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Re: photo-quality printer recommendation

bob parker wrote:

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 11:42, Derrick 'dman' Hudson wrote:


My mom would like to get my dad a photo-quality printer for Christmas.
Thus she has asked me to look around and give her some ideas as to
what is good.  I haven't followed current printer technology in many
years, so I really don't know what is out there and what is good and
what isn't.  Any recommendations?  What currently-available printers
do people have that either work well (photo-quality, as-advertised) or
don't work?  BTW, my dad still uses Win98 so Debian compatibility
isn't essential, but it is preferred, especially since I abhor
so-called "win-printers".



Hi Derrick,
I can't speak highly enough of HP. Their Linux drivers are genuine open source, and they state they are committed to supporting Linux for all of their models of printers. They even retrofit their Linux drivers to their printers from years back. (Contrast that with Canon binaries for Wonders). 

My family are getting by with 3 x HP3325 (colour but not photo quality),
2 x HP7150, and 1 x HP 5550, the last 2 are photo quality. They are running on both Linux (Debian/Redhat/Fedora) and Windows XP both Home and Pro. 



Damn. I thought my family was topping it with my one Canon BJC-2110! ;-)

Hugo.
Later models of HP are able to print A4 borderless, the cheaper versions being USB only, dearer models are for USB and parport.
Economical printing requires that you get after market paper. Here in dotAU we can have Resolution 230 gsm gloss at AUD$0.80 / sheet by the 100 and that is as good as anything including HP brand paper.
It also pays to refill your cartridges if you find a supply of compatable ink. It is readily available here in Oz so I'd reckon it's everywhere.
On a good gloss paper the printed photos are touch dry off the printer and water resistant within 24 hours.
There are rpms of the drivers but for my Debian box I downloaded the latest driver source, compiled and installed it. Then configured it all using CUPS. It was an absolute doddle. I can print out of KDE, Moz, OpenOffice, and just lp or lpr a printable file including ps and pdfs without problem. This last bit is specific to my HP 3325 BTW. 

Cheers
Bob
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