[CentOS] HP vs. Brother Printers: Use with Centos/Fedora

Sun Jun 28 04:04:57 UTC 2020
Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com>

At Sat, 27 Jun 2020 22:09:47 -0500 CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org> wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> On 6/27/20 5:26 PM, Ron Loftin wrote:
> > On Sat, 2020-06-27 at 18:17 -0400, Jay Hart wrote:
> >> We currently have a Brother MFC-5490CN. Printer firmware is dated
> >> June 1010. (yeah, 10 years old).  Few years ago the brother software
> >> wouldn't work for printing under Fedora.  No problem, can print under
> >> Windows 10.  Then it stopped scanning.  Could still print...under
> >> Windows.
> >>
> >> Now, to fix the scanning features working I installed updated drivers
> >> under Windows, now it scans like champ, but won't print, at all.
> >>
> >> Time to go!!!
> > 
> > I'd say that 10 years is a decent run for a printer, depending on
> > usage.
> > 
> > If you want to stick with Brother, check out the Staples Web site and
> > look at the refurb page.  I've gotten some good deals there.
> >
> 
> I would recommend HP LaserJet printers. Have no experience with ink 
> printers. I would recommend to make sure that you get postscript 
> printer. Then you will be OK on Linux and UNIX (CUPS will be your friend).
> 
> I have no experience with low end printers. I was hesitant recently, and 
> could not throw away HP LaserJet 4050, which was purchased 18 years ago, 
> was getting really tough beating being used in the Department I support, 
> and still works.

HP *used* to make very good laser printers. *Maybe* they still do, at their
higher end, but they are just very expensive. For the most part HP's *inkjet*
printers are junk. Inkjet technology is a technology that seems to never
really delivered on the promise of low-cost, but good quality. They seem to be
cheaply made and can be terribly expensive in terms of consumables -- but in a
nickle and dime way -- eg a $20 cartridge only prints 100-200 pages or
something -- you end up being nickle and dimed to death... Part of what
happened is that laser printers have gotten cheaper, generally without losing
quality.  Laser printers only *seem* expensive (higher capital cost -- but 
tend to last longer) with more costly cartrides (but each cartridge prints 
several *thousand* pages, vs. ink carts only printing *hundreds* of pages).  
Once you look in terms of *years* of service and *thousands* of pages, laser 
printers are actually cheaper to buy and operate than inkjets.

The other *big* gotcha is printer language: laser printers are page oriented
devices -- they *must* buffer a whole page at a time -- so often laser
printers speak some flavor of PostScript (they might as well, since PostScript
is also page oriented) -- this makes them almost always Linux / UNIX friendly
devices. Inkjet printers are line oriented and generally only buffer a "line".
Inkjet printers almost never speak PostScript, but instead use a whole pile of
"languages". And *some* are "winprinters" which use some arcane protocol /
language that only works properly under MS-Windows.

> 
> Valeri
> 
> >>
> >> Hence my question...
> >>
> >> Jay
> >>
> >>>
> >>> Our office has had a Brother MFC-8510DN for at least five years -
> >>> no issues.  As has been said below, you do have to download and
> >>> install
> >>> the driver but the process hasn't been problematic.  Having said
> >>> that, I haven't pushed the limit on it's capabilities, just done
> >>> rather
> >>> plain printing.
> >>>
> >>> ________________________________
> >>> From: CentOS <centos-bounces at centos.org> on behalf of Ron Loftin <r
> >>> eloftin at twcny.rr.com>
> >>> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2020 5:02 PM
> >>> To: centos at centos.org <centos at centos.org>
> >>> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [CentOS] HP vs. Brother Printers: Use with
> >>> Centos/Fedora
> >>>
> >>> CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do
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> >>>
> >>> On Sat, 2020-06-27 at 15:44 -0600, Frank Cox wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 17:33:39 -0400
> >>>> Jay Hart wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> If you had to rate which printer brand works better with Linux
> >>>>> (Fedora and
> >>>>> Centos), what would it be?
> >>>> Any Brother printer that I've ever had the misfortune to have to
> >>>> deal
> >>>> with either didn't work at all or if could be made to work, it
> >>>> didn't
> >>>> work for long.
> >>>>
> >>>> If it's a Brother, run away as fast as you can.  They're the
> >>>> cheapest
> >>>> crappiest thing you can possibly imagine.
> >>>>
> >>>> My wife makes quilts and says the same thing about Brother sewing
> >>>> machines.
> >>>>
> >>> I can't speak to the sewing machines, but I have to say that I've
> >>> had
> >>> very good luck with Brother printers.  However, we have to be
> >>> honest
> >>> and acknowledge that I'm talking about LASER printers, not the
> >>> $%^&*
> >>> inkjet silliness.
> >>>
> >>> In my DEFINITELY not-so-humble opinion, the "run away as fast as
> >>> you
> >>> can" advice applies to ALL inkjets that are intended for home use.
> >>>
> >>> The only real differences I'm aware of between Brother and HP LASER
> >>> printers are price, and the fact that the HP drivers are usually
> >>> included in the distribution by default, and you have to download
> >>> and
> >>> install the Brother drivers.  I'm sitting next to a Brother MFC L-
> >>> 2750DW that is a year or so old, and it does everything I need it
> >>> to.
> >>>
> >>> As always, YMMV.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Ron Loftin                      reloftin at twcny.rr.com
> >>>
> >>> "God, root, what is difference ?"       Piter from UserFriendly
> >>>
> >>>
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