An Ubuntu Friendly Printer Recommendation

[Liam Proven]

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 12:45 PM,  <cputtick at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 11, 2010 12:22pm, sounder-request at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
>> Send sounder mailing list submissions to
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:38:51 +0000
>> From: Liam Proven lproven at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: An Ubuntu Friendly Printer Recommendation
>> To: sounder at lists.ubuntu.com
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 3:59 PM, Chris Puttick cputtick at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
> <snip>
>
>> > Canon also provide open source drivers for their own printer language
>>
>> > (UFRII); most of the rest of the laser printer market support PCL or
>>
>> > PS both of which will just work. It is line printers (i.e. inkjets)
>>
>> > that are more of a challenge, I recommend not using them unless you
>>
>> > need to do HQ photo printing; at that point I believe Epson have a
>>
>> > seriously good driver available for Linux.
>>
>> That's all very well, but it is not always a free choice.
>>
>> #1 As a free (as well as Free/FOSS) OS, one of the core "markets" for
>> Ubuntu (& Linux in general) is people who cannot afford commercial
>> software. Inkjets are still quite a lot cheaper to buy than lasers.
>>
> But far more expensive to run. Still, I did provide a suggestion for a brand
> of printer with excellent driver support.
>
>> #2 Often people don't have a free choice of hardware: it's a case of
>> getting working what they already own, not choosing something new.
>
> Sure. But the older the model, the greater the likelihood it will just work
> with Linux.
>
>> #3 Also bending the value equation is that the bare inkjet is almost
>> extinct now: at the low end of the market (under ?50-?100, say),
>> almost all printers are "multifunction" or "all-in-one" devices. I.e.,
>> they're also a scanner, a photocopier & possibly even a fax machine.
>>
>> When the choice is an all-in-one versus a separate laser plus a
>> scanner, with no integration, twice the space, 2 power leads, 2 data
>> cables, etc., then trying to persuade people that they should spend
>> 2-3x as much, or more, on separate devices  becomes a *very* hard
>> sell.
>
> James Murdoch or Steve Jobs could do it, I'm sure. :)
>
> But if they want an MFP, then let them have an MFP:
>
> Epson GPL drivers, source and distribution-specific install packages
> supporting base inkjets (like the S20/21) as well as their MFPs can be found
> here:
>
> http://avasys.jp/eng/linux_driver/
>
> That's as good as it gets for any operating system, isn't it?

Not really, no.

I evaluated a number of Epson units, too.

In the run-up to Yule last year, the basic model available changed 3
times - from the SX105 to 110 to 115, IIRC. They supply different
drivers for each model of printer - you have to have the right one, or
the printer won't be detected or installed. You can coax downlevel
models into printing but not the other way. Each driver was a separate
download from a Japanese 3rd party website with only partial English
translation.

The install routine was a bit buggy too & required me to go in with
Sudo and create a new folder inside the CUPS hierarchy without which
the installer could not complete.

 FWIW, I never got any of them to scan. That's a whole separate
download and install anyway.

Every time you unplug and reconnect the printer, it creates a new
permanent instance. You can end up with dozens. It doesn't matter if
you use the same USB port.

So no, this is very much *not* the most anyone can do.

I want to see 1 driver for a manufacturer's whole range, that installs
with a friendly GUI that works on any X system and falls back cleanly
to text mode if X is not available, that runs on any distro, installs
its own dependencies if needed on all the major RPM & DEB based
distros, and can be run from an ordinary nonprivileged user account
without modification, asking just for a superuser password when
required. It should work on both 32-bit and 64-bit distros and there
should be source available for non-x86 users. This single driver
should also enable scanner support, with apps etc, too.

The installer should create user icons, happily run with or without
the printer connected, and should not duplicate printers if used on
different ports, when docked or undocked etc. It should cope with
on-the-fly connection, disconnection, reconnection, multiple connected
printers & play nicely if other vendors' drivers are installed. It
should use the standard built-in driver system, not add its own.

Sure, it's a lot to ask, but this is what is needed for parity with
the commercial OSs.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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