Inkjet printer for Linux suggestion, please.

  • Thread starter Thread starter GP
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GP

I thought I'd buy a cheap laser printer but there seems to be driver
considerations at the present time with Linux. So I might go for an inkjet
printer. Besides, when the printer is inexpensive, the toner is not :( Same
problem as for inkjet printers, just to a lesser degree maybe.

Besides Canon, is there any Linux-compatible inkjet printer with the printhead
in the cartridge (so that I may refill them without worry) that you would
suggest? I don't care so much about optimum quality, speed and even B&W would
be OK... though I suppose they don't exist anymore :)

GP
 
GP said:
I thought I'd buy a cheap laser printer but there seems to be driver
considerations at the present time with Linux. So I might go for an
inkjet printer. Besides, when the printer is inexpensive, the toner is
not :( Same problem as for inkjet printers, just to a lesser degree maybe.

Besides Canon, is there any Linux-compatible inkjet printer with the
printhead in the cartridge (so that I may refill them without worry)
that you would suggest? I don't care so much about optimum quality,
speed and even B&W would be OK.
Click to expand...

In a word: Linux compatible, cheap, worry free. Quality, speed, even color,
not that important.

Does the HP PSC-1315 have a separate print head? It's not that cheap, but it
does more. Are refills available?

GP
 
Besides Canon, is there any Linux-compatible inkjet printer with the
printhead in the cartridge (so that I may refill them without worry) that you
would suggest? I don't care so much about optimum quality, speed and even B&W
would be OK... though I suppose they don't exist anymore :)
Click to expand...

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpu00659
and
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bpd06898
have links to Linux drivers for most HP DeskJet and PSC or Officejet units.

Specific models supported are listed at:
http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/productssupported.php and
http://hpoj.sourceforge.net/suplist.shtml .

All the DeskJet, Photosmart and PSC units have printheads in the cartridge.
All the listed Officejet units except the D series and the 7110, 7130 and 7140
units have printheads in the cartridge.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP


has drivers for various HP inkjet printers. The PSC 1315 is a host based
printer and may be less suitable.
 
NJ said:
The Brother HL-1440 is supposed to work well in Linux. :)
Click to expand...

I called Brother and asked what was their cheapest printer offering PCL and
Postscript, which IMO makes it /really/ no-fuss with Linux, and the printer
was twice as expensive as the HL-1435. The model was someting like a HL-5150D
(not sure).

GP
 
Bob said:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpu00659
Click to expand...

I was considering the Laserjet 1012, but it's not listed as Linux-compatible.
Besides the printer is 20% more expensive since december 10th because the $50
rebate is not valid anymore. What a lousy marketing scheme!
The PSC 1315 is a host based
printer and may be less suitable.
Click to expand...

I don't care if the printer uses my CPU but I suppose what you really mean is
"Windows or Mac OS host based". It's a shame that your employer pretends to
support Linux when most of the cheaper interesting models are Windows/Mac only.
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
Click to expand...

It's nice to have somebody from HP giving pertinent info on the group... and
hopefully taking note of comments :)

May someday all HP laser printers be PCL/Ghostscript compatible!

GP
 
It's nice to have somebody from HP giving pertinent info on the group... and
hopefully taking note of comments :)

May someday all HP laser printers be PCL/Ghostscript compatible!
Click to expand...

If people want cheap, they get cheap. What we need is HP to
describe the printer comms, so someone else can write a Linux
driver, og better yet, have HP Open Source their MacOS X drivers.
(MacOS X = FreeBSD with CUPS).
 
In a word: Linux compatible, cheap, worry free. Quality, speed, even color,
not that important.
Click to expand...

HP LaserJet 4/5 models are not hard to find, and can cost less than the
cheapest of new lasers. The 4M and 5M have native PostScript, so you
don't have to deal with weird inkjet drivers. (Or other inkjet issues.)
 
NJ said:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showproduct.php?product=499
Click to expand...

Interesting. It doesn't offer Postscript, but PCL 4. At 2 MB, memory seems
rather low. The Lexmark offers 16. Isn't this a cause for concern?

The most recent drivers are PCL 6. What's the difference? I believe PCL was
developed by HP, right? And many companies use it, though it's not open
source. Can you give me more information about this?

Does Ghostscript work with the latest versions of Postscript? What's the
advantage of Ghostscript over PCL or vice-versa?

Etc. As you can see, I'm a complete newbie in printer emulations. Any
information would be greatly appreciated.

GP
 
GP said:
Does Ghostscript work with the latest versions of Postscript? What's the
advantage of Ghostscript over PCL or vice-versa?
Click to expand...

