linuxgeek: [LINUX_Newbies] Re: Linux Capable Printers

Monday, September 28, 2009

[LINUX_Newbies] Re: Linux Capable Printers

With printers, it depends mostly on whether you want to pay up front or over time.

Small, inexpensive lasers are far cheaper per page--although the cheap ones are monochrome, but may be a little more expensive to buy.

Inkjets can be inexpensive to buy, but are generally very expensive to print with on a per-page basis.

If you print frequently, many of the third-party ink cartridges for the major brands may be fine as a lower-cost alternative. However, with some brands, the factory ink--although expensive--doesn't dry as much in the inkjet's print heads so is better if there are some days between print jobs. This is the case with my present Epson, for example. When you have to do a head cleaning routine, it consumes a surprisingly large amount of ink.

We have an Epson all-in-one, primarily because my stepson just *had* to have color--although we bought it about eleven months ago, and the only color output it's had was printing a few family pictures and *one* document he had for school which had a graph with a single line in blue. At the same time, as an inexpensive-to-buy model, it only takes the very small ink cartridges which can be quite expensive per page.

Be sure, therefore, that the printers you are looking at, if inkjets, will accept large black cartridges--usually at least twice the capacity of the other colors. We did not, and that was definitely a mistake.

If your studies are such that you can get by with a monochrome printer, I would definitely suggest an inexpensive laser.

As for brands and models, that depends on what your flavor of Linux will support. The majority are using CUPS, and it is fairly easy to find listings of supported printers for that.

Since I rarely print myself, I haven't bothered to sort out the various functions of our all-in-one beyond basic printing. If I had to start scanning, I would begin to look at scanning support for it. However, I do a dual boot system with XP and it has Epson's elaborate, proprietary drivers for the very few things I need on that line. Sorry I can't help you more.

Finally, look carefully at the space you have available for a printer...including any paper feed and output trays extended as they often must be for use to be sure the printer you are considering will fit in the available space. If I had the choice today, I would probably go with a separate printer and scanner. Some of the scanners take up very little space--such as the Canon LiDE series, as one example. That way, at least, loss of one item through accident or breakage doesn't trash the whole thing, as a combination unit would. In addition, for the scanners at least, you can often get more capable units as stand-alones. Also, if you have a used computer store--or look online at Craig's list and such--you can often pick up a perfectly good scanner for $10 or $15 or so if you need one. The key here is, again, to check for compatibility with Linux drivers before purchase.

My next computer is not likely to have a dual boot setup at all--so the current Epson may prove to have been a bad choice--at least this particular model.

Good luck!

David

--- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, "majorridge67" <majorridge67@...> wrote:
>
> Help! I need a good printer available in the American market that will work on Ubuntu that won't break a college guys budget. Any suggestions?
>