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| What's a good printer for minimal usage ? |
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| MarkS:
Quote from: pcprogrammer on Today at 02:49:28 am You don't have to crank up your post count any more for the supporters lounge :) It is possible to remove or just not post your post if it is not what you intended. --- End quote --- I'd rather complain! :blah: :-DD |
| pqass:
I have a Brother DCP-7065DN (mono laser+flat bed scanner) going on 10 years now (since discontinued). I'm on my third toner even! It's very economical given that I don't print much. Handy when you want a quick copy and even can do PCB layouts (toner transfer on dollar-store sticky cupboard liner paper). It's Ethernet connected over LPD/IPP and fully works with Linux; including the scanner. Any colour prints are outsourced to Walmart. |
| pqass:
--- Quote from: bigfoot22 on February 02, 2023, 06:48:50 pm ---Yes Linux support has come a long way, but its still best to find one which does support it otherwise you will be using proprietary drivers and having to source them from the manufacturer website. A nightmare, don't ask. Even if the manufacturer advertises Linux drivers they are quite often out dated and will not work, as I discovered with my Brother FAX-2840. Best to go to a decent website and find open source drivers and buy a printer after you've found one with perfect support. Not buy a printer and then try to find drivers for it. --- End quote --- Hmm... If I recall, I had to install the driver to use the scanner. Then I use Linux XSane or Simple Scan apps. Fax functionality may be a different beast. My driver is still available for download: https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=ca&lang=en&prod=dcp7065dn_all |
| tooki:
As someone who fundamentally prefers inkjets for a number of reasons, I completely concur with everyone’s recommendation to get a small laser printer. Laser printers simply don’t care whether they’ve been idle for an hour or a month. Toner cartridges (or specifically, the imaging drum and rubber blades inside) don’t start to go bad until they’re many years old. To avoid driver obsolescence, get a printer that supports PCL or PostScript (or PostScript clones, like Brother and HP provide). This will rule out the smallest models, but you don’t have to go particularly high end to get PCL or PS support. Almost every OS under the sun supports one or both of those protocols, so you’ll always have, at bare minimum, the basic ability to print. Scanning is a different matter. Unfortunately, it’s only in recent times that any kinds of generic scanning protocols have emerged, and they’re not very widespread yet. If you rarely scan, use a good scanning app on your phone. If you do scan a lot, consider getting a standalone document scanner instead. They’re better than anything in low-end multifunction printers. |
| shapirus:
--- Quote from: tom66 on February 02, 2023, 11:19:01 am ---Same for if you infrequently buy photo prints. You can get miles better photo print quality ordered directly to your door, or at the supermarket at one of those print machines, --- End quote --- It depends. Some printers designed specifically to print photos, like Epson L805 that I use, have superb print quality provided that high quality photo paper is used. However, once you forget to print at least a small page (that contains all the six ink colors) every couple of days, the print head will clog up when you least expect it. I had to set up a calendar reminder to print a page every other day. Unless printing photos is required, a (color or b/w) laser printer is a no-brainer. However, there comes another issue: is there a good laser printer these days at all? One that would not require to register an account and/or purchase a subscription before allowing you to print, that will print without regular firmware updates, that will not break the next day after warranty period ends (or the next day after purchase), ideally that will also be good to print PCBs for the toner transfer method. After having done some research I'm afraid it's not an easy task, and that is even before the prices are considered. |
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