AMDave
06-14-2005, 10:38 AM
Through my recent dabblings with Linux I have found support for the latest and greatest printer offerings to be a bit thin on the ground. It is hard to find confirmation if a printer will work with existing drivers or if custom drivers are available.
Some search references send you back to the Linux provider to look through the hardware compatibility lists (if they in fact include printers in it or even if there is one). However many of these tend not to delve into printer compatibility too much and you can still be left feeling empty and without ink on page.
One of the resources that I have found highly useful and was referring to again this evening, is LinuxPrinting.org
http://www.linuxprinting.org/
It has an online database of test results and will tell you if the printer model you have or are considering buying work "Perfectly", "Mostly", "Partially" or is a "Complete Paper Weight".
The database consists of both Printer Listings as well as Driver listsings.
At present they say that 1455 of 1607 listed printers work at least reasonably well.
This was great news to see and is now a member of my favourites for reference.
It is still being kept up to date and has references to drivers for some of the new all-in-one printer-scanner-copiers as well.
Don't be surprised if the latest offering is not there yet. I know mine isn't, but I believe that the lads at sourceforge (not associated) are working on that one, so I might expect it to be added to the list in the next few months.
This is a great piece of work by Grant Taylor and Till Kamppeter, and something that should be shared with anyone considering making friends with a Penguin ;)
AMDave
Some search references send you back to the Linux provider to look through the hardware compatibility lists (if they in fact include printers in it or even if there is one). However many of these tend not to delve into printer compatibility too much and you can still be left feeling empty and without ink on page.
One of the resources that I have found highly useful and was referring to again this evening, is LinuxPrinting.org
http://www.linuxprinting.org/
It has an online database of test results and will tell you if the printer model you have or are considering buying work "Perfectly", "Mostly", "Partially" or is a "Complete Paper Weight".
The database consists of both Printer Listings as well as Driver listsings.
At present they say that 1455 of 1607 listed printers work at least reasonably well.
This was great news to see and is now a member of my favourites for reference.
It is still being kept up to date and has references to drivers for some of the new all-in-one printer-scanner-copiers as well.
Don't be surprised if the latest offering is not there yet. I know mine isn't, but I believe that the lads at sourceforge (not associated) are working on that one, so I might expect it to be added to the list in the next few months.
This is a great piece of work by Grant Taylor and Till Kamppeter, and something that should be shared with anyone considering making friends with a Penguin ;)
AMDave