Multifunction printers

Canon do a range of printers that have always met my needs over the years. Since retiring my printing needs are just at home and the TS5151 does everything I need. It's multifunction but not heavy duty. They do heavy duty printers but I don't need one at the moment.

I've been really happy with my Brother printers, including the HL-L2395DW print/scan/copy/fax/email I've had for 2 years now. New toner cart is $20 or so.

The wireless connection is annoying, though. When we had a power failure recently our router got a new IP address for the printer and we went through a LOT of shit before discovering that that was the problem. There's a USB connection for the windows machine (no wireless capability), but the linux machines have to do things wirelessly. CUPS is a real POS.

Brother "MFC" series laser printer sounds like it'll fit the bill -- printer/copier/fax with the ability to save PDF scans to network storage or email directly. I've never had one of their cartridges "spill" on me, and the cyclical nature of how I print means that inkjets dry / clog up in between bouts of "printing a lot" (and $30 or whatever for a brand new cartridge every 4 months when I need to print again ... ehhhh no).

Does pretty okay with most "printer-friendly" paper weights (most of my printing is done on 90 pound paper), and I've run some cardstock through, though that's a pretty rare occurrence. Wife and kids like it for printing color as well (although "color" wasn't a prime requisite for buying this one).

We have an Epson Ecotank unit that has performed flawlessly for over two years - and we are just coming to the end of the first fill of inks. Does scanning, faxing, printing, and so forth, but not so hot on photos (we do not have the need, so we did not spring for that option). It also does two-sided printing automatically.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Thanks for posting. Recently, I thought I'd need to replace my trusty old Brother colour laser - but it revived itself somehow. The Ecotank was going to be my next printer. John T.

I retired about 2.5 years ago, but am still repairing laser printers, mostly Brother and HP. Like all manufacturers, quality varies.

Here are 3 fixes for that problem:

1. Brother printer drivers have an optional "Network Connection Repair Tool":
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   This monitors the LAN connection between the computah and the printer. If the connection is lost due to a change in IP address, it will search for the printer by its name and change the IP address as required. During printer driver installation, the installer will ask if you want to install the Network Connection Repair Tool.
2. Most wireless routers include a "pre-allocated IP address" feature. Other names are "sticky IP address" and "DHCP Reservation".
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   When the router assigns a new IP address to a particular MAC address, it does it's best to re-assign the last used IP address. However, if this fails for some reason, it will randomly assign a different IP address. This is the source of your connection failure. To prevent this from happening, the router will allow you to pre-allocate an preferred IP address to the MAC address of your printers wireless device. For this to work, you will need to configure all references to the printer to use this "pre-allocated IP address". One thing nice about using this method is that your reset the printer's network configuration to the default settings, and it will still work (as long as the printer is set to get it's IP address via DHCP.
3. Assign a static IP address to the printer. Configure all references to the printer to use this static IP address. This will fail if you reset the printer's network configuration.

Hint: Wireless devices that move (smartphones, tablets, laptops etc) should have their IP address assigned by DHCP. Wireless devices that do NOT move (desktops, printers, repeaters, media players, game controllers, NAS storage, weather stations, etc) should use pre-allocated IP addresses or static IP addresses.

I used CUPS on Linux Mint. CUPS is IPP 2.1 for Linux. If your printer ancient and does not support IPP, there are magical ways to make it print, but you will likely have problems. I went through that will a Brother MFC-7360N printer. I gave up and bought a later model with IPP support, which worked. CUPS also does one thing that the alternatives lack. It correctly handles multifunction printers (print/scan/fax). You really don't want to go back to the days of lpr/lpd or port 9100 printing.

Thanks! Bookmarked and I'm replying here to save the contents of your message. I seem to remember some problem with the linux driver (no .tgz available, and conversions are sometimes iffy), but the suggestion (somewhere in the flailing process) that the control panel on the printer would give the new IP address was the magic solution to the problem.

I was really impressed with Brother's linux support with my previous super-cheap laser printer. Not so much with this one. Still, much better than nothing. Does Canon still spit on linux?

We do that too. Belt+suspenders!

**No-brainer. Buy a laser device. Of the laser units, I prefer HP, but Brother is probably as good, but a bit cheaper. DO NOT EVER BUY a Samsung.

I've owned an HP MFP M479fnw for a couple of years (still current, I believe). It has performs flawlessly for that period. It's fast and even prints photos with respectable quality, though not up to good ink jet quality. If I had my druthers, I would have spent the extra and bought the duplex printing model for a few extra Bucks. As it is, I have to shuffle paper around to arrange duplex printing. Toner is expensive, but lasts a long time. Paper jams are very, very rare and easily cleared when they do occur. Swapping toner cartridges is a doddle. Nothing like the Samsung, which jammed every other day and required a screwdriver to clear!

Just don't buy a Samsung. Buy an HP or a Brother.

I use a Brother black and white laser. I haven't seen an affordable color laser with good quality, and the kids are grown so no more need for color for schoolwork. B&W is enough for 98%, and I can use an office supply store on the rare occasions I need color. Ink jets are a waste of time, IMO.

If you do that, you might as well configure the printer for a pre-allocated IP address or a static IP address. I prefer pre-allocated.

That would be a HL-L2395DW. I haven't had any experience with that model.

I don't think Canon knows what Linux is. Nothing on Canon's web pile. This page describes the typical ordeal process:

I had one customer with a Canon imageCLASS something color laser office printer. They had to hide any evidence that Linux was being used in the office when the authorized service center tech was on-site or they would (unofficially) refuse to work on the printer.

My guess(tm) is that your Linux problems are buried in Brother's implementation of IPP. CUPS uses IPP to deliver printing that does NOT require installing a printer specific driver:

If one model printer works, but another model printer does not, it's mostly likely a problem with the printers implementation of IPP. Not much you can do about that except to check for printer firmware updates. Since the lower end Brother laser printers cost only a little more than a service call, I often suggested that buying a newer model would solve the printing problem. I've only done that maybe 5 times, but it worked every time. Incidentally, Apple AirPrint also uses IPP and can have similar problems.

cups 2.4.6 still uses printer drivers. Version 3 is dropping drivers so I'm planning on sticking with version 2. I have a Brother HL-2280dw which supports IPP-1, which cups doesn't. There'a a github project called brlaser

which supports a large variety of Brother laser printers. I switched to it since Brother doesn't provide

64 bit drivers for the printer, but does for the scanner.

Jerry