[clug] Printers for Linux

[Martin Pool]

On  8 Feb 2004, Pearl Louis <pearl.louis at anu.edu.au> wrote:

> I was wondering if people here could give me some advice on which brand I 
> should go for?  Epson?  Lexmark?  HP?  Canon?  The criteria I'm looking at is 
> firstly it should be a company that is Linux friendly (this is not 
> idealogical - I just want a printer that's well supported).  

(I work for HP, but this is my personal opinion.)

HP printers work very well under Linux.  The necessary software to
talk to USB printers is MIT-style-licenced and plugs straight into
CUPS.  On printers with flash slots you can directly mount the
CF/MS/SD/etc stick from Linux as a scsi device.

  http://hpoj.sourceforge.net/

I would *guess* that HP does more work on Linux than the other
companies you named.  (We sponsor a kernel port, provide Debian
infrastructure, sponsor LCA, ...)

> And secondly it has good value with its ink cartridges.  I'm wary of
> printers that are ultra-cheap but have ink cartridges that cost more
> than the printer.

Basically all ink-jet printers subsidize the printer hardware with the
cost of the cartridges.  This is a bit wierd, I agree, but the good
thing is that you don't have a big cost up front and you can basically
pay as you go.  There is a lower cover charge, if you like.

I bought a mid-range 7660, which was about $300 and cartridges are
about $50.

The hpoj driver lets you choose quality (basically ink density) on a
sliding scale from draft to photo.  If you print at draft or regular
quality they should last quite a while.  If cost is a concern you
should leave it in draft, which is very sharp and legible, except when
printing final copies.

The photo quality is pretty amazing but it's very expensive -- as good
as a 35mm print, but probably as expensive.

linuxprinting.org has lots of good unbiased information.

-- 
Martin
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