw a Samsung and I could buy refillables for it, but it is a Winprinter.

davesny · 09-12-2016, 07:15 AM

Hi, We purchased a HP LaserJet Professional P_1102w and are using it in Mexico. We do not refill the cartridges, because we have found them sold cheaply by third party vendors. (We were told that the cartridges could be refilled, but since they were readily available we never did it.)

onebuck · 09-12-2016, 08:17 AM

Hi,

I like to use the 'Brother' Mono-Laser series with my Slackware installs. No problems for this low cost Laser. Toner costs are affordable and the longevity is great. I've got one that has lasted for over 10 years, sure just a single sided laser but still works. My newest is a 'Brother HL-2170W' network 2x Laser. No issues with current cups and full network support.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

DavidMcCann · 09-12-2016, 10:38 AM

I use a Samsung, which installed easily with the Samsung Unified Driver. The only catch is with Red Hat distros, which would include Fedora, you have to disable SEL to print. Of course, many people disable SEL as a matter of course.

jefro · 09-12-2016, 06:36 PM

A lot of printers can emulate different models. Most have options to use different ways to connect to linux. Simple text printing is almost always supported.

mrmazda · 09-16-2016, 03:10 AM

My newest printer acquisition is a Brother mono laser. Previous was a Canon mono MF, a big mistake caused by words on its shipping container to the effect that it was supported by Linux, which at that time was an outright lie WRT purchases made from and used within the USA. To get support required I discover and install a driver from Canon's UK web support site. I never buy HP, in primary part because it offers no legacy emulation except to earlier versions of its own languages. Brother models are among few brands with a large selection of emulations that include Epson, which means at least in theory, trusty old DOS apps can use a modern printer directly.

offgridguy · 09-16-2016, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,

I like to use the 'Brother' Mono-Laser series with my Slackware installs. No problems for this low cost Laser. Toner costs are affordable and the longevity is great. I've got one that has lasted for over 10 years, sure just a single sided laser but still works. My newest is a 'Brother HL-2170W' network 2x Laser. No issues with current cups and full network support.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

I agree with onebuck, I also use a Brother printer, It works well with any Linux distro I have tried.
Still going great after 8 years and toner is a lot cheaper than ink.

r0b0 · 09-19-2016, 03:08 AM

Please note that Brother printer drivers are not open-source and they only work on i386 (32 and 64 bit) CPU, e.g. no Raspberry Pi support.

onebuck · 09-19-2016, 08:11 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by r0b0

Please note that Brother printer drivers are not open-source and they only work on i386 (32 and 64 bit) CPU, e.g. no Raspberry Pi support.

I see no issues with using CUPS on the Rpi. Just need to do some configuration setup.Look at this simple Raspian setup page; http://www.howtogeek.com/169679/how-...inux-computer/

My Brother printer is postscript/PCL driven so setting up a file is rather easy. I use a modified by me CUPS PPD file; 'Brother HL-2170W Foomatic/hpijs-pcl5e'. Prints fine with no known issues. Look here for other files; https://www.openprinting.org/driver/hpijs-pcl5e select the brother printer from the list you wish to use. Most of the Brother printers do support Postscript/PCL so getting a driver is not an issue.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

r0b0 · 09-19-2016, 09:12 AM

Oh, sure, there is no issue using CUPS on a Pi. There is also no issue using PCL or PS printers on CUPS on a Pi

But if your printer doesn't talk PCL/PS (for example my cheap Brother HL-L2300D) then you have to rely on vendor's drivers. Which, in case of HL-L2300D, are i386 only.

onebuck · 09-19-2016, 09:30 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by r0b0

Oh, sure, there is no issue using CUPS on a Pi. There is also no issue using PCL or PS printers on CUPS on a Pi

But if your printer doesn't talk PCL/PS (for example my cheap Brother HL-L2300D) then you have to rely on vendor's drivers. Which, in case of HL-L2300D, are i386 only.

Some similar Brother Printer drivers can be substituted and sometimes modified to suit a particular printer.

Maybe this will help you; http://www.linuxmediaserver.net/howt...laser-printer/

Quote:

Making the most of your Brother laser printer

January 28th, 2016
Recently, I got my Brother mono printer and made a print server from Raspberry Pi. The printer’s quality is quite OK. I mean the black&white prints are really good. But the problem comes when you print something not from your text editor (poor b&w) but let’s say your flight ticket from a pdf file.
Challenges of printing grey shades

You may wonder – why? I read somewhere that most of the B&W printers face difficulties in printing grey colour. Well, as it appears the pdf file can contains a lot of grey colour and/or its shades etc. However, the grey prints are not comparable to b&w with this Brother printer and they are a lot lower quality. This printer (and some other) prints grey and graphics as dots. Similar problem of mono laser printer is described here. It is related to how the printer produces the halftones.

1st solution

The first option is to play with “Halftoning” option in “Advanced options” of the printer properties on Windows. You can find them by going
in Windows to printer’s properties -> Preferences (General tab) -> Manual settings -> Use system half tone -> Halftone pattern (SuperCell). Anyway, … it did not help with this printer. It brought some positive changes but not up the acceptable level.
2nd solution

So, I went through different forums looking for some solution. Just to remind, this printer is GDI (Windows Graphical Device Interface) and no PCL support is mentioned in this printer specs. Its bigger brother with the network interface has the PCL support 🙁 More on differences between PCL, GDI and PostScript can be found here. Some people on Internet claimed that this HL-L2300D still supports the PCL5e language …
I came across a forum, where the Linux users used Brother HL-2170W drivers instead of unavailable original driver for another Brother printer (that is not the case with HL-L2300D). According to specs, HL-2170W supports PCL6 . So, I thought it is worth trying 😉

The results of tweaking

I tried such combinations:
1) Brother HL-L2300D series driver was installed on both CUPS server and on Windows workstation
2) Detected Brother HL-L2300D printer on RPi was installed as Brother HL-2170W Foomatic/hpijs-pcl5e (driver) on CUPS, then the same Brother HL-2170W drivers were installed on Windows workstation to print to RPi print server. The chosen half tone pattern was ‘SuperCell’.
3) Brother HL-L2300D printer with its drivers were installed on the CUPS server and the Brother HL-2170W drivers were installed on Windows workstation. The chosen half tone pattern was ‘SuperCell’.
All three combinations work but the results are different 😉
Here are the Brother printer printing examples.

Let us know if that helps you to get that Brother printer going.
Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!