Re: a printer for Linux
Glenn Becker <glenn@icarus.usanetworks.com> writes:
> Hi,
>
> I have lived w/o a printer both at home and at work for some time now. If
> I need anything printed I've done so from a Mac or Windows PC. Probably
> sheer laziness.
>
> Now, however, I want to do a bit of self-publishing (poetry), and I'm
> losing the printer tied to the Mac at home, so I will soon need to explore
> printing from my Debian box.
>
> As you can tell, I'm utterly clueless - what kind of a printer should I
> get? I'll be printing mainly formatted text documents (whether formatted
> in something like Abiword or something else, I haven't decided).
>
> Will any PC-compatible printer do? What are the considerations, here?
I got a Epson 860 and ran printtool to set it up. I use it for printing text from doc pages
and the web . I find using a2ps (with w3m for html) from the cmd line gives me the most
control over editing print output for things like borders, columns, font size, etc.
Since this is only for home use, i could not justify the expense of a laser. Here's my
expense break-down: the Epson 860 cost $79 after rebate. I buy InkTec black ink cartridges
for $6.95 each. Xerox premium paper (87 bright, 20#) 1000 sheets @$7.99.
I've compared my print output to laser output and i'd say its about 5-10% less
sharp, if you examine it very closely. Based on the above costs and about 400-500 pages
per black ink cartridge, it costs about 2 cents per page to print with the Epson. The print
does not smudge on this quality paper and is very readable even at font size=9, which is
usually the smallest i use.
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