# printer compatibility sparsity. [SOLVED]



## dalpets (Mar 3, 2021)

I have spent many hours attempting to find a compatible printer for my needs, needs that are quite unsophisticated for home use, say up to $250 (Aus).

There are dauntingly long lists online but they tend to be riddled with printers that are no longer available. I find it hard to believe that it is such a tortuous exercise & I sometimes wonder why people like me continue to persist with this & other unix/linux systems. Having said that I realize that I am in an area that is largely populated by professionals who would probably buy high end stuff anyway & in that sense I am an outlier. The other downside is that even if I found compatibility with Linux I'm sure you would agree that compatibility would not necessarily follow for Unix like systems such as FBSD.

Anyhow, I would be appreciative of some recommendations for the acquisition of a Brother or HP printer for my lower end needs, ones with a half decent reputation (mono laser, deskjet etc) & reasonably easy to install in FBSD 12, without me going into a convoluted headspin.

Bottom line, I need to rely on experienced users so that I don't waste my money on a incompatible dud!

Thank You for any help.


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## zirias@ (Mar 3, 2021)

In general, any printer that supports Postscript will (trivially) work. Also, PCL is well supported.
For other printer languages, you might find opensource filters like e.g. print/splix for Samsung's SPL.
You might be out of luck if your printer only supports an exotic/proprietary language.



dalpets said:


> The other downside is that even if I found compatibility with Linux I'm sure you would agree that compatibility would not necessarily follow for Unix like systems such as FBSD.


If you can use a printer with Linux, you can probably use it with FreeBSD as well. An exception would be if the driver (filter) is only available as closed source binary from the manufacturer. If you identified the software you would need, just check on freshports whether a port for FreeBSD already exists.


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## T-Daemon (Mar 3, 2021)

Maybe a wireless printer can be an option to bypass the compatibility issue:








						Does LPD still work on FreeBSD 12.0?
					

I have been having problems getting LPD to work on FreeBSD 12.0 . I must admit it has been some years since I have used LPD specifically for printing but I have spent quite a lot of time trying to get this working on bare metal and virtual machines and I consistently get the same result.  My...




					forums.freebsd.org


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## dalpets (Mar 3, 2021)

Thanks, but this machine would be at home in an office environment and is far too expensive as a home printer.


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## T-Daemon (Mar 3, 2021)

By recomanding a wireless printer I was refering in general, not to that particular brand and model. There are quite a few printers in the price range you put.. I myself have a Samsung SCX-3405FW (monochrome laser). I paid for it something like 250 € 6 or 7 years ago.


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## diizzy (Mar 3, 2021)

You're really looking for the bottom of the barrel at that range but.... (Australia is notoriously expensive when it comes to hardware overall)






						Brother MFC-L2750DW Best Price in Australia | Buy with Shopbot.com.au
					

Shop for Brother MFC-L2750DW deals in Australia. FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases ✓ Lowest Price Guaranteed at $254.23! Compare & Buy online with confidence on Shopbot.com.au



					www.shopbot.com.au
				



Supports PCL6 and Postscript 3, scans to "network" (at least FTP is listed so it's doable) etc


			https://www.brother.eu/-/media/product-downloads/devices/nordics/eu_en/data-sheets/mfc/mfc-l2750dw.pdf
		


Another option








						Lexmark Mono Multifunction Laser Printer MB2236ADWE | Cos...
					

The Lexmark MB2236ADWE is an impressive multifunction laser printer that can perform two-sided printing at a speed of up to 34 pages per minute. It features front-panel USB, Wi-Fi connectivity, a 2.8 inch LCD touch screen and Cloud Connector that allows you to integrate printing and scanning...




					www.costco.com.au
				



https://www.mediaform.com.au/lexmar...a4-wireless-mono-multifunction-laser-printer/ (in stock, slight higher price)

I have no idea about any of the retailers/etailers, ie reliable etc.


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## shepper (Mar 4, 2021)

I would recommend you avoid a MultiFunction Scanner/Printer.   FreeBSD assigns a driver to USB devices on boot and only HPLIP provides drivers that switch from printer to scanner.  I'm not fond of HPLIP, I think its a bloated Python mess but it is the only MFC option.


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## gpw928 (Mar 4, 2021)

I have not had to buy a printer in a long time.  My used HP LaserJet 4050n printers endure, but I do know what I would look for in a new printer.

cups(1) has become ubiquitous for Unix and Linux printing.  I used to run lpr/lpd for many years, but cups(1) got dragged into my systems as a dependency for so many other things I just gave up, and used it.  I did, however, have to install the HP specific package hplip to get a good ppd file for PostScript support on the HP 4000 LaserJet family.  It works extremely well, and I recommend it.  I can't remember the last time I had a problem printing anything (sometimes it's slow, as CPU power is low).

