Asking a Linux user to recommend a printer

If any representative from Brother is reading this, hear me.

DON'T ENSHITTIFY! You see this? You can own the market if you just LEAVE IT ALONE.

I use a canon… so yeah… better get a brother

I've used tons of dot matrix, inkjets and lasers since the 80s. I've used them in MSDOS, ProDOS, Linux, BSD, Windows, MacOS, OSX, and BeOS. I don't know how many I've owned or how many different OS versions but I know I've had exactly 1 printer that wasn't constantly a problem and its a Brother laser printer.

can you recommend a good printer ?

Get a brother laser. 👨

can you tell me how to kill a High Ganzonian ?

Get a laser, brother. 👽

A "printer"? Oh right, those things we used to spray ink on dead trees back in the 20th century.

I would take any laser printer with a scanner/copier that doesn't have a subscription model that has Linux drivers for all features .

Brother is the only one I've found to check all the boxes

Interestingly a Lemmy user in another thread has a very negative view of Brother because he only uses Brother cutting machines (for craft projects) and it's filled with DRM and HP style lock in.

Brother has already started to enshitify, Kyocera is an alternative company that does simple laser printers, with easy and cheap to source generic toners

Just don't update the printer's firmware! Mine's being going great for years now, but I'm scared that I might accidentally update it and the toner will be labeled unauthorised

Brother gets recommended a lot by virtue of being the least shitty option in the hellish wasteland of consumer/office printers. They aren't perfect, but Brother printers have been the only option in the entire office to reliably print from a Linux computer over the network. Honestly, any day I don't have to interact with a printer is a good day.

In fairness you should do this on Windows as well.

95% of home printing needs can be handled by a mono laser. If you need a photo, usually cheaper to print it online or at a supermarket. Only for larger prints might it be cheaper to do it at home, and you'd better be sure to use it often because most inkjets clog like a motherfucker when not in use.

Greatest article ever: https://www.theverge.com/23642073/best-printer-2023-brother-laser-wi-fi-its-fine

I do love my Brother:

And miss the ~2020 pricing! (But it should last a long time)

R.I.P. to my real brother though. Forever 29 because heroin.

As of this post, still happily using the initial starter toner ✅

My father had a Brother laser printer. It outlived him. (...Anyway. Have you ever had to do Windows tech support for family? Not always nice. Ever had to do Windows printer tech support? Hoo boy. Ever had to do Windows printer tech support when the printer is hooked through a Centronics-to-USB adapter? Uggh. ...though I was kind of surprised that Windows 10 still had built in drivers for the damn thing.)

Me, I bought a Canon laser which technically has Linux drivers but damn me if I ever got it to print more than the CUPS test page. ...actually I'd rather not talk about CUPS. I have too many bad memories about it. (You can't escape the Printer Madness just by using Linux, oh no.)

I'm a big proponent of buying government surplus office printers. I have this huge print center collater thing that came with more toner than I'll ever use in my life. $55

Brother laser printers are good for everyone, not just Linux users.

Helped my gfs mom troubleshoot her HP printer (I know, ew. She bought it before we met) and finally figured out from the stupid app that it was out of one color.

The app doesnt indicate this in words though, Oh no. Just a stupid infographic that doesnt say ANYTHING. Just shows a nondescript bar at the top.

Only reason I downloaded it was i thought it would be a bit more user friendly.

Long story short I recommended a brother laser printer because the last time I replaced a cartridge in it was a couple years back and that was after printing things for god knows how long. And mine is old af.

Not just a Linux user, anyone that needs a printer/copier.

The only reason I ever got rid of my original brother laser printer is because computers stopped coming with parallel ports, and the adapters I tried all sucked.

2nd Brother laser printer is still going strong after 15yrs.

Recently bought a Brother laser printer. We use Linux, macOS, Windows 11, Android and iOS in the house and it just works.

If you are a casual printer user, just use the local print shop. It's cheaper that way.

I'm not even a linux user. Just here to learn. Windows is my daily driver for work and play...

