Want to buy a new printer - what (brand?) works best with Ubuntu?

[him610]

I have an older Brother MFC-7360N that works without any issues. I got it on sale for $99 (refurbished, originally over $300) at Staples online store several years ago. As a multi-function device it scans and faxes also; I use the scanner quite often during the tax season. Like SeijiSensei in #10, I assigned a static IP address to mine: it works great from any computer on my network. As an older device, the MFC-7360N does not have wireless connectivity so the Brother Android app does not work with legacy devices - I just tried it.

[equi000]

Just installed my new Brother MFC_L3750CDW.

It worked almost like a charm.

Just pressed the „WPS“ button on my router and after automated WIFI connection of the printer Ubuntu instantly installed the pre-installed driver Printing worked fine, but scanning was somewhat unreliable.

So I installed the debian driver that was available on the Brother support home page. And now I have some additional settings for the print quality and scanning also works perfect. So far I‘m very pleased.

Thanks for your hints. I don‘t think I would have chosen Brother without the suggestions.

Probably I will not print more than 25-50 pages per month, but I was really sick of blocked inkjet printer heads, so I hope this laser printer will suit my application best.

[TheFu]

If compatibility is the primary goal, get a printer that supports 2 things:

1. postscript
2. ipp

Then you are golden regardless of everything else, including the OS.

I'd avoid inkjets. The cost of ink is like gold/platinum. Very expensive.

I have a cheap Samsung PCL laser printer. It has always shown up in the list-o-printers since 14.04 - well, not the exact model, but a model that is close enough to work fully. Thanks to CUPS, sometimes I just use lpr to throw PDF files directly at the printer. That works too, since it knows how to convert .ps and .pdf files for the printer.

[brian_p]

If compatibility is the primary goal, get a printer that supports 2 things:

1. postscript
2. ipp

Then you are golden regardless of everything else, including the OS.

Compatibility with what? Why is PostScript capability a must? Why is it important? Many (most?) modern devices do not support it.

IPP I agree with. But as, I implied in the first post in this thread, all modern printers with network capability support the protocol well.

[SeijiSensei]

I think everything supports Postscript these days except perhaps for HPs. (I haven't owned one in quite a while.) I actually had to switch my Brother into PS mode to print envelopes properly. Works fine in that mode for everything else, too.

[brian_p]

Not quite the situation, but many modern printers, including HPs, do indeed have a PostScript interpreter. However, the default printing system prefers other languages to send jobs to a printer, so it doesn't get used. PostScript as some part of a Gold Standard isn't the case.

[iamjiwjr]

All modern printers are supported by Ubuntu.

https://wiki.debian.org/CUPSDriverlessPrinting

.... except most Brother printers (clunky slow inconsistent functioning at best) and pretty much all Brother scanners.

[brian_p]

.... except most Brother printers (clunky slow inconsistent functioning at best) and pretty much all Brother scanners.

The important word is modern; that is, those devices put on the market in the past five years or so. However, I would alter my statement to include network-capable; USB-only devices may or may not support driverless printing.
So we have: all modern, network-capable printers, including those manufactured by Brother, are supported by Ubuntu.

A Brother scanner in an MFD is also very likely to be supported on Ubuntu via SANE and/or sane-airscan.