Therefore, it's the  cups(1) (not FreeBSD) compatibility that matters, and cups(1) does hide a multitude of compatibility issues.

To see what printer hardware is current, go to the printer vendors' web sites, or one of the retailers with good faceted searching.  Officeworks (Printers) looks OK.  Get a short-list.

I would settle on the basic physical functional specs like page size, trays, wet ink or toner, colour, duplexing, copying, scanning, faxing, and cloud/mobile phone support (e.g. AirPrint).

Consider the interface that suits you best: usually USB, WiFi, or network cable.

Then do some basic research on cups(1) compatibility for your short-list.  The authority is handy, but never really completely up to date.

HP seem really good at supporting all their printers for cups(1) with hplip.  However, to get a ppd file for their newest models, you may have to download their HPLIP tar package source code which contains (compressed) ppd files (usable by cups(1) ) for all their printers.

There's also plenty of chatter on the Internet regarding cups(1)  for other printer brands.  e.g. I just found this regarding Linux compatible printers.

Narrow it down from there.   Look at the reviews.

Do check the price of consumables.

Come back when you have a few plausible candidates for which you have verified cups(1)  compatibility, price, and availability.


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## Snurg (Mar 4, 2021)

Does it really have to be a new printer?
Why not buy an refurbished printer?

I am using a refurbed Kyocera Postscript color laser printer with Ethernet (personally using only lpd and JetDirect protocols) I bought for Eur 30.
Toner is cheap also. Drum capacity left was about 80k pages, I will never use that up.
Shipping (Eur 35) was more expensive than the printer (weight 28kg).
PPD file is available on the Kyocera site.
The thing is robust, fast and reliable, takes even 160g sheets with no complaints.

When it eventually breaks some day, I definitely will get another refurbed Kyocera.


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## diizzy (Mar 4, 2021)

shepper said:


> I would recommend you avoid a MultiFunction Scanner/Printer.   FreeBSD assigns a driver to USB devices on boot and only HPLIP provides drivers that switch from printer to scanner.  I'm not found of HPLIP, I think its a bloated Python mess but it is the only MFC option.


Works just fine, just the LAN connection.


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## dalpets (Mar 4, 2021)

Zirias said:


> In general, any printer that supports Postscript will (trivially) work. Also, PCL is well supported.
> For other printer languages, you might find opensource filters like e.g. print/splix for Samsung's SPL.
> You might be out of luck if your printer only supports an exotic/proprietary language.
> 
> ...


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## dalpets (Mar 4, 2021)

Thanks, but new postscript printers tend to be higher end with a weightier price tag & most probably way overqualified for my needs.


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## zirias@ (Mar 4, 2021)

Then look out for PCL. Or for a proprietary language that DOES have an opensource driver/filter as a last resort (I gave SPL as an example).


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## dalpets (Mar 4, 2021)

At this point all I've been able to come up with, within my budget, is the Brother HL-L2350DW mono B&W wireless laser printer that is said to work with the Cups, LPD/LPRng Printer Driver in Linux.
What is the probability that this machine would also work with this driver in FreeBSD? (Brother only has an install tool for linux (rpm) & linux (Deb).
Is the wireless aspect problematical for FreeBSD?
If this not a good proposition I will work on Zirias's above PCL suggestion.
Thanks.


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## diizzy (Mar 5, 2021)

dalpets said:


> At this point all I've been able to come up with, within my budget, is the Brother HL-L2350DW mono B&W wireless laser printer that is said to work with the Cups, LPD/LPRng Printer Driver in Linux.
> What is the probability that this machine would also work with this driver in FreeBSD? (Brother only has an install tool for linux (rpm) & linux (Deb).
> Is the wireless aspect problematical for FreeBSD?
> If this not a good proposition I will work on Zirias's above PCL suggestion.
> Thanks.


Use a generic PCL driver, from experience Brother can be a bit picky when it comes to PCL support no idea about support for scanning etc. It probably supports at least ftp over network, wireless is usually very unreliable when it comes to MFPs and/or printers in general which one of the main reasons you don't see it at all on higher end models.


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## shepper (Mar 6, 2021)

I'm running a Brother HL-5450DN as a Network Printer with a static IP.  It has been rock solid for ~5 years.  I picked it up online for $100 but have never seen it at that price since.  It worked well with both PCL6 and BRScript (Postscript emulation).  Some of the cheaper Brother printers are supported by print/brlaser - see Thread 58656


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## dalpets (Mar 6, 2021)

Shepper;
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately, as expected, the HL-6450DN is no longer available


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## mark_j (Mar 6, 2021)

The Brother printer you selected would be fine. Just download the Mac OSX driver as it includes CUPS drivers.





