[nzlug] Being a lazy burger....

[Daniel Pittman]

Cliff Pratt <enkidu at cliffp.com> writes:

> I'm being a lazy burger and asking before I've done the research....
>
> So, how do these USB attached printers and MFCs go on Linux? I've
> always used parallel printers till now. In this case I'm using CUPS on
> Ubuntu....

Buy an HP unit and everything will work.  Buy anything else and you can
generally kiss your investment goodbye at the moment.

Not only do HP deliver hardware that uses open standards (as a rule)
they deliver documentation *and* they actually write and (to some
degree) support the open source drivers for their hardware.

> Do they
>
> a) all go, no problems

HP deliver software that fully supports CUPS, SANE and Linux across
their range; see here for current support:

http://hplip.sourceforge.net/

> b) some do, some don't

Most other vendors don't document there interfaces.  You can get
printing running no a reasonable number, scanning on a few, but not
reliable or with good support -- in my experience.

> c) Don't bother to go there

I generally advise that for two reasons: one is that it generally costs
little more to obtain a distinct scanner and printer -- and when one
breaks it costs much less to replace one unit than throw out a perfectly
good printer...

The second is that the running costs of most of the MFP devices are
pretty high; buying a cheap black laser and a scanner will probably cost
a lot less in the medium term.

Regards,
        Daniel
-- 
Digital Infrastructure Solutions -- making IT simple, stable and secure
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