I'm tired of this Brother not printing on Linux .... works fine on Win 10 but it is a PITA on Linux .... in all fairness it is almost 9 years old .... but I went to print today and it just won't print ..... it maybe due to CUPS drivers again but every time there is a change in CUPS I have to scramble to get it working again .....
Looking for one that will work with 17 Pro .... just a brand of printer no need for model .... unless you want to specify .... I do want one with a scanner and the large ink reservoirs .... but I can search that out ....
I have an HP printer about 4 years old and it works great on Windows 10, 11, and various Linux distributions including Zorin Core, LMDE 6, Pop!_OS 22.04 and Tuxedo OS 22.04.
HP printers seem to be the best supported on Linux. I have an older Laserjet CP1525 color printer from HP and it has worked with every version of Linux I have tried so far. I have only had to select is as my default printer. Never had any problems with drivers. It has worked with Zorin, MXLinux, Linux Mint and PopOs. It doesn't do the things you want so you'll need to research for the model that does, but I don't think you'll have any trouble getting any HP printer to work with Linux. I would definitely stay away from Canon printers. I really like them but they don't seem to work well with Linux. Of course these are just my opinions.
I always go with Canon. My current model is a TS-8151. It's an all in one, complete with scanner, cassette tray plus rear feed and printable CD tray stored under Cassette tray. Ink tanks come in standard, XXL and XXXL. I usually go for XXL and purchase replacements twice a year on average. Cartridge colours are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Karbon (black) + larger Karbon cartridge and Photo Blue cartridge.
Thank you for your answers ...... so far we have 3 for HP and one for Cannon .....
I have to say I'm in sticker shock just can't believe how much these things have gone up in price since I bought mine 9 years ago .... it looks like one of the most expensive components is WIFI .... the tank comes next ..... without those two items I can get an HP 3-1 for around $90 but with WIFI it goes to about $140 and add a tank and it is even more ....
Gonna look at a few Cannon models and see what gives but for now I'll just have to shuttle things back and forth by thumb drive to let Win 10 do my printing ...... thank god I don't due volume printing ......
I know for sure HP works for me. I forgot to mention, all my distributions even found the drivers for an old HP Color LaserJet 2600n printer from close to 20 years ago that still works and connects to it. The newer all-in-one printer is an HP OfficeJet Pro 6978. So I have two HP printers working well with all my Linux distributions including Zorin 17 Core, Tuxedo OS, LMDE, and Pop.
If you did volume printing then you would be into Laser Printers! Here is an interesting story. In about 2006 where I worked until retirement we purchased a Brother Colour Laser Printer for about £630. Out of warranty, 3 major components failed, including the fuser and developer. The local Brother agent was flabbergasted to learn that to repair it would cost more than buying a brand new one. Also, from another supplier, I asked an engineer who came out to service the Brother printer as to what happens to "dead" printers. He told me that they make it so they can print one sheet of paper and can then say it is a working printer before dumping it in Africa. Times have moved on since then and legislation around the world now demands that e-waste is dealt with in the country where it is sold. A few years back, an International investigator went to China to uncover illegal e-waste dumping which was streamed on Al Jazeera news channel. All the equipment he found had EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) markings on them!
Interesting fact ..... Brother also makes sewing machines and the Brother Co was started in 1909 ..... now resides in Bartlett, Tennessee but I also read that some printers are made in Taiwan ....
Actually there is no problem with the way it works it does a great job just the fact it once again doesn't work on Linux ..... worked fine on Zorin 16.3 Pro but not on 17 Pro ..... I'm sure it is the CUPS drivers again .....
Could very well be that CUPS will be updated in the near future ..... I just wish we had another source to go to other than CUPS ..... but I've searched the web way back months ago when I was having a problem with it ..... (I know you remember as you helped me back then by using HP inkjet instead of Brother I believe) ..... and could find no replacement for CUPS .....
This is not the same problem as I followed all the instructions from then and even made copies of all the CUPS settings from when it was working and applied them to the current installation of CUPS but .... nada .....
Just confirmed printer works just fine on Win 10 ..... also discovered that when on Win 10 my WIFI dongle once again shows a light and pulsates when the net is running ..... back on Zorin the light is now on but no pulsating ...... but at least I know it is working .....
My only conclusion is that 17 Pro is lacking some drivers ..... maybe on future updates .....
Thanks to everyone for your replies about best printers for Zorin 17 Pro and Linux in general ..... I will keep this info in mind if I need a new printer .... but for right now I just can't justify spending money for a new printer ....
Not sure just what happened but my printer wouldn't work on Win 10 anymore so I had no way to print ..... I've spent the last 2 1/2 days trying to sort out the problem with CUPS and going over all the old posts I started and others on the forum plus the CUPS question & answers on Ubuntu .....
I did find out that the CUPS version I am running is 1.5.16 and the version for Ubuntu 22.4 is 2.4.1 but it will not install using the terminal by following the instructions given there ....
A new printer with all the stuff I want is to expensive for me .... I spent several days mulling over the HP and Cannon printers and did find a Cannon that met my demands but when I looked it up on line the first thing the author said under cons was WiFi is had to install and it took them forever to get it to connect .....
I started removing some of the desirable spec's I wanted and when I got to WiFi I realized I would need a very long USB cable to hook it up to my laptop in it's present location ..... I then thought I already have a 3-1 that already works all except the WiFi ....
I went and dragged my laptop station over to the printer and installed the short cable that came with the Brother .... after several tries with the CUPS drivers it stated printing perfectly .... so all I need is a 15 ft printer cable and I'm back in business .... Just have to plan my printing tasks to allow me to pull the cable over to my laptop station .....
Yes it is manageable .... just stretch it out .... print and roll it back up .....
Again thanks to all that contributed to this thread and to those that followed it ....... it is solved ....
Just went to the Software Store and found that CUPS is available as a Snap ..... wonder why it isn't offered by Zorin ....
Not sure I don't use Snap and don't want to try it ...... in fact i just deleted flatpak again as it installed way to many apts it thought I should have ..... but that may have been my fault as I also installed some additional flatpak features and I didn't feel like deleting them one by one .....
It was WiFi ..... I haven't tried the USB version on Win 10 yet ..... got it running on Zorin finally with USB and hopefully when CUPS updates it won't change anything ....
Ah, OK. I misunderstood your comment about availability of CUPS as a Snap and assumed you had installed that to get printer working on ZorinmOS.
I gave up using wifi printing years ago and use the walking USB stick file transfer method (sneaker net) if hardcopy is really required
I have an older HP laserjet color printer. I have it connected by Lan cable to my router. I can then send files by Wifi from my laptop or phone to the router and on to the printer and they print fine. That let's me use the printer from anywhere in the house.