						Downloads | HL-L2350DW | Australia | Brother
					






					support.brother.com
				



So printing will work, but it may get more difficult using the scanner in that you will require SANE support, I believe. That may be as easy as finding something in ports such as graphics/sane-backends and graphics/xsane


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## sko (Mar 6, 2021)

Most brother printers also support HP LaserJet emulation - the LaserJet driver must be amongst the oldest and most stable driver interfaces on the planet. Even old crappy proprietary systems from the 90s support that driver and the brother printers will happily work with them.
We've been deploying brother printers by the dozens (HL-L22xx, 23xx and 32xx) and they have been the easiest to support driver-wise (on any OS). The kyoceras and epsons we used before were a complete nightmare (and the kyoceras died like flies) compared to brother.
The HL-L2350s are our new workhorses after the 2250 disappeared. They can be used either via the LaserJet driver or using the ppd from OSX driver package (plus a filter IIRC. Can check on mondays when I'm back at work if you want). 
With the generic LaserJet driver you only have to adjust the printable area manually once as it defaults to pretty high values (~35mm for each edge), but they work like a charm.


Usable SANE USB scanners are dirt cheap nowadays, so except if you have to photocopy a lot, I'd definately go with a printer and scanner as separate devices. If you have to often scan multiple pages, have a look at document scanners. They are also very affordable now and can directly store to network shares (NFS, SMB, SCP etc...), send via mail or directly to a printer, so you never have to deal with any drivers.


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## shepper (Mar 7, 2021)

> Most brother printers also support HP LaserJet emulation


Are you referring to the ljet4 (PCL5) driver in ghostscript.  The HL-L2350 does not support PCLx.
According to Brother HL-L2350 Specs the print driver is GDI.  This likely will work with the print/brlaser port but it is not specifically listed in the brlaser site.  The HL-L2340 and HL-L2360 are supported by brlaser.

If you can swing the Brother HL-L2370DW, it has PCL6 capability - it would use the ljet4/plxmono driver in print/ghostscript.  The ljet4 is 600dpi while the plxmono supports 1200dpi.  The HL-L2370 is a sure thing while the HL-L2350 is an educated guess.

The HL-L2370DW MSRP is pretty high on Brothers USA site - in the States this model has been on sale for ~$150.


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## dalpets (Mar 7, 2021)

I'm still harping  & I'm still hunting for a printer. I can't believe that printer manufacturers don't make some meager attempt to classify their printers in some way for the benefit of unix & linux communities. Surely that would be a proactive marketing endeavour. Obviously it is not profitable to do so!

I also find it hard to understand that these communities seem to be largely using aged & unavailable printers. Those two factors make it terribly hard for new users to get a handle on available printers in the market place that are compatible with their choice of distribution & to not make expensive mistakes.

The conundrum here is that everyone is holding back, not wanting to be favoring third party hardware, but at the expense of users. Why should that be a problem any more than taking the virtuous lead by representing & supporting the value of free software?

Further, printers also seem to not get much air time by users on distro forums & that makes me wonder if many users use printers with their distros. The other possibility is that most are are able to untangle the maze of technicalities involved & I'm just a dumb arse.  Overall my perception is that this pervasive sparseness may be one significant factor in limiting the growth of the said communities in the market place. Just maybe, if others don't see a need, then the various distro administrators should take a more proactive approach to dissuade newcomers from walking away in frustration. At the moment they probably will never know! 

Maybe at the end of the day there is a cost for free software, that is  when you don't play by the rules of the quid pro quo rules of the corporate world. 
Thanks for hearing me out!


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## zirias@ (Mar 7, 2021)

I never had any problem with any printer because I only ever bought printers with a network interface and a builtin postscript interpreter – those will work with ANY system, all you need is a PPD file. But admittedly, they are not at the lowest end of the price range. What I did in the past was buying a "refurbished" printer instead of a new one to save money.

But then, I also operated some infrastructure for my parents for a long time. I remember when my father just bought some Brother printer without asking me – it had a NIC, but no postscript interpreter. Back then, I had the print server running on Linux with cups and luckily found an opensource driver/filter working with that printer as well.

My now ancient HP LaserJet 5M had a postscript interpreter that died a few years ago. Luckily, it also speaks PCL and cups is still perfectly able to print on it.

So, I can only repeat:
* If your printer supports postscript, you're fine.
* If it supports PCL, you're probably fine as well, as there are perfectly working opensource PCL filters.
* In any other case, search the web, look for specific opensource filters targeting the proprietary language your printer speaks. Chances are you will find something, but you should make sure before buying.


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## tingo (Mar 7, 2021)

Printer manufacturers (for the home market at least) earn a living by selling ink, not printers. The printer market is very mature, which means that all the players (= printer vendors) have a working business plan; no need to change anything, they just need to milk this cow as long as they can. Doing anything new, like caring  for a possible new target group of buyers (= unix & linux community)? Not interesting, doesn't provide any projected extra income.

