[CentOS] Need tip on an inexpensive printer for college student using CentOS 5.5

[Ed Donahue]

On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 4:55 PM, Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> At Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:50:32 -0400 CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> Sending my son back to college with a dual-boot laptop with Win 7 and
>> CentOS 5.5.  He uses Win7 to manage his iPod and SW that sometimes
>> issued by a professor for a specific course...otherwise he uses CentOS
>> for everything else. That setup worked well last year, except for
>> printing. He has a low-end Cannon printer that is not supported in the
>> Linux realm.
>>
>> Most of his coursework was uploaded to "Blackboard" and rarely did he
>> have to print anything.  On the rare occasion when he had to print a
>> paper/briefing, his work-around was to build the paper/briefing in OO,
>> save in Office 2003 format on a USB drive, boot to Win7, load in MS
>> Office and print to the Cannon printer. I'm looking to clean that mess
>> up for him before sending him back to school.
>>
>> Looking to buy an inexpensive printer he can use on both sides of this
>> laptop.  Any suggestions?
>
> Almost any *new* *inket* printer is going to be a hassle to get working
> under CentOS. HPs are actually the worst -- HP has some anal business
> of hardwiring in model numbers in the driver (or some such nonsense),
> even when a new model uses the same driver protocols as an older model,
> so you need a 'new' driver, even when the old driver would otherwise
> work.  Yes, the driver is open source, but the pre-built binaries use
> bleeding edge system libraries and the sources are a bear to build and
> install from source (and will of course screw with yum & rpm).
>
> Now, B&W *PostScript* *Laser* printers are universal. (And don't in fact
> need a 'driver' at all under Linux).  Over the long haul, Laser printers
> are actually *cheaper* to use than even the cheapest Inkjet.  Really.
> The only downside is Laser printers are somewhat bulker that low-end
> inkjets.
>
> *I'd* suggest getting the $250 Brother model I got, HL-5370DW, I just
> plugged it in, configured dhcpd, and spent two minutes with CUPS, and
> was printing away (CentOS 5).  (This model also has USB and parallel
> port interfaces, but you'll need to get a cable.)  I also suspect that
> the toner cart it comes will will last the whole shool year, maybe even
> for the rest of your son's college years. (Unlike the inkjet carts which
> will probably need replacing after 2-3 long term papers.)
>
>>
>> Dave M
>>
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>
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Or, just buy a small flash stick and go to a computer lab at school to
print stuff out.
That was what I did.
Or get a brother laser jet, I have a HL-2040.