Re: Looking for ratings of all-in-one printers for Linux (Ubuntu in particular)
On 10.07.18 12:53, David Wright wrote:
> On Mon 09 Jul 2018 at 19:05:52 (-0400), Dan Ritter wrote:
> > On Mon, Jul 09, 2018 at 06:53:44PM -0400, Michael Stone wrote:
> > > On Mon, Jul 09, 2018 at 06:39:29PM -0400, Dan Ritter wrote:
> > > > You're both missing the main point, which is that a Brother
> > > > printer with BRscript/3 is essentially a Postscript printer, and
> > > > you can treat it as one. No drivers needed.
>
> I'm not really interested in a PostScript printer per se, but in a
> printer that handles PDFs natively. Is this the same thing?
So long as CUPS can translate for the printer what the app (even as
simple as lpr) hands over, then the only cost is a print delay if the
postscript is computation-intensive - but that has to be done either in
the printer or on the host anyway, and the host is probably faster.
I'm using a decade-old HP Laserjet 3050 all-in-one, and the hplip
drivers in CUPS sufficed during a recent software update.
> > > So you can use it as an all-in-one postscript printer/scanner?
> >
> > You can use it as a printer. As far as I know there is no such
> > thing as a "postscript scanner".
>
> What I would understand by the expression "postscript scanner" is
> something that scans a document and yields a PDF file. I think
> a lot of scanners (most?) will also scan to a JPEG file.
When arcing up my Epson Perfection V350 flatbed scanner in xsane or the
other image scanner, I tend to save as jpg. ISTRC that it's a smaller
file.
_But_ I wouldn't buy an all-in-one again. The scanner in that is useless
for books, and even magazines can be too valued to allow ripping out
pages. Only the flat-bed scanner has seen any use in the last half
decade. OK, the all-in-one has an integrated fax - but I've never used
it, and doubtless now never will.
> > The Brother all-in-ones tend to have "scan-to-network" abilities,
> > though, and that doesn't require a driver -- just an internal
> > FTP or SAMBA server to receive the files. My workplace has a
> > bunch of these. Walk up, select Scan, select Network, and put
> > your document(s) in. You get PDFs or TIFFs in your filesystem.
>
> That's the sort of thing, but I'm used to it writing the files
> onto a USB stick (and prefer that).
Both the Laserjet 3050 and Epson V350 are USB, but no sticks needed.
ISTM that quite a range of printers and scanners work with linux, and
the only thing I'd like to add is an A3 printer, but can't justify the
expense while I can drop into the local library with a usb stick and print
the very occasional large format page for negligible cost.
Erik
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