Hardware Advocacy or Making it easy to do the right thing.

[Tommy Trussell]

On 2/25/07, Michael T. Richter <ttmrichter at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm trying to find a printer.  It's uphill work because there's a < 1% overlap (and none of these in the "affordable" category) between the printers I can buy and the printers listed as "definitely working" at openprinting.org.  Digging deeper under the covers I find that several printers are basically just relabelled versions of other ones (a total "WTF?!" scenario!) so I actually do have some prospects now.
>
>  This was not time well-spent, digging for that.

I know what you are saying. One shortcut I have used is to look for
printers that are "Macintosh compatible," because that sometimes means
there will be a driver for them in CUPS. Laser printers, that is. The
situation is more difficult with inkjet printers. Fortunately for
inkjets, if you don't mind paying for a non-free driver, there's the
excellent TurboPrint http://www.turboprint.de/  that supports many
inkjets very nicely, including old and new ones that are not
well-supported in CUPS. I use it happily for an old inkjet I have that
will handle oversized envelopes.

But lasers continue to be frustrating. Several years back I found what
I thought would be the perfect laser printer (a Lexmark Optra K 1220)
because it included a network card and support for Mac, Windows and
linux printing. It's true that it has been completely compatible with
absolutely everything I have connected to it. Unfortunately I cannot
recommend the printer because that particular model has not been very
durable, flexible or inexpensive compared to others. And since nobody
else bought it, its parts and supplies cost me more every year.

Surely more manufacturers and vendors will start advertising linux
compatibility... as this thread points out it will be a real draw in
some circles. A few vendors such as newegg.com already include linux
in their keywords, and their customer reviews often include comments
about compatibility. So there's hope!