[tlug] Printers for linux, was: refurbished Thinkpad X60 with Coreboot & Linux

[Kalin KOZHUHAROV <me.kalin@example.com>]

On Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 9:34 AM, nigel barker <nigel@example.com> wrote:
>
> On 24 Dec 2013 07:15, "Benjamin Tayehanpour" <benjamin@example.com> wrote:
>>
>
>> than I do in Windows. As long as one stays away from the very cheapest
>> garbage around (looking at you, Epson), buying a printer is fairly
>> safe to do without researching
>
> I find Epsons are often in gutenprint.
>
My EP-802A at home seems to work (scary!), I think I messed up with
some proprietary drivers when I got it. I use it once a few months, so
I am always worried that it will stop working after some upgrade.

> What I don't like are those
> proprietary Canon drivers that don't work without hours of reading forums,
> if you are lucky.
> I would say its very risky to pick a printer without checking.
>
A good client of mine switched from FX to Canon recently (the famous
"lease scheme", pay-per-page). Well, I spend a few hours and I could
make the damn thing use half of the finisher capabilities... Then I
decided to see what Windoze does and after some fight, I got some
other capabilities working (different  than the ones under linux, but
still not all). The funniest part is that all the logging I get on
error is "NG" (as opposed to "OK") on the printer panel; cups is happy
and says it send the job fine...

In that respect, having a good budget, I am looking for a linux-usable
network color laser printer/MFD that handles A3 and has the "standard"
finisher options for "stapling", "puncher" and "booklet". I don't care
so much about PPM and even 600dpm is fine. Any model, available in
Japan, that you are happy with?
A long time ago "PostScript-enabled" was a must for linux, but I hear
these days that this usually is a software (requiring Windoze), not a
"add-on card" it used to be... is it worth it?

Cheers,
Kalin.