[TriLUG] Linux Printing Suggestions

[Joseph Tate]

Leave the photo printing to the pros.  You'll come out ahead in sanity
and money.  I think B&W prints come out of your inkjet printer at
about $.17/page typically, photo prints can cost as much as $1.25
depending on the paper used.  I can print 4x6 prints at costco in
about an hour for as little as $.13.  Or have them delivered to my
house in a few days from clarkcolor.com for $.08/print or better.  My
wife batches them up and waits for specials.  We haven't used our
photo printer in years.

Laser is definitely the way to go for cheap B&W printing.  The Canon
wax color printers aren't too expensive to run if you need
non-archival color prints, and they look pretty good.  We used one at
$JOB-1 successfully from Linux, Mac and Windows, but I'm not sure if
they make an all-in-one model.  I like my Samsung Laser, but I think
the newer ones are even better for Linux and networking support.  I
can print from my Sammy for about $.08 per duplex page.  It looks like
Samsung makes an all-in-one laser.  They offer driver downloads, or
you can use a ppd from http://openprinting.org.

As for printer support, most printers support PCL or PostScript, so a
modicum of driver support is available.  You'll find though that if
several drivers exist, it is because they all suck in different ways.
Setting up a few different printers in Linux using different drivers
is pretty easy though so when you print you can choose the driver that
will perform the best for that task. Definitely use the gutenprint
drivers.  I've found them consistently higher quality than the drivers
that ship with cups.  Use http://openprinting.org to figure out what
drivers are available.

All-in-ones should show up as regular SANE devices, so you really
shouldn't have to worry about that.

Joseph

On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 9:55 AM, Matt Flyer <matt at noway2.thruhere.net> wrote:
> Happy Holidays to everyone!
>
> This year my wife had a case of "on my wish list but didn't receive",
> for a new printer.  I have been researching Linux printing and even
> found lists that will recommend drivers for a particular model, but it
> is really difficult to correlate this to an actual recommended item or
> worse yet, to go and get one off the shelf in a store.  If possible, she
> wants an all-in-one (printer and scanner), but one that will handle
> photos and photo paper.  It would be preferable to have the black
> cartridges separate from the color ones.
>
> I am also finding that if a particular model is reviewed as working
> well, it is typically a review that is 3-4 years old, meaning less
> likelihood of finding one in a store.
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations for models or brands in general
> that work well with Linux, such as generally having available drivers?
> Similarly are there any models to stay away from?
>
>
>
>
> --
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-- 
Joseph Tate
Personal e-mail: jtate AT dragonstrider DOT com
Web: http://www.dragonstrider.com