Looking for a "linux-friendly" laser printer - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 01:05:37 pm
content: hi guysI'd like to use my RPI as printer server.I am looking for a good but cheap "linux friendly" laser printer that can operate with arm-based computers.Thanks

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 10:02:55 pm
content: Your world is a bit upside-down.A printer is a printer is a printer....Whether it can be driven correctly from Win or Linux is a question of your software/driver set up.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 10:09:37 pm
content: There are many printers out there now that have very rudimentary onboard intelligence with much of the image processing offloaded to the host PC. I forget what they are called but it is the old "WinModem" concept and thus many of them cannot be made to work with Linux so his question is valid. One way to tell is by looking at the driver, these low cost printers have drivers that are often >100MB in size.I've been happy with my HP M254dw so far and it works with Linux.

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 10:12:57 pm
content: I can't list specific models, but what you are looking for is a network printer with PCL 6 and PostScript support.

author: nightfire
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 10:14:01 pm
content: Basically you will want to look for an ethernet interface and compatibility to Postscript- thats in the Penguin world the de facto lingua franca...

author: nuclearcat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 10:22:24 pm
content: Here you go:https://www.openprinting.org/printersAs printing facility in most Linuxes provided by CUPS and their fork.

author: laneboysrc
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 10:29:16 pm
content: I recently purchased a Brother DCP-L2550DW (BW Laser printer/scanner/copier). We use Ubuntu exclusively in our home.Once the printer was connected to our home network, it was available to accept print jobs immediately, no interventions or driver install required on any of the machines. Just send your print job from any program.Selecting paper size and paper tray all works as it should.For the scanner part, I set up an FTP server on our 'server' where the scanned documents get stored. All very easy to do.The hardest part was getting into the web-interface of the printer, because the manual that came with the machine didn't explain that you have to use the password printed on a sticker on the back of the printer.just one data point, Werner

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2020, 11:27:09 pm
content: I have found Brother laser printers easy to set up on Linux on an X86 desktop. You won't find Rpi compatible pre-compiled drivers on the Brother website(s) so either you'll have to hope it is already provided on a Rpi distro such as Raspian or else compile it yourself from source. But it is very likely it will be available with little search effort.As for cheap, there are low end mono Brother printers which have worked well for me. My current printer is well past 10 years old (HL2040) and I have a stack of later models I picked up from the roadside. Presumably people wanted wifi or wireless smartphone capability of a later model because all of them (5) work well.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 02:42:06 am
content: Brother here also. HL-5250DN bought years ago to use with Windows. Set up a Linux machine this past spring to replace my old daily driver Windows 7 computer. Best I remember all I did was go into print settings and tell it "there's a printer on the network, go find it". Couple of minutes later was able to print a test page and haven't had to mess with it since.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 03:45:53 am
content: Quote from: Benta on October 21, 2020, 10:02:55 pmEarly on, printer manufactures didn't invest any time on Linux. What brands and models worked and what didn't depended on the work of Linux hackers.15 years ago. HP started the HPLIP project but there still seems to be some inertia regarding trust in driver support.What I would suggest is find a model in your price range, google the model along with keywords such as Linux, driver, problems and see what pops up.If nothing shows up, it's either well-behaved or very, very new.If it's in the wild and a Linux user has had a problem with it, the internet will hear about it, I assure you.

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 09:43:35 am
content: Quote from: AntiProtonBoy on October 21, 2020, 10:12:57 pmyup

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2020, 09:58:07 am
content: Quote from: nightfire on October 21, 2020, 10:14:01 pmThe RPI needs to collect information, make simple LaTek documents and print them automatically.Talking Postscript over the Ethernet would be great.Yesterday, I receive an interesting commercial offer for a CANON LBP113W laser printer.It's offered brand new for 60 UKP. I still have to look at its spec and doc.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 12:05:59 am
content: I haven't come across a printer yet that I haven't been able to use in Linux. I personally use a Brother mono laser printer.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 12:09:31 am
content: Quote from: DiTBho on October 22, 2020, 09:43:35 amAt which point you need not waste electricity running a Pi.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 12:21:24 am
content: About three years ago I bought the cheapest HP inkjet printer/scanner with WIFI. You know -- those ones where the printer costs less than a set of proper sized ink cartridges.I had it printing from Ubuntu quicker than my wife had it printing from Windows. It was utterly trivial.[inkjet vs laser makes no difference in this aspect]

