Re: [gentoo-user] Picking out a printer. Questions.

[Mick]

On Sunday, 21 April 2019 03:12:10 BST Dale wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> I'm looking at printers.  I been wanting a toner based printer for a
> LONG time now.  I'm so tired of those poorly made ink jet things that
> don't last long at all.  I've found one so far.  According to the
> printer support website, Linux supports it.  [1]  The site says this:
> "Color printer, works Perfectly".  Sounds good.  This is the model.
> Brother HL-L3270CDW

I've been running a Brother HL3140CW for the last couple of years.  Before 
that I had a DeskJet 930C.

The "works perfectly" claim needs to be caveated.  I have been using the net-
print/brother-hl3140cw-bin drivers from the brother-overlay.  Initially they 
worked perfectly.  However, at some point the installation script changed, I 
assume to correspond to file ownerships and permissions in some reference 
distro and consequently some things stopped working in Gentoo without manual 
editing of config files.  There are ebuild fixes kindly submitted by other 
users:

https://github.com/stefan-langenmaier/brother-overlay/pull/53

Nevertheless, the above indicates the statement of "works perfectly" should be 
taken with a pinch of salt.


> Now I googled some, which can be dangerous at
> times, and not sure this is a printer I want.  It seems to be light duty
> and I suspect when I first get this thing, I'm going to be printing a
> LOT of stuff.  According to a spec sheet on the cartridge, it does about
> 3,000 pages for black and 2,300 for color.  Should I try to find a
> printer that does more than this or is that about the norm?

There are different spec cartridges, from demo to high volume.  The demo/
starter cartridge is only partly filled with toner and will come with your new 
printer.  It will print a third fewer pages than a new cartridge.  That said 
I'm still running the starter cartridges and black shows 50% full after two 
years of light use.


> I did some searching on duty cycles and such.  This one shows this:
> Duty Cycle: Up to 30,000  Would that be OK for a printer for home use,
> likely heavy use the first couple months?  What sort of life should I
> expect from this type of printer?

How long is a piece of string ... ?  :)

It depends on your particular use case.

When a cartridge runs out you replace it.  If a drum goes bad, you can replace 
that too.  Hopefully the motor or other parts won't go bad at any time.  Since 
you're not running a shop or a busy office printing hundreds and thousands of 
pages every day you should see a good life of many many years out of it.


> Any insight on this would be nice.  As some know, I'm on fixed income

A laser printer is *much* more economical to run than inkjets.  The toner 
cartridges never dry out - with inkjet you often replace the ink before it has 
run out, because it has dried out.  Initially you pay more for a laser, but 
over the years you will recuperate your investment in lower running costs.

With the replacement of the laser light source with LEDs the cost of new /
laser/ printers has come down, so this makes it an even better choice for most 
use cases.

However, the quality of printing pictures is something you ought to check 
before you buy.  As a rule, inkjets with their liquid ink, print better colour 
pictures than a comparable laser.  Professional laser printers for thousands 
of dollars are better than what you're thinking of buying, but even then they 
won't match the colour flow and finish of a good quality inkjet.  So, consider 
your use case and go to a shop to try-before-you-buy, because a laser printer 
may not be your optimal choice.

HTH.
-- 
Regards,
Mick