Navigating in the market when shopping for a new printer is possible (but not easy) - as has been show already in this thread.

Also, it is 2021, how much dead tree printouts do you need? Most of it can probably be printed to file (PDF or postscript or other format at your choice) and carried with you.


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## Snurg (Mar 7, 2021)

dalpets 
You wrote you are from Australia.
I do not know the market situation there. Is no refurbished hardware available?

I bought my Kyocera printer (actually 2, each 30 euros, one stashed away as backup) from a commercial refurbisher.
Yes, they were 3,4 years old, had already ~20k, 30k pages printed. But that is nothing for a business class printer with a drum life of 100k pages.
Print is fast (up to 20 pages/min), duplex, multiple cartridges, 500-1000 pages each, Postscript, Ethernet, supports even LPR.

Personally, I fail to understand why you insist in buying a new low-end printer for much money, instead of taking a highend business-grade printer that has a little bit of use but works perfectly for almost no money.


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## dalpets (Mar 7, 2021)

Zirias;

Thanks for again making pertinent points, as a guide for me in finding a compatible printer.  I will most certainly take your responses on board.


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## dalpets (Mar 7, 2021)

Snurg;
What you say makes a lot of sense. I hadn't hitherto really considered the refurbished area. Thank you for awakening me to that possibility.


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## dalpets (Mar 7, 2021)

tingo said:


> You said;
> Also, it is 2021, how much dead tree printouts do you need? Most of it can probably be printed to file (PDF or postscript or other format at your choice) and carried with you.


I am retired so my needs are not in the way of a business volume, but your above comment is nevertheless a sensible comment on the need for responsible conservation. Thanks.


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## BostonBSD (Mar 7, 2021)

I never liked the idea of installing a printer on Unix/Linux, it always seemed like a large confusing abyss of configuration and compatibility issues.

Then I found hplip on Linux and thought my problems were solved. I spent several years with the HP p1606dn on Debian. Then I migrated to FreeBSD and hplip always complained about plugins, I spent many hours lost. Then one day I found out that this printer also supports PCL6.

Whomp.  No more problems.  Just install a generic pcl6 driver through cups and done, less than 3 minutes of config [the quality really is the same as with the proprietary driver on Windows].*

To make a long story short, always make sure it supports PCL or PostScript before purchasing [they don't always advertise it].  I don't think that professional grade printers are particularly expensive, nearly any printer can be had for less than 100 dollars nowadays [just get one that's two or three years old].

* HP does not like when the consumer uses generic toner/ink.  They don't appear to care about generic drivers.  I found that the firmware intentionally bastardizes generic toner quality with a darker line down the center from top to bottom.

** Given the quality of used computer equipment, it doesn't make any particular sense to purchase new when used office equipment is nearly the same quality and less than half the cost [also better for the environment, etc, sort of like an off-lease mini cooper, it's way cheaper and the same quality].


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## zirias@ (Mar 7, 2021)

tingo said:


> Printer manufacturers (for the home market at least) earn a living by selling ink, not printers. The printer market is very mature, which means that all the players (= printer vendors) have a working business plan; no need to change anything, they just need to milk this cow as long as they can. Doing anything new, like caring for a possible new target group of buyers (= unix & linux community)? Not interesting, doesn't provide any projected extra income.


Ink has some drawbacks anyways. I'd consider it a typical "home" technology. There's a niche (photography) where it excells, but for your typical business use, you always want a laser printer, mainly because it "just works". That said, I think you're perfectly correct with your assessment, at least when looking at the "home" market. There's a reason any "expensive" printer for business use understands postscript, because in these environments, you can't sell anything that needs a "driver" on any terminal device.


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## mark_j (Mar 7, 2021)

Snurg said:


> dalpets
> You wrote you are from Australia.
> I do not know the market situation there. Is no refurbished hardware available?
> 
> ...


There's always ebay.
You make very valid points. Many years ago I bought an old hp2300dn and it worked flawlessly until I no longer needed it. I got it out recently, and after a shake of the toner and a bit of a cleanup it works. So, overall a good investment.


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## mark_j (Mar 7, 2021)

dalpets said:


> I am retired so my needs are not in the way of a business volume, but your above comment is nevertheless a sensible comment on the need for responsible conservation. Thanks.


You do not mention some critical points:
Do you require colour printing?
Do you require duplex printing?
Do you require network printing or want usb printing?
Do you really need a scanner incorporated in the printer?

These all determine your ultimate cost.

BTW, I am not a fan of inkjet anythings.They are designed to capture the user and extort them with high prices and built-in failure. A lot of these are cheaper to throw out and buy again rather than buy the inks for them. It's criminal waste.