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 11:03:08 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on November 08, 2020, 12:09:31 amIn my experience, USB-drivers have always been problematic with Linux, especially on non-x86 computers, while Wifi or Ethernet tools and devices have always proved to be easier to be "hacked".The PI needs to create La-Tek-based documents on the fly, collect them, and push them in to the printer's pool to have them printed on the fly.The best would be a PI integrated "inside" the printer, but this is not what you find in the market. Not yet, even if the latest Canon has 256Mbyte of ram and a 400Mhz ARM processor able to "locally" process Google-printer-cloud documents, which are not exactly a piece of cake to be done: to process them, that Arm processor must have muscles and a strong firmware, and I wouldn't be surprised to find someone on Hackaday running Linux on it

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 11:29:49 am
content: My 2 cents of jambo...Over last decades printing under literally some dozendistros.. (way before the banana-buntus...)..Nothing ever failed ... since early parport- EPSON dot printer- EPSON jet printers... both parport and USB- EPSON USB/WIFI ink and laser models- CANON bubble jet (parport mostly)- HP deskjet inkjets both parport USB (WIFI)- Brother laser mostly WIFI and USB- RICOH- SAMSUNG USB/WIFI (while they no longer work under WIN they do under linux)their scanners on samsung no longer are supported since samsung soldtheir division.. they do work absolutely fine in linuxnotable exception exist under a helper "scan applet" for winshitThe pudim boils down to not rely on ready made solutions..instead using plain Postscript drivers - native tools over more than 3 decades.They never failed...PaulPOST note:- Interesting to comment that the MOST UNFRIENDLY SHIT I HAVE EVERCOME across in printing ... is really HP printers.- Their "setup.exe" state of the art shit fails to identify betweenUSB3 and USB2 aware systems and they just fail to install mostlyunder Win7 vista .. may be other versions. Workaround exist althoughan hour of wasted time.- Second BIG SHIT from HP also.Since their "intelligent cartridges" several printers lock up mostlyrendered unusable when "not original" INK from HP is detected.THIS SHIT IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING IN PRINTING EVER MADE..Paul

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 01:49:44 pm
content: Off-topic: HP printer software on Windows is pretty bad indeed. Don't download & install the software package but dig through their website to find the driver-only package. On Linux the HP printers just work with a few clicks.

author: drussell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 02:25:12 pm
content: You just need a printer that is a high-enough-level model that it actually composes the pages internally rather than using some driver on the host computer. Many Brother models support Brother's BR-Script (Postscript clone) even directly vialpr, though beware of some of the low-end Brothers, they will report in the firmware that they support BR-Script but there's a little note in the manual that says model a b c d x and y support it, but z does not, even across models covered by the same manual! Check the specs closely. Many mid range and up HPs also do Postscript in addition to PCL also.You can, of course, use something that doesn't speak Postscript, like a PCL printer is fine as long as it isn't host-based. If you can send it complete print jobs directly, it is trivial to set up a print server on a pi or something, but you shouldn't need to because everything on your network should just be able to see the printer directly anyway...

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 02:50:06 pm
content: I have crossed this border line sometimes whereto choose from pre-rendered or "unrendered" jobssent to a Postscript or PCL capable printer...IMHO the most noteworthy points are:- unrendered jobs will clash sooner or later(more sooner than later) with the lack of fontson the printer hardware- such hardware is (far) way more expensiveto enable PCL and Postscript and it still missesseveral render capabilities of a proper workstationrender job- cheaper models tend to cope nicely with pre renderedjobs - all sort of them - once you send a proper renderedjob translated into the printer raster lingo.Since then I am 99% inclined to just send pre renderedPostscript jobs using the workstation full set of graphiccapabilities.. (fonts, parsers and converters....)The latter never failed a single instancePaul

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 03:54:13 pm
content: Quote from: DiTBho on November 08, 2020, 11:03:08 am.. which is why you get a network printer...

