[conspire] Bad hardware categories (wasL: July 13th CABAL meeting cancelled)

[Ross Bernheim]

Rick,

Two things I look for in a printer, true post script and an ethernet port. While the 
print engine can be the same as in some of the less expensive models, the problems
with the electronics being cheap and unworkable go away. Also when the next upgrade
to the operating system comes along, it will still work with any OS via postscript unlike printers
that require a "driver" to work with an OS and don't get a new driver when the new OS comes out
since the printer maker wants to sell new printers and doesn't make money supporting the older
printers on the new OS version.

Also a good sign that someone put some effort into the mechanicals is the availability of duplex printing
as a standard feature on the model.

I have an inexpensive Samsung laser printer at home that works well and has the features. At work I had an 
old NEC 870 for years that had the driver problem so was limited to an early HP emulation and all the good 
features wouldn't work when Adobe print gears went away. I replaced it when it died with a Brother laser printer
since the Samsungs were not available at the time. I know that the cartridge for the Brother will be expensive, but
it is a very quick solid networked postscript printer with duplex printing. And it was relatively inexpensive since it 
was an open box unit with some cosmetic damage on the side.


Ross


On Jun 28, 2013, at 1:34 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:

> Quoting Don Marti (dmarti at zgp.org):
> 
>> Our family has an HP LaserJet 3055, which is, as
>> far as I can tell, a solid low-end b+w laser printer
>> with a decent scanner/copier and fax device on it.
> 
> Glad to hear it.  You know, when the whole OfficeJet product line showed
> up, I was horribly disappointed by the choice of uniformly terrible 
> components, e.g., winmodem chips, really bad printer.  It's good to hear
> that someone finally remembered that the concept doesn't _need_ to be
> implemented using a collection of cheap rubbish parts.
> 
>> There's an Ethernet connection for network printing,
>> and it's a real PostScript printer.
> 
> I was thinking earlier that existence of an ethernet port on a printer, 
> or even an option for one, is a very strong indication that it's a
> serious device and also not any sort of winprinter.
> 
> 
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