Compare this to, say, laser printers. Most you can purchase non-genuine toner for at greatly discounted prices. Add to that they are built to last not to be obsolete once the toner runs out, and I know where my dollars would go.


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## BostonBSD (Mar 8, 2021)

LaserJets are perfect for rough drafts and mundane printing needs, but if you ever thought about printing book signatures for bookbinding [use texlive it's easy] or printing giclee photographs/paintings you would need an inkjet [just think you can decorate your whole house for just the cost of the canvas and it looks like a real painting].

I like my laserjet, but it isn't a whole printing solution.  Inkjets/tankjets are far better quality for specific hobby type activities [btw you can use an inkjet to print a picture on wax paper then transfer it to wood, etc for an old timey wood painted style sign].

* That's right, FreeBSD is for art lovers too!

Print this out and put it over your fireplace. No one would know it didn't cost you anything except the canvas.

Ever want a leather-bound copy of the FreeBSD handbook with marbled end-papers?
Just make one with cotton rag paper, gold leaf, and tooling.


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## ralphbsz (Mar 8, 2021)

The printer situation on free Unixes is theoretically awful, as you discovered: it's really hard to find a printer that you buy new, and where you can be 100% sure that it will be supported. The reason is that (a) vendors are not interested in putting in any effort for officially supporting the *BSDs, since the market is SOO small, and (b) *BSDs don't have much professional software engineering staff, so things like printer compatibility is done by a small number of volunteers, who have only a very limited set of printers.

On the other hand: the real practical situation is fine: any reasonably common printer will work. My suggestion would be: Buy nearly any used HP LaserJet. I've been using a LJ5mp (parallel port, 6ppm, black/white, Postscript) for the last 25 years (bought it in 1995, when job hunting after leaving academic jobs, to print resumes). It had to get repaired once, when our 2-year old decided to climb on it. In the meantime, we have added two more LaserJets, one double-sided fast one (20 ppm), which was needed when we were volunteering (it can print 1000 invitations to a charity ball in an evening, and the next day you stuff them all into envelopes), and a color one (was very useful when our kid was in high school, for big project reports). But the 25-year old one is still doing excellently; I just printed our annual tax forms on it a moment ago.

The best thing is that laser printers have very low operating costs. And if you can find used toner cartridges, they become free to operate. I used to work in a big office building, and lots of people had printers of that generation as personal printers in their office. Whenever someone quit or retired, I used to go dumpster diving, and pull half-full toner cartridges out of the trash.

I've never set up CUPS on FreeBSD (my FreeBSD machine at home is just a server), and on my current install, I don't even have print filters set up to print from it directly. But I used to use CUPS on Linux desktop machines, and had no problem with printers. And any common big-name postscript printer will be supported and work fine.

Disclaimer: I'm biased towards HP printers, because I worked at HP for a few years. Strangely, I never bought an HP printer while an HP employee: My first one was much earlier (it actually printed the resume used to apply for a job at HP), and the the newer ones came much later, when I was working at IBM.


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## Snurg (Mar 8, 2021)

mark_j said:


> BTW, I am not a fan of inkjet anythings.They are designed to capture the user and extort them with high prices and built-in failure. A lot of these are cheaper to throw out and buy again rather than buy the inks for them. It's criminal waste.


Me neither.
My printing demand is not constant. There are regular pauses.
For this reason, I regularly had to throw away almost-full ink cartridges only because the small jets were so thoroughly clogged by dried hard ink matter, that even putting into water overnight and pressure spraying didn't help make them usable again.
Not at all ecologically or economically acceptable.

This problem made me switch to using refurbished laser printers.
I used a few PCL printers, but the hassle (ghostscript etc) is not worth saving the small extra cost of buying a real (e.g. Postscript) printer.

When buying refurbished laser printers, look at the drum usage count and the remaining fill percentage of the toner cartridges.
The less the drum has been used the cleaner is the print when printing color gloss mode, for example.
Also grab extra paper cartridges (here the cost for one is ~10,15 euros) so you do not need to jerk around with different sorts of paper, just choose the feed from the print dialog.

Another point to consider is choosing a printer designed for high throughput. Hidden in the data sheets you can find how much pages monthly is the maximum advisable printing volume. A printer that is designed for, say, 10000 pages/month is way less likely to jam than a home-office-grade printer. With my Laserjets I rarely managed to print >100 pages without jam, this is why I prefer the Kyoceras which do rarely jam even when printing duplex.

Also look at the remaining toner... it's a nice extra when you get thousands pages worth of original toner with the printer.


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## BostonBSD (Mar 8, 2021)

Snurg said:


> I used a few PCL printers, but the hassle (ghostscript etc) is not worth saving the small extra cost of buying a real (e.g. Postscript) printer.


The only problem with that is not all printer manufacturers advertise PCL or PostScript.

