Laserprinter

hansw

hansw

Hi all,

Was not able to find it in the discussions. I am planning to find a laser-printer so I can ditch those inkjets I have. I only print some 10 pages a year or so.

Are there any printers with good support for FreeBSD?
 
I have a Samsung C460W express https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2XTPC6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b that I bought in 2016. I don't know if it's still made (shown as unavailable on Amazon), but it works well for me, including scanning. I did (information from Archlinux wiki), have to edit /usr/local/etc/sane.d/xerox.mfp.conf to change the Samsung C460 series line from a USB line to tcp <ip address>. I don't remember now where I got the ppd file, possibly from Samsung's site, using what they had for LInux. But printing works when I just send it through netcat, e.g., take a pdf file, use pdf2ps to change the pdf to a ps then just use
Code: 
nc <ip_address> 9100 < file.ps
and scan with
Code: 
scanimage -p --mode Gray |pnmtops -imageheight 11 -imagewidth 8.5|ps2pdf -   <myfile.pdf>
I'm lucky enough to still be able to find generic toner that works-I only print about 10-30 pages a year, though I scan a bit more. I chose Samsung because I didn't want to pay the absurd HP prices for toner, but two weeks after I got the printer, HP bought Samsung's printer division.

Generally, I think most people have success with HP and Brother. Brother has the most reasonable toner prices.
 
I don't understand why people keep buying inkjet printer. There is a florissant industry with large format solvent/UV/latex inkjet but it's not for printing small images or text. When it comes the need to print A4 format and the like on paper, only laser worth the cost, in particular in your case if you print a few pages.

To come back to your question, it depends how you plan to connect your printer. If it is on a local network, I think all or almost all printers will be suitable. I personally use Samsung laser printers (3 different models) and they give me full satisfaction even if they are cheap printers.

If is on USB, I simply don't know.
 
Get one that does PCL5e/PCL6 and/or Postscript and Ethernet
If you want cheap and relatively decent look at OKI or Brother
Done
 
Thank you all, I am familiar with cups, etc... and it will be in my home only. I will probably have it turned of most of the time. I do want to make prints now for our family calendar and a few other things
 
My advice: Go with an HP LaserJet. They are mechanically nearly undestructible, and because they're so common, there is a flourishing market for second-hand toner cartridges. I am unfortunately down to only two LaserJets at home (one high-speed double sided, one color). My original LaserJet was a 5MP that finally gave up after 27 years of use, when its electronics (most likely the power supply) gave out.

And if possible, go for one that supports Postscript (I think all modern ones do), that makes the software setup much easier. Although with a modern cups installation, pretty much anything will work.
 
ralphbsz said:
My advice: Go with an HP LaserJet. They are mechanically nearly undestructible, and because they're so common, there is a flourishing market for second-hand toner cartridges. I am unfortunately down to only two LaserJets at home (one high-speed double sided, one color). My original LaserJet was a 5MP that finally gave up after 27 years of use, when its electronics (most likely the power supply) gave out.

And if possible, go for one that supports Postscript (I think all modern ones do), that makes the software setup much easier. Although with a modern cups installation, pretty much anything will work.
Click to expand...
I did hear about subscriptions for toners with inkjet machines. No such thing for laser I assume?
 
AFAIK (inkjet) subscriptions are mainly intended for ease of use: you can get an e-mail when you're nearly out and a new fresh cartridge should arrive automagically by post; you will pay for that service and, usually, you're bound to the OEM inkjet cartridges. I have a Samsung Postscript laser and have one lase toner cartridge on stock, that leaves me ample time to order the next new one; keep those stored in a dry and cool place. Perhaps FreeBSD OS and/or driver supports querying the toner amount left (I just look at it from an MS Windows laptop for the toner amount left).
 
No more PPD files it looks like:

Note:Printer drivers and raw queues are deprecated and will stop working in a future version of CUPS.
 
Phishfry said:
No more PPD files it looks like:

Note:Printer drivers and raw queues are deprecated and will stop working in a future version of CUPS.
Click to expand...
Newer printers have the protocol on them which files they accept, such as PostScript, JPEG, PNG, ASCII, Raster or PCL. I believe that's what the Airscan backend is for.

I thought Airprint was for Mac computers, i-products and their compatible printers. There's also a standard for PC's to printers. Both standards use the same types of file formats (depending on printer), some listed above.
 
hansw said:
I did hear about subscriptions for toners with inkjet machines. No such thing for laser I assume?
Click to expand...
Not relevant if you only print 10 times a year!

My duty cycle might be 10 pages a week. I have a couple of HP4050n monochrome printers that I got used from government surplus auctions 20 years ago. One still has the original toner cartridge, one has had the cartridge changed once, and I still have a full unused cartridge somewhere in a box. I do have to take out the cartridges and give them a gentle shake to re-distribute the toner once every few years...

Beware, around 2016 HP added "smart chips" to their toner cartridges to thwart third party suppliers. It's a whole separate subject.

But I still like HP, and for a greenfield, depending on colour and scanning needs, I would probably buy a LaserJet Pro 4001dw or a HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M282nw.
 
I bought a Brother HL5100DN. Supports PostScript so will print pretty much from anything you use, command line or GUI. I use CUPS. It's cheap, mono, duplex, ethernet connected and good enough for me with cheap 3rd party toner.
 
hansw said:
I did hear about subscriptions for toners with inkjet machines. No such thing for laser I assume?
Click to expand...
Uhhh... it's ink subscription, not toner subscription... although I would not put it past any printer maker (and certainly not HP) to have an ink subscription for newer stuff.

I have a LaserJet P1102w that I bought in 2012. It still works, but does heat up when I give it a biggish (10+ pages) job once in a while. I paid like $150 for that thing when it was new. Compatible cartridges can be a pain to find, which is frankly the case for just about any older printer. I was lucky to find some cheaper third-party cartridges that do work (even with the printer trying to bitch that the cartridges are 'not genuine HP stuff' ). Compatible HP-branded stuff can be found, but it's friggin' expensive.

Generally, older printers don't have 'subscriptions' for ink (or toner). And I think that up until 2020 model year, you have a decent chance of finding something that CUPS can use AND has no subscription attached to it. I don't like those 'subscriptions' either.

And more generally - if CUPS can see the printer, it doesn't matter if it's on Linux or FreeBSD, setup is the same.
 
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