# Printer recommendations

## ravalox

Hey, I'm looking to get a linux-supported printer, what is the current champ of linux-compatible printing?

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## erik258

i am really happy with my hp laserjet 6L printer.  CUPS supports a lot of printers.

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## anonybosh

What kind of printer are you looking to get?

linuxprinting.org is a good place to find some information.

I have an (older) monochrome laser, Brother HL1440, that works wonderfully (and has very good driver support) for my needs.

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## erik258

i think there's probably a good chance laser printers'll work.  inkjets, you may not be so lucky...

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## Enverex

The choice is either basically most Laser printers or a HP Inkjet printer (whatever you do don't buy a Canon).

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## NeddySeagoon

ravalox,

Anything HP or Epson will work. Both companies support Linux.

Cannon and Lexmark can be disappointing if you don't check before you buy.

You will find that non PostScript printers (all inkjets) are slow under linux. This is because Linux applications generate PostScript output and CUPS has to rasterise it for the printer using your CPU. On the up side, any printer that works with Linux is a PostScript printer, so you get features like arbitary scaling that Windows cannot provide.

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## no4b

I have Samsung ML-1610 (monochrome laser printer) that is chip, quite fast (for my needs) and works well on Linux.

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## erik258

According to the Linux SysAdmin's Guide by Eve Nemeth, et al.  (sorry, i can't do an exact reference because the book's 75 feet and 3 stories away, in my car ), laserprinter technology has matured and you may as well save your money and by a cheap samsung like noted.  If i were buying a new printer, i'd probably but the cheapest laserprinter on newegg with decent reviews and the features I wanted.

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## swimmer

 *no4b wrote:*   

> I have Samsung ML-1610 (monochrome laser printer) that is chip, quite fast (for my needs) and works well on Linux.

 

++

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## Enverex

 *erik258 wrote:*   

> According to the Linux SysAdmin's Guide by Eve Nemeth, et al.  (sorry, i can't do an exact reference because the book's 75 feet and 3 stories away, in my car ), laserprinter technology has matured and you may as well save your money and by a cheap samsung like noted.  If i were buying a new printer, i'd probably but the cheapest laserprinter on newegg with decent reviews and the features I wanted.

 

For greyscale sure, but for colour they are still overly expensive, not that great on colour reproduction and other silly issues. Depends what the vague question by the author wanted.

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## erik258

yes, excellent point.  Color lasers are a whole different story.  I really want one of those.  Too bad the're hundreds of $$ .

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## Zepp

I have a brother hl-2070n, so far I am satisfied  :Razz: .

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## ravalox

Wow shopping by brand isn't even a guarantee, it's hard to find a supported HP that's even sold these days

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## NeddySeagoon

ravalox,

HP provide their driver for CUPS.  It would be hard to find an HP thats not supported.

The HP driver is a binary blob, so its not GPL ... is that important to you ?

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## opentaka

go for Epson.

Samsung printers are supported but the printer quality is not that good

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## robinmarlow

It all depends on what you want to print.  I've always used laser (HP & kyocera),  but after the last one went tits up bought a Canon Pixma 5200.

I am still being amazed by the quality - photos are simply incredible.  At low resolutions it prints insanely quickly - the downside is for laser like quality text it is about 20 seconds per sheet.

I think there are some FOSS drivers,  but they don't support all its functions - so i use Turboprint drivers (about £20).

But if you print out hundreds of sheets a day this wouldn't be the best printer for you - i'd stick with an _old_ HP laser. my 2200DN was pretty good until it died.

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## trumee

Is there any mono laserjet printer which comes with a scanner?

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## ravalox

I hope this is true, if you look at linuxprinting.org though it seems to be a complete mess as to what works and what doesn't!

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> ravalox,
> 
> HP provide their driver for CUPS.  It would be hard to find an HP thats not supported.
> 
> The HP driver is a binary blob, so its not GPL ... is that important to you ?

 

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## Enverex

 *ravalox wrote:*   

> I hope this is true, if you look at linuxprinting.org though it seems to be a complete mess as to what works and what doesn't!
> 
>  *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   ravalox,
> 
> HP provide their driver for CUPS.  It would be hard to find an HP thats not supported.
> ...

 

Actually their list shows pretty everything much other than 5 weird printers that no-ones ever heard of work well or perfectly (from the HP range).

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