Ghostscript is a PostScript interpreter that runs on the computer
instead of in the printer.

If your printer already has PostScript, you don't need Ghostscript at
all. If your printer only has PCL, you use Ghostscript to process
PostScript into PCL, then send that to the printer.
 
Povl said:
If people want cheap, they get cheap. What we need is HP to
describe the printer comms, so someone else can write a Linux
driver, og better yet, have HP Open Source their MacOS X drivers.
(MacOS X = FreeBSD with CUPS).
Click to expand...

You mean we'd all be better off if hardware manufacturers concentrated on
manufacturing hardware? I'm afraid it's been said before, but manufacturers
have to learn the hard way. Ask Sun :)

IBM has apparently understood but offers support only for Red Hat and Suse.
But I'm a Slacker. I could convert to Debian, but never to Bed Rat. I tried
Suse maybe 2 years ago and didn't like it.

What are my chances of being able to run a Lexmark E232 on Slack or Debian
without too much hassle... I really mean NO hassle.

GP
 
GP said:
I don't care if the printer uses my CPU but I suppose what you really mean is
"Windows or Mac OS host based". It's a shame that your employer pretends to
support Linux when most of the cheaper interesting models are Windows/Mac
only.
Click to expand...

This is not true. There is a Linux driver available for the PSC 1350, as
described at http://hpoj.sourceforge.net/suplist.shtml . HP supplies support
and resources to the Linux driver team. Being a host based printer means there
will be more load on your host CPU and also more data needs to be sent to the
printer since the driver must send information for each individual drop firing.
I do not know it you took a look at the links I posted previously, but
http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP lists perhaps two hundred
or more HP models supported "perfectly", maybe eighty supported "mostly", and
four listed as "paperweight". Of the five supported only "partially", one is
the original ThinkJet introduced in 1984.
May someday all HP laser printers be PCL/Ghostscript compatible!
Click to expand...

Probably not. There will probably always be demand for printers focused on low
cost at some expense of performance, while others will want the full featured
printers at some additional cost.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
Povl H. Pedersen said:
If people want cheap, they get cheap. What we need is HP to
describe the printer comms, so someone else can write a Linux
driver, og better yet, have HP Open Source their MacOS X drivers.
(MacOS X = FreeBSD with CUPS).
Click to expand...

HP supports Linux drivers on several levels, including development information.
See http://hpinkjet.sourceforge.net/ .

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
 
HP LaserJet 4/5 models are not hard to find, and can cost less than the
cheapest of new lasers. The 4M and 5M have native PostScript, so you
don't have to deal with weird inkjet drivers. (Or other inkjet issues.)
Click to expand...

I personally got the LaserJet 1200 1-2 years ago. Also PCL6 + Postscript,
so it is my workhorse. Sits on my Linux box and is shared using cups,
for both MacOS X and Windows.
 
Bob said:
This is not true. There is a Linux driver available for the PSC 1350, as
described at http://hpoj.sourceforge.net/suplist.shtml . HP supplies support
and resources to the Linux driver team. Being a host based printer means there
will be more load on your host CPU and also more data needs to be sent to the
printer since the driver must send information for each individual drop firing.
I do not know it you took a look at the links I posted previously, but
http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP lists perhaps two hundred
or more HP models supported "perfectly", maybe eighty supported "mostly", and
four listed as "paperweight". Of the five supported only "partially", one is
the original ThinkJet introduced in 1984.




Probably not. There will probably always be demand for printers focused on low
cost at some expense of performance, while others will want the full featured
printers at some additional cost.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP
Click to expand...

Really cheap customers will never vanish from the face of the earth.

In their deep black hearts, cheap people would like companies to go
broke giving them everything. Then, when they next wave of companies
comes along, they will try to con them into doing the same thing.


--
................................


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Unique and personal one-of-a-kind.
Builds strong minds 12 ways.
Guaranteed satisfaction
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http://www.alicebook.com
 
GP said:
I thought I'd buy a cheap laser printer but there seems to be driver
considerations at the present time with Linux. So I might go for an inkjet
printer. Besides, when the printer is inexpensive, the toner is not :( Same
problem as for inkjet printers, just to a lesser degree maybe.

Besides Canon, is there any Linux-compatible inkjet printer with the printhead
in the cartridge (so that I may refill them without worry) that you would
suggest? I don't care so much about optimum quality, speed and even B&W would
be OK... though I suppose they don't exist anymore :)

GP
Click to expand...

