On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 4:55 PM, Robert Heller <heller@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > At Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:50:32 -0400 CentOS mailing list <centos@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> >> Sending my son back to college with a dual-boot laptop with Win 7 and >> CentOS 5.5. He uses Win7 to manage his iPod and SW that sometimes >> issued by a professor for a specific course...otherwise he uses CentOS >> for everything else. That setup worked well last year, except for >> printing. He has a low-end Cannon printer that is not supported in the >> Linux realm. >> >> Most of his coursework was uploaded to "Blackboard" and rarely did he >> have to print anything. On the rare occasion when he had to print a >> paper/briefing, his work-around was to build the paper/briefing in OO, >> save in Office 2003 format on a USB drive, boot to Win7, load in MS >> Office and print to the Cannon printer. I'm looking to clean that mess >> up for him before sending him back to school. >> >> Looking to buy an inexpensive printer he can use on both sides of this >> laptop. Any suggestions? > > Almost any *new* *inket* printer is going to be a hassle to get working > under CentOS. HPs are actually the worst -- HP has some anal business > of hardwiring in model numbers in the driver (or some such nonsense), > even when a new model uses the same driver protocols as an older model, > so you need a 'new' driver, even when the old driver would otherwise > work. Yes, the driver is open source, but the pre-built binaries use > bleeding edge system libraries and the sources are a bear to build and > install from source (and will of course screw with yum & rpm). > > Now, B&W *PostScript* *Laser* printers are universal. (And don't in fact > need a 'driver' at all under Linux). Over the long haul, Laser printers > are actually *cheaper* to use than even the cheapest Inkjet. Really. > The only downside is Laser printers are somewhat bulker that low-end > inkjets. > > *I'd* suggest getting the $250 Brother model I got, HL-5370DW, I just > plugged it in, configured dhcpd, and spent two minutes with CUPS, and > was printing away (CentOS 5). (This model also has USB and parallel > port interfaces, but you'll need to get a cable.) I also suspect that > the toner cart it comes will will last the whole shool year, maybe even > for the rest of your son's college years. (Unlike the inkjet carts which > will probably need replacing after 2-3 long term papers.) > >> >> Dave M >> >> _______________________________________________ >> CentOS mailing list >> CentOS@xxxxxxxxxx >> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos >> >> > > -- > Robert Heller -- Get the Deepwoods Software FireFox Toolbar! > Deepwoods Software -- Linux Installation and Administration > http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Web Hosting, with CGI and Database > heller@xxxxxxxxxxxx -- Contract Programming: C/C++, Tcl/Tk > > > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS@xxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos > Or, just buy a small flash stick and go to a computer lab at school to print stuff out. That was what I did. Or get a brother laser jet, I have a HL-2040. _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@xxxxxxxxxx http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos