I am new to Linux->Fedora 7. What I know that Linux has issues with Canon products. So, I would like to know which brand of printers and scanners would be fine for my Linux machine to work well. TQinAdv!

HP printers are very well supported, closely followed by Epson. If you are going to buy a new printer, then I would urge you to go for HP.

What kind of printing? General-purpose B&W? Photographs? Large format?
If you are going to print photos, then Epson would be my first choice. For utility B&W, the low-end HP lasers are good. Both Epson and HP are well-supported.

Interesting. I just stumbled on this discussion while desperately trying to install an EPSON EPL 5700L on Fedora Core 6. After the usual hours wasted, with the printer being detected, but the (single) driver I can find (epsoneplijs-0.4.0) hardly making any difference, I am now giving up.

What about scanners? I was thinking of buying one, but according to www.sane-project.org, no USB 2.0 models are supported... Not sure if the website mentioned is the right source, but this is a critical handicap, isn't it?

I will never again buy an HP printer - too many bad experiences in the past getting them to work with anything but Windows. Epson ink-jets are nice but the ink is more expensive than crack cocaine delivered to orbit. I just bought a nice little Brother network laser printer that is inexpensive and easy to set up/use for Linux, Mac and (alas) XP. I don't print photos or other color output very often; when I do, going to the mall three or four times a year is cheaper than the disposable inkjets they're selling now. My next printer is probably going to be a colour laser, and I'll check out Brother first when I get ready -- after I buy a new Mac to replace my aging but still serviceable PowerTower 200.

How could you not list Epson, who seem to support Linux way better than many vendors??

Agree with zsd, Epsons generally work really well.

Cudos for HP and their efforts on behalf of Linux better and earlier than others - or at least making a boast of it.

Epsons do work well with Linux. Some futzin' required, but it's documented. I guess they made the list ex post facto as a write in candidate.
If I didn't get the Epson, I'd have probably gone for Canon - curiously poor in the poll.

The only problems I had with Epsons (and I got the cheapo special deals too)
1)I often upgrade my distro / os and forget to reset the printer settings more often than I actually print. I go to print and naturally the printer ain't there. doh!
2)Another problem is that 4x6 photos are improperly sized and or margined by every app and utility except the wonderful Gimp - which is hell for batch printing.
3)I haven't gotten Epson utilities to work 100% rightly. On windows, the printer software includes Epson ink detection nags. Tradeoff- I have to shake the inks to see which one is out, but I can freely replace any cartridge that fits.

Compatible inks are available for most models of Epson and Cannon - for cheap bums like me, though when I have real printing to do Epson inks probably are better and longer lasting.

I know brother has stitching machines and other crazy industrial devices that I assume would require or benefit from a real time OS (hence not windows). I'm surprised that they didn't do better in the poll.

Lexmark, well, I'm not surprised. The #1 give-away printer if you buy a cheeseburger and large shake or something. As an IBM hand-me-down I'd expect decent Linux support, but a cheap printer is a cheap printer, no matte rhow much the inks cost.


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