Sometimes the only way to find out is to dig through the manual, which makes the search process more tedious.  Perhaps if I limited the search strictly to professional printers I would have better luck.

To use the 1606dn as an example: Amazon.com has it but says nothing about PCL or PostScript.  The only way to find out what it supports is to look in the manual where it says it supports PCL5e.

So if your objective is to find a real PostScript printer how do you start?  The inclination is to find a printer you want, then discover whether it supports PostScript or not by digging in the manual.


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## mark_j (Mar 8, 2021)

Well you'd reckon on most HP printers using PCL, after all they own the technology.

As I stated previously, a good indication of support for postscript is if they provide Mac OSX drivers, because then they're PPD, so it's postscript. Unfortunately, unless it's a non-business printer (marketed to that clientele) then there are less chances it will be usable on FreeBSD. I guess it comes down to a license fee for postscript to Adobe (if their other products are anything to go by they probably charge like a wounded bull for it!)


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## Snurg (Mar 8, 2021)

BostonBSD said:


> The only problem with that is not all printer manufacturers advertise PCL or PostScript. [...]
> 
> So if your objective is to find a real PostScript printer how do you start?


Yes, by limiting the search to professional printers offered as network printers for businesses, departments etc.
Just adding "duplex" as search criterion kicks out almost all non-professional printers from the search results in printer sites.
Of the remaining printers, practically all have Postscript.

Just make sure you don't forget to check the specs.
Specs for professional printers are easy to find, as printer makers want to convince the buyer the printer suits their needs. Consumer grade printers are being sold rather by initial low price (which has costs that don't look nice in spec sheets, so these are not as detailed as with business printers).

If you clearly prefer some manufacturer, you might use its naming scheme. For example, I just searched ebay "Kyocera FS-5", showing me their high-performance business color laser printers being offered.


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## bda65 (Mar 8, 2021)

I've used some Epson ESC/P-R based printer with Linux and BSD. With print/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr. You can find here the models that are compatible with this driver.
My XP-55 work very well with RJ45 and USB on my FreeBSD workstation.


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## tonym (Mar 8, 2021)

A couple of years ago I bought an Epson ET2750 combination. The printing worked fine (via USB or printer on network via WiFi) with CUPS and gutenprint. Over the weekend (after upgrading to 12.4) I tried to get the scanner part working via USB but no success. Then came across https://github.com/alexpevzner/sane-airscan. 

```
git clone https://github.com/alexpevzner/sane-airscan.git
cd sane-airscan
# edit Makefile to change gcc to gcc9 (which I happen to have installed)
gmake
sudo gmake install
```

Edited /usr/local/etc/sane.d/airscan.conf  because out of box it black listed the subnet I use


```
ip    = 192.168.0.0/24 ; blacklist the whole subnet
```

Added airscan to /usr/local/etc/sane.d/dll.conf
and can now scan!

The installation is not quite right for FreeBSD but should be trivial to make into a conforming Port.
If I get some time this week I will try to do this.

I am very happy with the ET-2750 with its EcoTank inks (hardly used any), the duplexing, print quality including photo paper.
The LCD is a bit small but thats really the only negative.


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## sko (Mar 8, 2021)

shepper said:


> Are you referring to the ljet4 (PCL5) driver in ghostscript. The HL-L2350 does not support PCLx.


Sorry, It seems i mixed the 23xx up with the 32xx printers.

I'm back at work today and having a look at my cluttered CUPS config. It seems I never bothered changing the drivers for the 2350 printers as they are all still configured (and working) with the 2250 gutenprint driver.

The MFC-7360Ns are working with the LaserJet PCL4/5 printers, so do the HL-L5100DN and various HL-L3230/70 printers, altough they both also support BR-script. I have some configured with BR-Script drivers, some with LaserJet and one of the 3230 with "Brother HL-L3230CDW CUPS" driver. I suspect that's the one with the ppd from an OSX driver package; can't remember though why I used that driver for that particular printer.
As said - my cups config is pretty much cluttered as it was dragged along for almost 10 years now and if a replacement (successor model) worked with the old driver I usually didn't bother changing it. But because brother printers don't seem to be particularly picky, they work with various drivers.

Nice thing about the brother printers for home use: there are a bunch of cheap, working aftermarket toners available. For typical home use I don't think it matters if the printer lives for 800k pages or only 750k as you'd never reach that numbers anyways. I still have an old HL-2050 at home that still chugs along after over 15 years...

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, but www.openprinting.org is always a good source for drivers and compatibility information. As long as you have a standard ppd driver and/or it only requires a simple perl-based filter, every printer that works on Linux and Mac also works on FreeBSD (all are using CUPS...).


