hello everybod

crayoncie · 06-06-2011, 07:22 AM

I am a newby and I came here becaus I really dont know what printer I should buy. I had trobles with the cartridges gettin bloked im my HP C4280.
So I woul find out what should be a better choice on my ubuntu 10.04 distrib.

Many thanks for your help

teckk · 06-06-2011, 07:50 AM

Those little cheep ink jet printers are not worth the money. They are cheep to buy, but you'll pay much more in ink cartridges. Plus if they are windows gdi only, you'll have problems writing to it.

A good lazer printer will stand up for years, and will cost less in the long run.

A printer that understands the post script printing language is ideal. You'll be able to use in on any *nix or windows machine.

A PCL5 printer can be used also if there is support for it. Have a look at ghostscript and openprinting.org.

If it's windows gdi printer then leave it.

Get a printer that uses open printing language.

Here are some resources.

http://www.openprinting.org/printers
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docvie...2569c10078c903
https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docv...2569c100799559

crayoncie · 06-06-2011, 09:32 AM

Thanks for your help, I guess the laserprinter would be the solution. Can you suggest any brand or model ?

teckk · 06-06-2011, 09:07 PM

HP and Brother have always done well for me. I'm sure that others work fine too.

Take a look at the printer language that it is using, and if there is good support for it.
And get the features that you want, like duplexing etc.

jefro · 06-06-2011, 09:19 PM

Hello!

crayoncie · 06-07-2011, 03:49 AM

Yes, I think the best printer language should be postscript, isn't it ?

teckk · 06-07-2011, 12:58 PM

Well, the idea was that any *nix application will save a file to .ps. Browsers and other apps will print to .ps. Or there are lots of converters to convert a file to .ps
pdf2ps
ascii2ps
doc2ps
txt2ps
a2ps
jpg2ps
pdftops

You don't even need a printer driver then, just direct the .ps file to the printer port and it will print.

Code:

cat file.ps > /dev/ulpt0

or use LP or CUPS printing.

If its a PCL printer then you can install ghostscipt, make a simple little printcap file and filter and use the printer.

Printcap file example

Code:

lp:\
     :lp=/dev/unlpt0:\
     :sh:\
     :mx#0:\
     :sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp:\
     :if=/usr/local/libexec/ps2pcl: \
     :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:

ps2pcl filter example

Code:

#!/bin/sh
/usr/local/bin/gs -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=hl1250 -sOutputFile=- -

Or if it's a ps or pcl printer there is most probably support for it using CUPS.

crayoncie · 06-07-2011, 05:09 PM

Thanks a lot to all of you for your help.
I'm defininitle thinking to buy a laserprinter which in the end will be cheeper, I guess