Re: [PLUG] Need All-in-One Recommendation

On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 9:53 AM, Keith C. Perry <kperry@daotechnologies.com> wrote:

My wife has the Brother MFC-7860dw and I sometimes print to it. Out of the box Kubuntu doesn't have the driver but I found something close that works (single sided, never tried duplex). I don't use any scanning drivers and just take advantage of the scan to ftp function which was pretty easy to set up through its web interface.

Looks like they have one left at Microcenter but its refurbished.

product/449593/MFC-7860DW_Compact_All-in-One_Laser_Printer_Refurbished

---
KP-

On Oct 25, 2015 5:05 PM, Casey Bralla <MailList@nerdworld.org> wrote:
>
> My Brother all-in-one has just died, and i need to replace it.
>
> I've generally liked Brother equipment; it's inexpensive and __mostly__ works
> with Linux. However, they make you download an rpm or deb file, and I have to
> jump through some hoops to make them work on Gentoo.
>
> I want an all-in-one that is already listed in the foomatic database.
>
> I thought that HP would be safe, but I see very few AIO in the database at
> OpenPrinting.org.
>
>
> This is for home use, so I gotta stay under about $400.
>
>
> Anybody have a recommendation?
>
>
>
> --
> Casey Bralla

My issue with brother is that the only drivers they support are for LPR. The CUPS support is provided via a wrapper. All the support is via binary packages, and the packages are typically 32-bit only. The packages obviously aren't available in most distros, since they are closed-source. I've been down the Brother route twice now (once a few months ago), and would have to suggest you steer clear from a driver perspective. The hardware was never bad, but never great, either.

HP, on the other hand, has source available and pretty much "just works". I've never had a problem with the hardware in the Officejet family, although the consumer lines have always seemed to have problems with the print heads clogging if you aren't using the printer frequently.

Just my $0.02,

--Matt