[K12OSN] Printer recommendations?

Sun Feb 1 19:10:12 UTC 2009

Joseph Bishay wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I hope everyone is well.
>
> As a result of extensive help in another thread, I may be forced to
> get a new printer for our small network.  We have about 15 or so
> computers on our LTSP server and I'm looking for a printer that:
>
> 1) is black and white laser
> 2) has a paper capacity of at least 250 sheets
> 3) can be plugged into a thin client and works FOR SURE or is a
> networked printer and works FOR SURE with LTSP
> 4) Can handle about a thousand pages a month.
> 5) Not very expensive since everything we buy for the Church is on a budget
>
> Brand-wise I am pretty agnostic, so what have you found works?  I am
> in Toronto, Canada if that makes a difference.
>
> Thank you.
> Joseph
>   

Yes, you have a plethora of choices.  These days I always recommend HP 
printers to anyone using GNU/Linux.  That's because they generally work 
so damned well...IF you ensure to check the HPLIP page before you 
purchase!  This is very important!  All of these are guaranteed to work 
with K12LTSP 5EL (CentOS 5).

Here's the HPLIP supported devices page.  Note that you might have to 
uninstall the stock HPLIP and download/install the latest HPLIP, but 
that's actually quite an easy process.  I've done it on my Dad's and my 
own CentOS 5 machines.

  http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/supported_devices/laserjet.html

Now, which printer to choose?

I'd recommend the LaserJet P2035N for your purposes.  It meets your 
above specifications and is $299 MSRP, so you can probably find it on 
sale.  Another good one would be the P2055DN, which has a little more 
oomph, can handle PostScript, and has the duplex tray.  That one's $399 
MSRP.  Note that these are USA prices, and yes, both are networked.

If neither of these are to your liking, then I'd make sure that anything 
you choose speaks PCL5 (or later) and/or PostScript as a print 
language.  With either one of these print languages, you're golden.  
Note that PostScript printers do cost a bit more.

--TP
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