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) -----------------------------