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## dalpets (Mar 8, 2021)

I think I may have stumbled on a refurbished HP monochrome laser Jet printer in the LaserJet pro400 (M401DN) that might suit my needs, given it says that it has connectivity with Unix @  https://www8.hp.com/au/en/pdf/HP_Single_FunctionPrinter_Product_line_up_tcm_184_1233106.pdf
(5th column from the left)
The reason I choose interest in this one, notwithstanding Zirias's above advised preferences for postcript and/or PCL is that I simply can't find resources with that degree of granularity. This is a lower tier machine that doesn't have a monster office footprint & that is definitely my preference. It also has 3rd party toner availability here in OZ & that is a bonus.
How would I follow up the claim that this printer is Unix compatible or might you know of a specific resource for a unix driver? Is there a unix/linux driver built into the machine? I don't know!
Thanks.


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## Snurg (Mar 8, 2021)

dalpets said:


> How would I follow up the claim that this printer is Unix compatible or might you know of a specific resource for a unix driver?


Never had problems with HPs using PCL.
The only (sometimes yucky) thing is setting up the filter (ghostscript); with postscript printers you can just skip this step.

No extra drivers or the like.


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## ralphbsz (Mar 8, 2021)

Just looked it up: The HP M401DN speaks PCL and Postscript. All HP lasers do PCL, and since ~2000 nearly all also do Postscript. At that point, it will be compatible with CUPS, and will not need "drivers", all CUPS needs to do is to convert stuff to PCL or Postscript.

Go for it!


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## shepper (Mar 9, 2021)

ralphbsz said:


> All HP lasers do PCL


Actually, this is not strictly true.  Some of HP's cheaper LaserJets use ZjStream:

http://foo2zjs.rkkda.com/


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## ralphbsz (Mar 9, 2021)

shepper said:


> Actually, this is not strictly true.  Some of HP's cheaper LaserJets use ZjStream:


Wow, color me surprised: A HP LaserJet that doesn't print using PCL. Wouldn't have expected that. I bet there are a few bodies spinning in their grave in Palo Alto, but we knew that.


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## shepper (Mar 9, 2021)

HP used to have great inhouse R&D, now they just try to corner the market and sell ink.
I don't think this was due to HP engineers being out competed.  Rather they were viewed as an expense that cut into Shareholder value and CEO bonuses.  Carly Fiorina, a marketer, thought R&D could be outsourced or bought outright.
HP buys Samsung's printer division


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## gpw928 (Mar 9, 2021)

dalpets said:


> I think I may have stumbled on a refurbished HP monochrome laser Jet printer in the LaserJet pro400 (M401DN) that might suit my needs


The "driver" is not the issue.  The cups(1) compatibility is.  That compatibility is dependent on a ppd file for your specific printer being available for use with cups(1).

HP have a ppd file named hp-laserjet_400_m401-ps.ppd for it.  It's in the HPLIP tar package.

But you don't need that, as its also available in the FreeBSD print/hplip port or package (I think the package first became available on FreeBSD 12):
	
	



```
$ grep m401-ps.ppd /usr/ports/print/hplip/pkg-plist
share/ppd/HP/hp-laserjet_400_m401-ps.ppd.gz
```
To install the M401dn ppd file:
	
	



```
# As root
pkg install hplip
# or if the pkg is not available
cd /usr/ports/print/hplip/; make install && make clean
```
The install and configure cups(1):
	
	



```
# As root
pkg install cups
# point a web browser at http://127.0.0.1:631
```


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## dalpets (Mar 9, 2021)

*mark J;*
You do not mention some critical points:
Do you require color printing?.............................................................*no*
Do you require duplex printing?.........................................................*yes*
Do you require network printing or want usb printing?............*usb*
Do you really need a scanner incorporated in the printer?.....*not essential.*


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## mark_j (Mar 9, 2021)

So it seems your selected printer fits the bill. If you decide later on a scanner, then for me Epson is the best price per usability, features and compatibility (at least in my experience).


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## dalpets (Mar 9, 2021)

gpw928;​There's another driver , yes another one *!#.^@





						Driver - HP LaserJet Pro 400 Printer M401dn | HP® Customer Support
					






					support.hp.com
				




Do you still think the ppd option is the best route?

Your post comes closest to helping me untangle this maze, of now 3 options, which is confusing to the uninitiated (me). There always seems to be inexhaustible options around the corner with this stuff, that just when you think you have all the bases covered you are abruptly disabused. 

And then there is the terrifying complexity (to me) of the 'Advanced printer setup'( section 9.4 of the handbook}, ie., unless you are a masochist or want to make printers your sole mission in life 
I think I'll go for this refurb.
Thanks for your help.


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## diizzy (Mar 9, 2021)

As its been stated several times before, if PCL(5/5e/6) or Postscript is supported you'll be fine and it doesn't matter at all if there's a specific printer driver or not.