I don't know what your problem with finding a laser printer for Linux
is; any laser printer that has PCL support really should work. I have
been using a HP LJ 1100A with Slackware for a few years now. It works
great, too. The ghostscript printer driver I use for the HP LJ 1100 is
the HP LJ 4D (ljet4d) driver. There is a command that you can use that
will show you what ghostscript printer drivers are available on your
system, but I can't think of it at the present. If you are familiar with
Apsfilter you can find out what printer drivers are available with
it--every Slackware box comes with Apsfilter. If you are not familiar
with Apsfilter just read the email from Patrick in the root account.

Another suggestion is to checkout; www.linuxprinting.org--should give
you some ideas on what ghostscript printer drivers to use with the
various different laser printers. I just went to:
http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cg and checked out just the HP
laser printers that work with Linux and there were about 30 of them. Not
to mention the other printers from Brother, Canon, Samsung, and etc.

BTW, I didn't know any Canon inkjet printers used cartridges that have
the printhead in them.

Good luck,

jamess
 
Warren said:
Ghostscript is a PostScript interpreter that runs on the computer
instead of in the printer.

If your printer already has PostScript, you don't need Ghostscript at
all. If your printer only has PCL, you use Ghostscript to process
PostScript into PCL, then send that to the printer.
Click to expand...

According to APSFILTER, the situation is more complicated. The 3 first choices
are:

1) PostScript printer (generic)
2) PostScript printer (with ghostscript drivers)
3) printer driver natively supported by ghostscript

So, accordning to choice 2, you can have a PostScript printer with ghostscript
drivers.

Also, I was quite surprised to find that some inkjet printers, such as my
Canon BJ-300 were "natively supported by ghostscript".

Do you have a link where I can learn more?

GP
 
Warren said:
HP LaserJet 4/5 models are not hard to find, and can cost less than the
cheapest of new lasers. The 4M and 5M have native PostScript, so you
don't have to deal with weird inkjet drivers. (Or other inkjet issues.)
Click to expand...

I don't htink I would buy a used printer. I remember one of those HL Laserjet
4 at school printing about 1,000 pages a day, pretty much every day of the
year. Let's round up to 300,000 pages a year. That's a lot of printing!

It's hard to know what you get when you buy used.

GP
 
Bob said:
This is not true. There is a Linux driver available for the PSC 1350, as
described at http://hpoj.sourceforge.net/suplist.shtml .
Click to expand...

Gee, how could I miss this? I mean, you've got to look at the right place,
that's all!

It's not even listed at linuxprinting.org ! The PSC 1310 is, but not the 1315.
And sometimes, what a difference a 5 makes!

There's no mention at HP on the printer's main page:

<http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...44-410635-12085-f57-360489-374569-374570.html>

That's not what I mean by /supporting/ Linux.

Thanks nonetheless for the info :)
HP supplies support
and resources to the Linux driver team. Being a host based printer means there
will be more load on your host CPU and also more data needs to be sent to the
printer since the driver must send information for each individual drop firing.
Click to expand...

But, still, it should print "up to" 7.5 ppm in B&W? If "up to" means more than
5, it's ok to me.
I do not know it you took a look at the links I posted previously, but
http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP lists perhaps two hundred
or more HP models supported "perfectly", maybe eighty supported "mostly", and
four listed as "paperweight". Of the five supported only "partially", one is
the original ThinkJet introduced in 1984.
Click to expand...

To tell you the truth, I'm not really interested in buying a 1984 printer. I
even doubt they are sold anymore :)

But if you go at Staples, you know that's a place where Joe Doe buy printers,
and check HP printers under 300$ (CAN), there's one model: the 1210.

<http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/c...5EB6197F2AA323890C407926F139C05DA8677FE7B09E3>

I don't care about the 200 other models supported in the last 20 years. I
don't care if a 1,000$ model doesn't support Linux. Joe Doe and me don't print
more than 500 pages a year and buying a 1,000$ model would be pure nonsense.
Probably not. There will probably always be demand for printers focused on low
cost at some expense of performance, while others will want the full featured
printers at some additional cost.
Click to expand...

We're not talking about performance. Some people need performance, but Joe Doe
-- you know, this guy who'd be glad to get out of M$ claws if only Linux was
not such a pain when it comes to finding cheap and easy to install hardware --
doesn't need performance. He needs a plain and simple little printer.

And now, he goes to Staples and can't use the cheap HP printer he wants with
Linux. Once again, that's what I mean by HP not supporting Linux.

What makes PCL printers more expensive?

Are the rights paid to Adobe on Postcript that high?

As I said in a previous post, my Canon BJ-300 used a "driver natively
supported by ghostscript". All I had to do, either in Apsfilter (Slackware) or
CUPS (Knoppix), is choose the driver in a list. Wouldn't it be possible to do
the same with a laser printer?

GP
 
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