Comments on: Which Small Office HP Printers Work Best With Ubuntu?

By: wjl (Wolfgang Lonien)

wjl (Wolfgang Lonien) — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:12:15 +0000

An update maybe: I posted a story headlined “Good and Open Source compatible printers” on my personal web page a few days ago. And maybe people here are interested to hear that with Ubuntu Hardy, everything including scanning and sending faxes worked out of the proverbial box with the HP L7590 All-in-One.

In case you’re interested: it’s on http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=630

best,
Wolfgang

By: wjl

wjl — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:19:55 +0000

Nice one; definitely, tho I today got the L7590, the successor of the L7580. Only difference AFAIK: the new one does duplex right OOTB. And support through HPLIP is just great.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:14:56 +0000

Thanks. I ultimately went with the HP OfficeJet J6480, which i assume is a close cousin to the OfficeJet Pro L7580.

By: HP all-in-one Printers

HP all-in-one Printers — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:41:59 +0000

The HP OfficeJet Pro L7580 is defiantely a great choise. Most of the newer model HP all in one printers will work. Happy printing

By: proto

proto — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:12:49 +0000

I just set up an HP C6280 for my mother (she uses Ubuntu Gutsy). Setup was dead simple: install the cartridges, plug it into the network, install the HPLIP driver thingy, find your new printer from the admin control panel. Use your scanner from xsane. Make photo copies by pushing the button on the front of the machine.

Prints well, scans well, seems to be thrifty on ink (so far). All the printing configuration options in the software seem to work (I played around with pretty much all of them). It also has a nice web page accessible at the printer’s IP address so you can check on ink levels, pages printed, etc. You can even initiate a scan through the web interface. So far, everything I’ve tested seems to work. I have not tested using a direct USB connection to the computer, nor have I used the built-in flash-card slots.

I generally prefer Canon gear, and the pros I know say that Epsons produce the best output. But, I chose this printer because it uses the HP 02 ink system: 5 individual color cartridges, 1 black. No more tossing out 2/3rds of a good tri-color cart because you overused one color. Plus, the carts aren’t mounted on the printhead, so they’re cheaper, easier to refill, and can probably be converted to CIS (continuous ink system) fairly easily. You can buy a ‘Value Pack’ of the 6 carts plus 150 4×6 photo sheets for $35 (often on sale for $25).

My one tip:
Make sure to use the latest HPLIP off the web — that would be version 2.8.2. DO NOT use the version in the repositories, which seems to be stuck at 2.7.7

Oh wait, you said ‘fax’ (hmmm. . . fax. . . how quaint!) Dunno about the fax support. This printer doesn’t have it. I haven’t sent a fax since the ’90s.

By: Bart Browning

Bart Browning — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:37:55 +0000

I have that printer. Am using it with kubuntu 7.10.
Am very happy with the combination, except for one thing….
When printing grayscale (which is most of what I do!), HP
uses the color inks (in addition to the black ink) to achieve
“higher quality” results. The Linux driver gives me no way
to turn off this ink-wasting feature. The Mac+Windows versions do.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:45:41 +0000

In doing some more research last night and today, I’m leaning toward the HP OfficeJet Pro L7580. If anyone has feedback on that model and its Ubuntu support, please let me know. It sounds like it’s a pretty good network-enabled all-in-one that supports Ubuntu.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:34:52 +0000

Daniel: I’m familiar with that site, but i’m seeking more personal feedback — anybody out there actually using a specific an HP 4-in-one (printer, scanner, fax, copier) that’s network enabled, color and black and white? Thoughts?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:58:54 +0000

http://www.linuxprinting.org