Suggestions for multi-function printer

[lagagnon]

A client of mine wants to buy a multi-function printer to use with VL5.8. I am suggesting HP due to their good drive support but I would love to hear from anyone who has most of the functions of one of these machines with VL.

[JohnB316]

Larry,

I don't have an HP multifunction, but I do agree with the recommendation, since most of the functions can be supported via the hplip driver project at http://hplip.sourceforget.net/. The list of supported color inkject all-in-one devices is here. Epson devices may also work with Linux, but given how well-supported the hplip project is, I think HP is the better way to go.

HTH,
John

[cintyram]

i bought a HP PhotosmartC4150 two days ago.
so far i can confirm that printing 4X6 in. photos works as expected. but only with picasa.
gqview and gimp do not print properly and seem to not use CUPS but a different list of printers shows up.

so i had to include picasa into my workflow for printing.
i am yet to test scan,copy and normal printing functions. [ and cd labels also ]

but im surprised that different programs use the printer differently. i always assumed that setting up the printer in CUPS would do it for all apps.

cheers
ram

[thegeekster]

I had an HP all-in-one printer, which was okay, but I needed something better for printing cd/dvd labels and such........So I got a couple of Epson printers (Stylus Photo printers) and like it much better.........Gutenprint drivers work flawlessly with the Epsons, and their Stylus Photo line uses individual cartridges for each color so all you need to do is just buy the color you need instead of having to replace the whole cartridge because of one color being out.............Plus the ones I have are a six cartridge setup, five colors and black, and can print hundreds of pages before having to replace a cartridge - many, many more pages than the HP I had.......

---thegeekster

BTW: I gave the HP to my son, which is more than adequate for his needs........

[GrannyGeek]

While it may be no big deal to get the printer part of an MFP working in Linux, the scanner part is another question.

I have a very cheap Lexmark X1270, which was essentially free and works with Windows XP on my Compaq Sempron desktop computer. I didn't expect much from Linux. To my surprise, I found that the inkjet printer part works quite well through the usual kludgey z600cups driver installation routine. The scanner is a lost cause, however.

There is a Lexmark MFP scanner driver for Linux available on the Web but it is not for this model and it doesn't work with it. It's frustrating because SANE sees the scanner and identifies it properly, but scanning doesn't work unless something has changed since I gave this a pretty intense try a few months ago.

The copy function doesn't work, either, because although you can copy just by pressing a button on the device, copying depends on having a functioning scanner and also the Lexmark software for the MFP, which is Windows only.

I have an old Microtek SCSI scanner attached to another computer and that scanner is very well supported in Linux. So it's not at all crucial for me that the Lexmark scanner works in Linux. It would be nice, though, because if I want a quick and dirty scan of something, I either have to turn on the other computer (which is usually off) or reboot into XP, do my scan and save it on a drive I mount in Linux, and boot back into Linux. With VL 5.8 Standard booting in about 25 seconds, this rebooting stuff is not particularly taxing, but nevertheless, being able to use the scanner in Linux would be nice.

So assuming the client is interested in an MFP because the client wants a scanner as well as a printer, I'd advise checking out whatever you're considering to make sure it works well in Linux. There is a table at
http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html#SCANNERS
but I'm not sure how up-to-date it is.
--GrannyGeek

[muskrat]

I have a Print/Scan/Copy HP which works great with Linux. It Scans and Prints fine. The Copies are real slow so we don't use it for much but scanning.

I also have a Pixima Cannon which is a lot higher end machine, but as yet haven't got it to working at all with linux. I haven't given up yet. There is a web site which has a driver they say will work but it's not open source and not free. So I haven't tried it.

Linux printing says it should work, but so far it hasn't

[GoingDown]

I have an HP2575 Photosmart multifuntion which all works great (printing, scanning, etc.) with VL.  Just needed to install HPLIP from the VL repository and away you go......