[CentOS] College student printer for CentOS 5.4 x86_64?

[fred smith]

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 07:28:24AM -0800, MHR wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 4:48 AM, Phil Savoie <psavoie1783 at rogers.com> wrote:
> > David McGuffey wrote:
> >>
> >> What would the community recommend? His needs are simple...mostly B&W
> >> papers.  On rare occasions he needs to print a paper with color
> >> photos/graphs embedded. Not looking to spend a lot, just enough to
> >> satisfy the requirement.
> >>
> >
> > Hi Dave,
> >
> > I have 2 lasers one BW and the other colour.  The BW printer is a
> > Brother 5250DN  (N for network) and a samsung CLP-310 also network
> > capable.  The samsung comes with linux drivers on a CD.  Both are ery
> > affordable and work well with linux.
> >
> 
> I use a Brother HL2140 - it runs between $40 and $120, depending on
> where you get it, and the toner cartridges are around $35 or less
> each.  It works just fine with CentOS (I'd bet any Brother printer
> does) under CUPS, but you might have to do a little google searching
> to find the right driver.  It's a USB-only printer, which has its
> advantages and disadvantages.
> 
> Caveat: the toner cartridge is only good for about 3000 copies, and
> it's kind of small, unlike a lot of others.  However, the whole
> printer is simplicity itself, the toner and drum cartridges are
> trivial to replace, and it has a per-sheet feeder for special paper
> needs.

One more data point: My Brother HL2070N works great on linux. no hassles,
no searching to find drivers. Brother HL2060 driver works like a charm.
but it's a discontinued model. now ther eis HL2170<something> which seems
to be similar and I'd guess it also works fine, but I don't know that.

> I would avoid Samsung printers (now) because most of the people I've
> heard from about them indicate that the inexpensive ones are
> inexpensive for a reason (i.e., cheap crap), unlike Brother.  Any HP
> would be fine - they have great Linux support.  I would also avoid
> Canon (inkjets) like the plague - the color is great, but they break
> down frequently, if you can find a Linux driver for them.  My wife has
> a Canon on her Windows PC, and it is the fifth or sixth of a series of
> "free" printers we got over a period of a few years, all due to
> warranty replacements (the others all failed), plus their newer
> printers have custom ink cartridges that are expensive and getting
> smaller.  Don't know about Canon lasers, although Canon has been
> extremely Linux-unfriendly with their printers (love their cameras).

No experience with Samsung printers. I've heard of some people having
good results, some not.

> 
> I would also avoid anything by Lexmark - I've never had any good
> results with them, and I've never heard of any, either.  Don't even
> know if you can use them with Linux....

Lexmark inkjets for sure are almost universally unsupported on Linux.
Years ago they had a fairly high-end inkjet with a PostScript engine
pasted onto the back (under a plastic bubble) and it worked great. I
wore one of 'em out. but the ink is a killer.

I've heard that their laser printers are good and do work on LInux,
but again I have no experience.

I'm certainly pleased with my Brother laser. it's printed somewhere
in the range of 4000-5000 pages on the original toner cartridge and
one replacement. the replacement is near ready for another replacement,
but that's better life than they claim. It "just works."

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
                      The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, 
                    keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
----------------------------- Proverbs 15:3 (niv) -----------------------------