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 04:14:22 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on November 08, 2020, 03:54:13 pmActually they are not.Which is rather problematic is the nature of USB itself.USB protocol stack "evolved" (if we can use this word) rather messyStarted as a silver bullet to solve RS232 issues but changed itselfinto a pile of problems .. with several different property issuesover the whole USB stack.The "solution" itself is not trivial as it is not trivial to handlethe messy patented chip vendors as well.You need to carefully determine the nature of your hardware** AND TOTALLY OPPOSITE TO SYSTEMD CONCEPT **YOU SHOULD NOT BY ANY MEANS LOAD THE WHOLE THINGAUTOMATIC or even worse "IN PARALLEL"Basic system init concepts apply hard on this.IRQ handling and protocol order are rather criticalYou need to load the stack in proper orderand with the proper USB drivers to your hardware.Kernels with built in USB are DOOMED.They can not order the stack properly**UNLESS** you compile them properlyI have been there quite a while to have a fully workingset of kernel for regular use and serviceTHEY ARE NOT THE SAMEOHCI UHCI EHCI and XHCI can not just been "loaded"A proper system initialization is critical for perfect function.A can assure you: USB stack in linux properly handled works perfectlyI had more issues with SERIAL ATA timeouts (in SATA 3.0) than USB 3.0e.g. the changes imposed by LIBATA over UDMA are much more criticalPaul

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 04:18:32 pm
content: Quote from: PKTKS on November 08, 2020, 04:14:22 pmOut of date waffling ignoring the point.There is no need for a Pi to control some unknown quality USB printer if you simply get a network printer using PS or PCL.

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 04:24:30 pm
content: Not sure if can fit your comments or insultsas you mostly seem to insult more than comment...Anyway a networked printer (being it ETH or WIFI)does cost more than a simple USB version.Particular true when it is multifunction printer.A LAN port does help to solve some issues...but none of them are related to the proper working statusof the whole USB linux stack.The USB stack works perfectly fine no matter for PI, or othersystem - it just requires (as above said) a proper initializationof the stackPaul

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 04:41:31 pm
content: If you could see the context beyond your personal vendetta of "Everyone uses Linux wrong and 2.4 is still the best kernel", you'd realise the concern is availability of working drivers for the hardware, not phantom issues in the USB stack which aren't relevant in 2020.

author: PKTKS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 04:50:18 pm
content: My dear .. i am not sure about what is your problem..Where did you got such data about myselfor what kind of biased mind you have..For the record:- my stable systems are using the latest 4.19 kernel- my test systems - which i run for test duuuu - run 5.xx- my service systems are carefully crafted from the stable branchbut much .. much more carefully built for service.They run a fully capable kernel for *several* systemswith different hardware footprintNot sure about what you think is "2020" butdoing this for the past 4 decades gave me a fairlyprudent method to not mess critical systems ...with kid stuff..banana buntus and systemd goonies included.Some decades like it or not give us a rather stable visionand updated skills.. life itself..smart people recognizes this as experience..Paul

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 05:57:44 pm
content: Now, to get to actual recommendations..I've been quite happy with my cheap Lexmark. Just kinda works, barring a firmware update issue (which was resolved promptly). Their current cheap and cheerful B2236dw does PCL5/6, but no PS, for about £100. Should be fine. There's a newer model with PS support just showing up (B3340dw). Mine's an old MS310dn.

author: DiTBho
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 08, 2020, 06:02:55 pm
content: Solved! Just tried it out!The CANON LBP113W is a wireless printer that does not have any binary-blob-driver, you can recompile sources and it works marvelously with the Pi used to create documents on the fly!Also it supportsGoogle Cloud Print, a technology that allows you to print over the web from anywhere, including smarphones.Great!

author: bingo600
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 07:45:16 am
content: I'm using a Canon LBP6030W wireless w. linux (Ubuntu + Debian)Even has a Linux tool for setting SSID+PWDNice home printer for the price.Think LBP6030B is the same in "Black"/Bingo

author: newbrain
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2020, 06:52:52 am
content: Quote from: DiTBho on November 08, 2020, 06:02:55 pmNot sure if this is going to affect you, but just as a warning:GCP impending death