Most uncomplicated Printer that just works™?
Hey, sorry if this isn't the right place to ask this (feel free to show me the way). I want to get myself a printer that can also scan. Main purpose is to not have endless sheets of paper laying around, but to scan Documents I recieve and then throwing them away so that I only have them digitally and can print stuff out only when I need them.
Now I know that printers are the worst piece of hardware known to man and my needs not office-level.It doesn't have to have any more buttons or features than are needed to scan a doublesided document and print them, without clogging/eating paper, and print black and white text without complaining about being low on yellow ink.
So my question generally is: what is the most minimalist, non-bullshit printer/scanner that I could get?
But since all my devices run Linux I figured I'd just ask this here. Are there any big issues I have to look out for? Brands to avoid? (i.e nvidia being a no go for a lot of linux users) Preferably
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in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •Personally I'd keep them separate unless space is an issue.
For a scanner I like my Cannon LiDE 110 It just works with simplescan. For printers, any laser that supports PCL or Postscript should be fine. I'd recommend Lexmark or Brother. For black-only, I like my Lexmark B3340. I have a couple of older HP color lasers but honestly don't really use them except for printing trail maps every now and then. For color pictures (and the maps) I now use a Canon Selphy CP1300.
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nebs
in reply to _haha_oh_wow_ • • •Agreed, Brother!
I got a Brother MFC-L2750DW and networked setup was so simple. My every device I own detected it including my phone.
Note I haven’t tried connecting it via USB, just network.
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waigl
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •Fortunately for me, both my printer and scanner have worked flawlessly with Linux from day one (notwithstanding some CUPS shenanigans where it had problems finding USB printers, but that has nothing to do with the printer). Unfortunately for you, that means they are both fairly old already and probably not available as those specific models anymore.
My scanner is a Canon Canoscan LiDE 220. It's a fairly small model with a scan area just barely bigger than an A4 page. That suits me fine as someone who rarely actually scans stuff, as I can just stash it somewhere when I don't need it and pull it out when I do.
My printer is a Brother HL5340DL. It's about as big as you would expect for a personal laser printer (so not exactly handy anymore, but most people should be able to make it fit). It's ten years old now, cost somewhere around a hundred Euros when new, survived two moves and still works flawlessly, including the duplex function. When setting it up in CUPS, I found the generic PCL drivers to work much better than the Brother-specific ones. Just as a hint for others.
... show moreFortunately for me, both my printer and scanner have worked flawlessly with Linux from day one (notwithstanding some CUPS shenanigans where it had problems finding USB printers, but that has nothing to do with the printer). Unfortunately for you, that means they are both fairly old already and probably not available as those specific models anymore.
My scanner is a Canon Canoscan LiDE 220. It's a fairly small model with a scan area just barely bigger than an A4 page. That suits me fine as someone who rarely actually scans stuff, as I can just stash it somewhere when I don't need it and pull it out when I do.
My printer is a Brother HL5340DL. It's about as big as you would expect for a personal laser printer (so not exactly handy anymore, but most people should be able to make it fit). It's ten years old now, cost somewhere around a hundred Euros when new, survived two moves and still works flawlessly, including the duplex function. When setting it up in CUPS, I found the generic PCL drivers to work much better than the Brother-specific ones. Just as a hint for others.
When looking for a scanner, check the SANE database: sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.htm…
Edit: I forgot something, my scanner does not work "flawlessly" after all: If I scan at low or medium resolutions, the scan results get messed up. It looks like the scanner software gets confused about how long exactly each scan line is supposed to be and puts the line breaks in the wrong places. That's probably a bug in sane-backends, but I have never followed up on that one, because my workaround is simple and works fine for me: Just scan at 1200 dpi and then downscale stuff. Still a bug though, and saying the scanner works flawlessly would be wrong.
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Beej Jorgensen
in reply to waigl • • •Ertebolle
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •All-time classic Verge article on this subject:
theverge.com/23642073/best-pri…
Best printer 2023: just buy this Brother laser printer everyone has, it’s fine
Nilay Patel (The Verge)like this
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feral_hedgehog
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •All I had to do on Arch was install
brother-mfc-1910wfor printing,brscan4for scanning andoh-brotherfor (occasionally) upgrading the firmware, all over WiFi.I think more user-friendly distros come with these packages preinstalled, so it should just be a matter of opening the printer manager and waiting for it to show up.
Don't think they make the specific model anymore, but any Brother laser AIO should do.
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🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️
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Dubious_Fart
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •HP is a awful company with a well deserved terrible reputation, but their linux support is great. I have a combo printer/scanner that works without a single issue.
All you gotta do is install..hplip i think it is? and plug the printer in.
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𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬
in reply to ikidd • • •Absolutely!
Not a multi function device, but a plain printer, but I have a Borther HL-2365DW connected via 2.4 GHz WiFi and that is detected as HL-L2360D. The printer works absolutely fine. It still has the original toner cartridge and it is used 3-5 times a year without any issues.
Before that I had a HL-2030 that died after ~14 years.
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MrMagnesium12
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •I'm happy with my Epson ET-2820. It is a wireless inkjet printer, but it uses ink from bottles what is not that expensive. The printer hasn't dried up, yet.
The device works with the generic CUPS "driverless" printer driver, so no configuration on Linux computers to print. Scanning worked out of the box, too with sane.
tl;dr: most flawless working printer I ever owned.
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datendefekt
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •Our Samsung color laser AIO was getting flaky, especially for net access. I replaced it with an Epson EcoTank AIO and it's been absolutely hassle-free.
I was apprehensive at first, because using inkjet printers back in the 90s was just painful. But so far, never had clogging and hardly ever had a paper jam. I'd say the running costs are comparable or lower than laser.
Color laser printers always run out of yellow because they inline a yellow fingerprint. AFAIK this isn't the case with inkjets. So savings and additional privacy there.
digital watermark which certain color laser printers and copiers leave on every single printed page, allowing to identify the device with which a document was printed and giving clues to the originator
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HarriPotero
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •Look for PCL6 support.
You won't even need a driver, because it already speaks a standard protocol.
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KᑌᔕᕼIᗩ
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •BROTHER LASER PRINTER with a scanner combo. Literally don't bother with anything else.
/Thread
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Arcturus
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in reply to Arcturus • • •Oh! Shit, you're right! Sorry.
That said, it worked OOTB with our Linux machines, incl scanning.
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signofzeta
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • • •I’ll be sticking with my HP Color LaserJet for now. I’ve updated it to the latest firmware before they introduced Instant Ink (and toner, I guess) and will keep it until either it or I can’t be repaired and die.
After that, I don’t know, Brother?
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eshep
in reply to Cinnamon3431 • •Brother MFC machines are what I've always used without issue in linux. Brother offers linux drivers for both print and scan on their site and they're fairly simple to install.
@Linux
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