Hi guys,

I have to admit I've never bought a printer before, and I would really love some suggestions from people who have bought a good Black and White laser printer and are happy with their choice. If you have any tips (which make/model, what to look out for, links to guides/tutorials/documentation,) that'd be great.

My main criteria for finding a printer are:
Works great with Slackware
Black and white laser
Can easily be shared over the network (whether this is by builtin ethernet card or shared from a Slackware box connected to the network.)
(Hopefully) In the sub-200 dollar range.

Thanks for your tips and wealth of experience!

-Nathan

Update: 8/27/2009
Thanks for all the wonderful replies! I chose the HP P1006, and it works great! I just made /etc/rc.d/rc.cups executable and started it, and then set up the printer with "hp-toolbox" which was installed with my default 12.2 full install. Printing in Linux is not the hassle I thought it might be, the new printer is very fast and quiet.

Thanks again for all your suggestions!

I've purchased, hooked up, recommended, etc, about a dozen Samsung ML(1500-20**) over the past few years, and have never had a problem under either Linux or that other os.

They can be found everywhere for around $100, and the cartridges are often price on the softer side of gouging.

cheers,

I'd say HP is a good brand if you're looking for Linux-friendly. I recently bought an HP Officejet J4680 (inkjet) wireless printer and it works well with Slackware 12.2. Easier to setup than windows even.

The profit in low-end printers is in consumables---I guess Lasers are no exception.

For any printer, I think the best Linux support continues to be HP. Last I checked, Lexmark was the antithesis.

Almost any printer should work - except Lexmark consumer printers. As pixellany states, HP printers are usually the best, as everyone else has a couple that don't work under Linux. Your best bet is to check http://linuxprinting.org, or whatever they call themselves these days.

hello,

hp has best support for linux but is very expensive in comsumables.

We are very satisfied with Oki in business use, good quality, low cost. But I don't know how about their linux-support.

Markus

Hi,

I like the 'Brother' personal Laser printers. As for consumables, it's cheaper to by a new printer than to by or repair cartridges. I find the 'Brother' Laser for under $100, usually on sale for around $49-$60. I've got a 'HL-2140' down stairs waiting to be installed to replace a older Brother. The replacement cartridge cost around $35 so why not just replace with a probable upgraded printer. I've purchased a network capable 'Brother' for <$70. I'm waiting to get the double sided 'Brother' <$100.

I recently bought Brother laser (multi-function) MFC7420 and works perfectly with Slackware. I'm also sharing the printer via Samba and works flawlessly as network printer for Windows machines. There's only one caveat, you'll have to install drivers provided by Brother. The drivers are in RPM format which can easily be converted to tgz via rpm2tgz. BTW, the printer works on both x86 & x86_64 Slackware.

Hi,

Not always. You can use 'ppd' files that are available. If memory serves me the 1250.ppd works with most of the newer Brother laser printers. Not sure about the MFP, you will probably need to use the releases by Brother for the multi-function printers.

As I stated before it's been a while so I'll find out when putting the HL-2140 in service.

What's nice (bad?) about Brother Laser printers are that the toner cartridge and drum are sold separately. The drum only needs to be replaced after every 15,000-20,000 pages. ~$35-$60 for the toner and ~$80-$120 for the drum. Brother's normal capacity toners are rated for 1500 pages. For the HL-2040 it is $45-$55 for a 1500 page toner, and $105-$115 for the drum. Brother does offer high capacity toners that are a better value than the standard toners.

HP and Samsungs are a toner/drum all in one design. HP 92a 2500 pages $65, Samsung ML-1710-D3 3000 pages $80, same as the 2010-D3 for newer ML entry lasers.

(For toner prices, I shop newegg, staples, officedepot, and microcenter)

I've owned a Samsung ML-1740 for 4+ years. Got it on sale, and after rebate for $25!!! This is Samsung's sub $100 laser. Toners are $79.99 locally, and I can order remanufactured ones for $50. The remanu'd ones don't last as long as OEM, nor is the print as dark. You do save $30 up front, but instead of the normal ~3500 pages per toner, I only average 1800-2200 pages, and sometimes have to reprint because of the low quality.

All HP lasers besides the cheapest $100 models, are excellent. If you only want to spend less than $125, Brother and Samsung make a much better printer at that price level. Once you get to the $200+ range, it's hard to be an HP. Although long gone are the days of HP's 4P laser printers. These things were true work horses, and lasted 10-15 years.

My Samsung is near replacement, and I'm thinking about getting a Brother. Only because of the size and looks Their models are half the size of my Samsung, and are quite easy on the eyes.

You're right about the PPD files. Actually Brother rpm contain ppd file for my printer so I can easily extract the file and just place it in the system for cups to pick it up.

What I was saying above was from a perspective of a newbie. I'm not sure how proficient the OP is so he may or may not be able to do that. Installing the drivers from Brother would be a easier way to get started than to fiddle with the ppds :

Hi,

I've yet to need to replace the drum. As I said it's just as cheap to replace the printer than a cartridge.

BTW, I know that I get way beyond the 1500 pages. I do agitate not shake the toner cartridge by gently rolling the cartridge with circular motion of my hands (out of sync of course) without turning the cartridge over. I do this with every ream of paper through the printer. Some say it's a waste of time but I do get everything out of that cartridge. Knock, Knock,, Knock,,, on head, I mean wood. A little pause between knocks.

Refill your own toner.
http://www.tonerkits.com/

Hi,
I've done the toner kit refill and find it too messy. I'll just buy the new printer at the low cost then donate to a local charity a good printer when the time comes. As I said their dirt cheap now a days. I gain with the new printer and the charity gains with a slightly used printer. Let the charity buy a new cartridge.

I'll vote for hp as well. As far as consumables are concerned I can usually get at least 4 DIY refills out of a bw cartridge which makes a big difference. I have a 930c purchased maybe 8 years ago shared on the lan as the BW printer and a psc2355 shared as as two different color printers (300 and 600 dpi). I've never been satisfied with quality after refilling the color cartridge on the psc but we don't print colour much. The 930c's colour cartridge dried up long ago but there's no warnings on either slack machines or virtual XP when printing from it.