[NTLUG:Discuss] Printer/Scanner combo for Linux

[Patrick R. Michaud]

My HP OfficeJet d145 started going out earlier this year; so I 
bought a HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Premium ($299 on sale) to replace it.  
You can find the "Plus" and "plain" versions of this printer
for lower prices.  Overall I recommend it.

I often have some trepidation when purchasing HP all-in-ones
these days; the HPs frequently suffer from paper feed issues,
both in the automatic scanner feed and in the standard paper.
On the model I got, the automatic scanner feed works great,
but the paper tray feeds sometimes have difficulty with
specialty papers.  Ironically, the Pro 8600 seems to have
the _most_ difficulty with HP-branded paper (both my personal
experience and as reported on HP's forums).

Thus far the paper feed issue hasn't been an onerous problem for
me; usually adjusting the paper level or switching feed trays 
has resolved the issue for me.  One thing to note is that the
printer apparently adjusts its roller pressure based on the 
type of paper it expects to be feeding.  So if you're loading 
cardstock or photo paper, you really do need to tell the printer
that you're printing to photo paper, otherwise it might not
apply enough pressure to grab the paper.

A huge advantage of the Pro 8600 is its ability to attach
directly to a network, and to scan directly to email or a PDF.
Previously, whenever someone in the house needed something scanned,
I'd end up doing the scan because I was the only one who remembered
what scanning program to use (gscan2pdf).  With the Pro 8600,
anyone in the house can use the dead-simple touch-screen display 
to directly scan things to email or their computer on the network.  
Also, the household computers can now all print directly to the 
printer; previously I had to set up a special print queue on my 
desktop to handle printing from the other machines in the house.

I did have some trouble with the wireless connection dropping out
(and others on HP forums have reported similar problems), but
since my printer is only about 4 feet from the wireless router
a wired connection is no problem for me.  I suspect HP has resolved
any wireless communications issues by now.

The print quality from Linux is fairly good, but I did notice
that the blacks in printed color photos aren't nearly as black 
as my d145 was.  I did a number of side-by-side comparisons to
verify, and I even went back to the store to test the display
model to make sure I just didn't get a lemon.  The display model
did the same.  I suspect that HP has reformulated the inks to
improve drying time and water resistance, at the expense of
blackness.  Otherwise, the prints look okay to me.  I almost
took the printer back because of this, but ultimately decided 
that I don't print enough photos to have this negative outweigh
the other clear positives of the 8600 Pro.  If/when I need 
really high quality color printing, I'll buy a separate 
low-cost "photo-quality" printer or use an online printing service.

Thus far, the ink usage on my Pro 8600 has been amazing.  I bought
the printer in mid-March, and just replaced the initial "starter set" 
ink cartridges last week.  Starter set cartridges typically have
very little ink in them, which is why I'm surprised at how long
they lasted, in this case I got 900+ color pages from the starter
set, including the many full-page color photo tests I mentioned
above.  The Pro 8600 uses separate cartridges for cyan, magenta,
yellow, and black.

Despite the very occasional paper feed problem and the lower
photo quality, I'm very happy with the Pro 8600 Premium and
would buy it again.  The fact that makes scanning, printing,
and faxing so much easier than my previous printer (i.e., my 
wife and kids can do these tasks without my assistance), along
with the good print speed and ink usage makes it a winner in
my book.

The Pro 8600 works with Kubuntu 12.04 "out of the box".  
For Kubuntu 11.10 I had to download and install the latest
printer drivers to get it to work, but that was fairly easy
to do (just installed a .deb IIRC).

Hope this helps,

Pm


On Thu, Aug 02, 2012 at 01:20:25PM -0500, Ralph Green wrote:
> Howdy,
>   I don't normally go for these combo devices, but someone I know
> wants to buy 10 or so combination scanner/printers.  They need Linux
> compatablity(Fedora 11 now, and Fedora 17 or Ubuntu 12.04 with
> Cinammon in the near future).  The scanning needs are modest, since it
> only will be used once a month for 30 or 40 sheets.  They will be used
> by non-technical users.  Cheaper is better, but good quality scans and
> printing are even more important.  Are there any recommendations?
> Thanks,
> Ralph
> 
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss