Recommend me a laser printer for Ubuntu 9.10

I'm running 2 desktops in the office with Ubuntu 9.10 and an HP Laserjet 1200. One connects to the printer with parallel port cable, the other connects via USB. The Laserjet has given up the ghost, and I'd like to get a new basic cheap current laser printer that is perfectly compatible with these 2 desktops. Support for the OS is of course expired, and I'd like to connect a printer that will work right out of the box and not give me any driver headaches. The desktops work just fine, have 512 MB RAM, are at least 7 years old, and are connected to the Internet via a router. I am not inclined to upgrade to a more recent Ubuntu version, what with the serious hardware limitation of these desktops. Also, how to connect the new printer to 2 desktops? All printers I see are single-USB port nowadays. Thanks for any help, guys.

I use three Ubuntu 13.04 systems with a Brother and an Epson printer shared between them and several other computers. I do it over a LAN, using the extra sockets on the back of my Internet router.

You should be able to access a list of compatible printers using the CUPS server. Open your web browser and type "http://localhost:631/admin" into the address bar to access the server web page.

Note that most printer supplier will provide ppd files for you to add their printers to the database.

Brian.

Thanks. I assume your printers are network printers, with LAN sockets.

I have seen an office colleague set up where he can print from his laptop connected by wifi to the network, to the printer that's connected by ordinary USB to a desktop on the LAN. That system runs Windows7. How can I do it with our setup described above (Ubuntu 9.10) with the 2 desktops connected to the router? That way, I can make do with an ordinary printer and not have to get a network printer.

My Epson printer has a LAN socket but my Brother printer only has USB or parallel socket so I use a small Netgear LAN to parallel converter. It plugs into the standard parallel port and converts it to a LAN port. Perhaps that solution would work for you too. I can print from my laptop or mobile phone using this configuration.

Brian.

printers with good drivers for linux, in general: HP, Samsung, EPSON

printers with average support for linux (only some models): Kyocera, KonicaMinolta, Xerox.

printers with bad linux support: Canon, Lexmark.

Most printers which have a LAN port will work under linux, except some KonicaMinolta and Canon ones.

If you connect you printer through USB, go with HP or Samsung, the later seems a bit faster in patching any bugs in the drivers.

HP, SAMSUNG and EPSON also support their scanner product under linux, multifunctional printers included.

Also very old parallel port printers do work (make should not matter), there were language standards back then, which disappeared in USB world.

PS: to access any printer connected to a linux computer, from a windows computer, you need to setup samba !

berniedd said:

Thanks. I assume your printers are network printers, with LAN sockets.

I have seen an office colleague set up where he can print from his laptop connected by wifi to the network, to the printer that's connected by ordinary USB to a desktop on the LAN. That system runs Windows7. How can I do it with our setup described above (Ubuntu 9.10) with the 2 desktops connected to the router? That way, I can make do with an ordinary printer and not have to get a network printer.

Click to expand...

Hi!
Here is list of printers supported on Linux
Open printing
Network Printing With Ubuntu
Network Printing

berniedd said:

I am not inclined to upgrade to a more recent Ubuntu version, what with the serious hardware limitation of these desktops.

Click to expand...

I running Ubuntu on very old desktops and I can advise to upgrade to 10.04 Lts. Hardware requirements are close to 9.10. You can try the liveCD, but it will require 256MiB of RAM. If RAM is less you can install Ubuntu from the Alternate install CD/