Still all my printers are brother lasers.

My oldest is around 10 years old still running on the same toner... Picked out of the trash from an office move even.

Laser printers are great, althought I've got me a Pantum because I don't anticipate printing more than one page a month.

Ironically, the last time i needed a Windows PC was to set up my Brother laser printer. You needed to do it with some utility that was only available for Windows.

Brother Laser

I had the same dilemma.

What worked for me was to buy an old, refurbished, commercial HP laser printer, without the subscription "features". I paid $75 and have saved that much in ink costs, just this year.

This has nothing to do with Linux. Do you want your printer to work? Are you buying a printer because you need to print things? It's simple.

Mines just been sitting in my closet hooked up for like 10 years now, she works whenever I need her.

I inherited a Brother laser printer from a lab I was once in. Apparently the toner only says it's almost out via an infrared sensor. I read you can tape over the part on the toner cartridge and it will keep printing until it actually runs out.

I've printed so many more things after I did that, it's actually still going now.

I got a Brother Laser Printer from goodwill for dirt cheap that has run great for a long time, havent even put new toner in it yet.

I been through about 10 TN-450 cartridges in my Brother printer and can count on one hand how many jams I've had. And I'm pretty sure they were all because my kid would take paper out and leave a page sitting crooked in the tray.

Recently had to replace the drum.

My Brother printer was literally a barn find, it's still working too.

tbh i like my canon mf3010, no useless crap, no wifi, it just prints and scans, there's no drm and cartridges last for a long time

Been using an old HP Laser printer for like forever and it still works pretty well. Havent had a single problem with it

Looked down at my printer and realized it was a Brother. Didn't have to do anything special, it just worked.

made me realize I have had my brother printer for about 10 years now.

Mine just broke and I was so upset :(

Brother kinda let me down recently, how can I trust any printer brands?

As other have said, brother and canon are probably your best bet. Nothing fancy is really needed, but just print.

lol so true, however I have had a Samsung color laser wifi printer for 10+ years, worked flawlessly in linux. It was years before they got bought by HP

I finally convinced my wife to get a brother laser printer after she went through like 5 HP printers. We have had the thing for almost 10 years and just had to change the toner. I can print from every computer, tablet, and phone in the house with no issues.

I use an Epson EcoTank, and I love it. I can print photos (and have).

I don't know, my Brother printed definitely has DRM/lock-in toner cartridges. And if only one of them gets too low the whole thing stops working. Still can't get double sided to work reliably

So I call bs on their fandom

We bought an HP laser printer a few years ago.. it drives me crazy in that when it goes to sleep mode, it never recovers, meaning you have to power cycle it to get it to respond again. Once it's power cycled, it's .. fine, although I curse it anyway since it's 2024 and how can they still make printers that still do this shit.

Anyway.

In Windows, on my wife's and kids' Windows PCs, it works most of the time but was a huge pain to set up with the stupid apps.

On Android, it works most of the time after setting up stupid apps.

On my Linux desktops, it worked perfectly out of the box on both of them. I couldn't believe it. One desktop is Manjaro and the other is Mint

I actually have a brother inkjet printer which works reasonably well under Linux. Inkjet printers in general are troublesome, so there's a cap on how well they can work under any operating system.

I could never figure out though how to receive faxes and the return receipts for sending them directly on the PC. There just seems to be a lack of modern, user friendly apps for this. I'm certain it's possible but the technical expertise is just beyond me.

And yes, I still use fax when communicating with government agencies. My country is a backwater when it comes to digitalization and faxes provide legal certainty just like registered mail. But unlike registered mail they cost next to nill.

I loved my old HP laser printer. It was 5+ years old when I got it and it lasted another 10. Had a HUGE toner cartridge that was relatively cheap if you got the knockoffs.

I currently have a Ricoh multifunction SP C261SFNw. It's not bad. Black toner cartridge doesn't have anywhere near the amount of pages I'd like but sure beats the cost of ink!

dot matrix printer or nothing at all

Brother printers have been a recommendation under Windows users for a long time too already. Not that they're perfect either but pretty much everyone's fed up with the bullshit of the likes of HP.