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## gpw928 (Mar 9, 2021)

dalpets said:


> There's another driver , yes another one *!#.^@
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ignore it.  It's specific to some old System V derivatives of Unix (HP-UX and Solaris), and not relevant to your situation.

Install the FreeBSD print/hplip port or package.

Then install cups(1) and configure it to use the PostScript Printer Description (ppd) file named hp-laserjet_400_m401-ps.ppd.

As others mention, you could use a generic PostScript ppd file for the M401dn, but the model specific hp-laserjet_400_m401-ps.ppd will extract maximum functionality of the printer, enabling the entire feature set for your specific model.  This can have a significant impact on both behaviour and performance.


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## Snurg (Mar 9, 2021)

It is the easiest route, as cups is the de-facto standard on desktop now.
You call "Manage printers", add a printer and in one step of the questionnaire you can upload the ppd file to cups. 
That's all. No need to look into the handbook, except you need lpr for some reason.


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## shepper (Mar 9, 2021)

gpw928 said:


> HP have a ppd file named hp-laserjet_400_m401-ps.ppd


You can avoid installing print/hplip and it's dependencies by just installing the ppd.  As long as the ppd references the use of HP's emulation of Postscript, you should not need other drivers.  If the ppd uses plxmono as a driver, you will need to install ghostscript.
There are several ways to obtain the ppd.
     1.  Extract it from the FreeBSD packages
     2.  Extract it from HPLIP source code - it is a plain text file
     3.  Generate your own using foomatic-db-engine, OpenBSD readme instructions here

In FreeBSD, it goes in /usr/local/share/cups/model/


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## dalpets (Mar 12, 2021)

shepper;
How do I extract ppd  from 12.2?
can I view these ppd's to ascertain which printers are supported before I  purchase?
Thanks


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## dalpets (Mar 12, 2021)

The refurbished hp 401dn that I was intending to purchase is very expensive for what it is (at least 10yrs old, 38,000  print count, 30 day warranty for $259 ($AUS), including $50 freight.
Is there anything else in the more modern hp (mono only) laser range that would be a better bang for my buck, say within $50 or so, or a tad more?

In this store, in my vicinity (free pickup), there maybe some later models that you may consider to be a better buy at the prices  indicated there ($AUS). The HP laserjet Pro M404's are in my price range, but are they any good & would they work with 12.2
​https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/search?q=hp mono laser&view=grid&page=1&sortBy=bestmatch 

I would appreciate your opinions.
Thanks


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## Snurg (Mar 12, 2021)

dalpets said:


> HP laserjet Pro M404


A quick spec search says it does Postscript. And it says "manual" duplex, and this iirc is not what you said you wanted.

It is really difficult to assist, you have to search yourself for "<model_id> specifications" to judge whether a particular item serves your requirement.

I always did it that way, that I looked what good brands printers are available at the moment. The market prices fluctuate much, and can sink very much when a big refurb lot hits the market. This is what I perused to get my Kyocera printers for 30 Euros instead of a three-digit number.

In addition there is the fact that many people prefer light home printers, shy away from power workhorses that weigh maybe 15-30kg.
In the refurb market, this makes business-grade printers much cheaper than much-demanded home printers.

And your area the market isn't that big like in Germany, for example. See how much choices you'd have on ebay Germany when searching _only_ for the HP 401dn, some for less than 100 euros (shipping included).
So maybe it could be a viable tactic just to look at the current market situation on ebay Australia?
Looking at there, I probably would look at this or that, for example.


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## trev (Mar 13, 2021)

The HP M404DN (D=automatic duplex; N=network) is fine - it has PostScript 3 emulation. It's pretty much identical to the M401DN that I have on FreeBSD 12.2. I use the native lpd(8) for printing and not print/cups. There's no wireless capability so I have a cheap ($US 10 from eBay AU) Chinese pocket wifi router plugged into the printer's ethernet port. Works with my FreeBSD and macOS systems.


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## shepper (Mar 13, 2021)

dalpets said:


> shepper;
> How do I extract ppd from 12.2?


It is a plain text file in the hplip source code.  Many manufacturers have either PostScript emulation and/or PCL support.  In my 3rd post in this thread, I linked the manufacturers specifications page for 2 Brother printers.  If you go back on click on the link to the printer specifications you will see that the cheaper one used GDI and the more expensive on PCL6.  All printer manufacturers have specification pages like I linked for you.

It will be more efficient if you look at printers in your price/feature range and look up the specs yourself.  Also, do not get too hung up on HP.  Their older, enterprise laserjets were well made.  Their home office based printers are no where near as good, and in my opinion, Brother makes better and cheaper to feed home laserjets.


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## dalpets (Mar 14, 2021)

Purchased HP M404DN (D=automatic duplex; N=network) with PostScript 3 emulation. Arrives 22/3.

Thanks ALL for your indulgence.


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