Against the original joke, I'd recommend a samsung one, but their printer division has been bought by HP so…

It's funny but i did find a brother laser printer in trash. It was working fine so i sold it since i already had a newer model.

Weirdly I think I have one of the last half-decent HP all-in-one printers from about a decade and a half ago

It takes third party ink and still more or less works as it did when I got it.

I'll probably get a brother the day it finally dies though

That's not entirely true. I've been a Mac user since 1989 and I also recommend Brother laser printers

This post is a reminder that I might have to take another look at used printers for sale, get something that won't suck whenever I need to print RPG character sheets and other stuff for tabletop gaming

I inherited an Canon Pixma MG3600 from a friend who got a new printer of her own, and it's been impressively stable for years now.

A really solid printing experience on Linux; I'd say "plug and play" but I've got it set up for wireless printing and it worked immediately without plugging in!

I've not tried the scanner on Linux but it worked on Mac out of the box without proprietary drivers so I can imagine the same for Linux.

I have an Epson inkjet that I'm not going to throw away yet. It's 6 years old though, not sure if they still make it.

I got a small xerox laser. It's fantastic. Works on everything I'm the house, including phones, tablets, windows and Linux. It's a bit more eh feature rich than I was expecting, but after tinkering in the settings I've not had to touch it in years.

Brother printers are great. Probably the only decent printer brand for home usage. My university has free printing, and those are Canon printers. They seem to work fine, so I guess the commercial market is a little different.

Weirdly, my parents have this Samsung M2020W printer, and I gotta say, it's pretty neat. Takes any off-brand toner cartridge. They only need a cartridge every year or so. It's been 3+ years, but no problem so far. That might be an exceptional case, though.

My brother printer didn't have drivers for arch and it took me days, and the community to help me get it up and running.

A brother laser printer a solid pick

Also true for windows!

Brother printers are just that good.

Maybe a regional market quality thing, but mine fucked up it's cartridge pretty soon and has a long procedure of changing them, not plug and print like in older models. Sometimes it happens. Jusging by youtube videos it seems some models are just rare unlucky picks.

I'm kind of fond of my okidata c332dn. It's my daily driver.

I have Brother multifunction printer. However, it's run out of toner, and I don't have the funds right now to purchase new cartridges.

I mean, I'm pretty happy with mine! 10/10 would recommend!

Yep, I like to eco-tank feature…. And the drivers work.

Got a basic brother laser printer from walmart for $100 a few years ago. The toner reset sequence actually works! only problem is the wifi died 6 months ago but it still prints great!

fuck your printer and the horse it rode in on

printers need to die already

I've had a brother laser printer for 8 years now. Recently my wife was asked "can we get a color printer" and I said but we have at least 5+ years of toner left in this thing!

Just get a HP Inkjet bro ^joke!

Probably I'm the only Linux user that can't connect to my office printer over the net I guess... But I can't connect to our HP one either, so there's that

I have a Brother but I think I must have bought a lemon. It prints SO SLOWLY (like it takes long pauses after every page). And it constantly loses connection with our devices. :(

Can confirm, bought a Brother MFP like five years ago with ink refills and I still have one left. Best $90 I ever spent

My black and white Brother laser printer is 16 years old and still printing almost every day.

brother certainly has a good reputation, but i've been using an epson ecotank for a couple years now.

once the 18000 page self-brick counter goes off, i'll try to reset it. if that doesn't work, i'll definetely try getting a brother laser printer. i print B&W most of the time anyways.

I use Manjaro btw. with a HP printer.

YES, it works! (I just don't print)

Why are so many people still printing often enough to justify having a full printer?

Canons are probably the best consumer grade, but you'll save money in the long run by just buying an Ink Tank printer instead. Just make sure you do regular maintenance so it doesn't explode ink out the bottom, used to be a big issue in the 90s.