Printer for the Eee PC

[BBeh]

Hi all

 

I was just wondering if there was any printers out that are compatable with the Eee PC, since we're having parents keep attacking us about it. If you know of any, please let us know, as we did suggest a lexmark printer at first, then found out it only worked on XP!

 

The EeePC's we're using are the 4G ones, with Linux installed.

 

Thanks.

[Mcshammer_dj]

really you need to look for printers with linux support either through the linux kernel or OpenPrinting - The Linux Foundation

 

ps that was the first hit on a google search for linux printing!!!!!

[Geoff]

HP Printers have good driver support in *nix. But generally, if it does postscript, it'll work. For specific makes and models though, check the openprinting db as suggested above.

[SimpleSi]

I have HP1100 and HP1200 Business Inkjets working in 2 schools via Win98 shares but they're not available any more and I've an HP2605 colour laser as well (also shared via a win98 vm) using PS drivers in one school

 

I use the win98 vm to stop the eeePCs asking for passwords every time you go to try and print via a w2k3 server

 

I'm sure a Linux VM print server would do the same job but I already had the Win98 VMs running so I just used them.

 

I can print direct to the HP2605 from the eeePCs but think its better to go via a server - but its only been in use since Sept so time will tell

 

regards

 

Simon

[ndavies]

We've bought some Brother HL-2150Ns lasers (about £100) and printing from the minibooks with the default Xandros distro on couldn't be easier. No driver files/disks needed..went through the wizard and it picked it up.

[featured_spectre]

we never bothered with printers as the kids just stick it on the VLE and anyone who needs it can gain access from there. No need to print hard copies any more, in stopping the print function, we saved almost £3000 a year just in paper!

[farmerste]

i was asked to try and get a brother ( all in one ) working with the eee pc, well all i can say is- it was the worst experience of my life( computer wise), never have i had such a problem getting a piece of hardware to work with a machine.

If this xandros is supposed to be a user friendly OS, that is supposed to be an alternative to windoze, they are having a laugh ??

 

if this is all open source can offer, it is no wonder that people are forced to stick with windows.

 

I didnt get it working either after all that !!

 

absolutely unbelievable !!

 

if the printer is not already listed as compatible i would tell parents not to bother, as i very much doubt they would be able to install one anyway

 

[jamesb]

i was asked to try and get a brother ( all in one ) working with the eee pc, well all i can say is- it was the worst experience of my life( computer wise), never have i had such a problem getting a piece of hardware to work with a machine.

If this xandros is supposed to be a user friendly OS, that is supposed to be an alternative to windoze, they are having a laugh ??

 

Well no, not really. An EEE PC isn't designed as a desktop replacement so printer support most likely wasn't a major concern for the developers.

 

if this is all open source can offer, it is no wonder that people are forced to stick with windows.

 

Open source offers a huge range and variety, which is part of the reason that people do stick with Windows - compatibility and consistency.

 

if the printer is not already listed as compatible i would tell parents not to bother, as i very much doubt they would be able to install one anyway

 

Well...yes...I'd be amazed if an incompatible printer could be forced to work with a system, although if that is going to happen it'll happen on open source, where you've got the benefit of a developer network who write drivers for amusement.

[farmerste]

when i said compatible i meant actually having the drivers already built in to xandros, the brother printer i was trying to install has .deb packages available, but way you go about installing them is a nightmare, worse, far worse than old dos days.

in my opinion the eee pc was marketed as a cheap alternative to a 'big' laptop and thus an alternative to a 'real' desktop, and i'm sure it must be a dissappointment to a lot of people.

You'd be far better off buying an old second hand system with any, and i mean any version of dos/windows. Even 3.1 was better.

 

i played with linux years ago, and i thought 'this is just a weird sort of DOS', and then i had a go with ubuntu etc, still not impressed, but until the wonderful open source programmers come up with a way to make hardware, software,and drivers easy to add and remove ( with just a few clicks, or simple commands)the project is pretty much a waste of time, as computers are all about interfacing to devices.

[SimpleSi]

i played with linux years ago, and i thought 'this is just a weird sort of DOS', and then i had a go with ubuntu etc, still not impressed, but until the wonderful open source programmers come up with a way to make hardware, software,and drivers easy to add and remove ( with just a few clicks, or simple commands)the project is pretty much a waste of time, as computers are all about interfacing to devices.

 

Put the fire brigrade on standby

 

regards

 

Simon

[localzuk]

when i said compatible i meant actually having the drivers already built in to xandros, the brother printer i was trying to install has .deb packages available, but way you go about installing them is a nightmare, worse, far worse than old dos days.

in my opinion the eee pc was marketed as a cheap alternative to a 'big' laptop and thus an alternative to a 'real' desktop, and i'm sure it must be a dissappointment to a lot of people.

You'd be far better off buying an old second hand system with any, and i mean any version of dos/windows. Even 3.1 was better.

 

I've never seen it marketted as a cheap alt to a big laptop or an alternative to a real desktop. Only as a limited machine for a specific purpose.

 

i played with linux years ago, and i thought 'this is just a weird sort of DOS', and then i had a go with ubuntu etc, still not impressed, but until the wonderful open source programmers come up with a way to make hardware, software,and drivers easy to add and remove ( with just a few clicks, or simple commands)the project is pretty much a waste of time, as computers are all about interfacing to devices.

 

That comment isn't even worth replying to really, but i'll bite a bit. Software can be installed, from .deb files, with less clicks than an installer in windows. It also ensures that all requirements for that software are installed beforehand. (Whereas in Windows, you often end up with a piece of software installed that won't actually work). Not to mention the fact that synaptic can list thousands of programs without you having to download files yourself... Windows doesn't have such an easy method of installing anything!

 

Installing hardware, in most cases (with hardware that is supported of course) is just a case of plug it in and away it goes. Sometimes you need to install a couple of .deb files but that's about it.

[farmerste]

don't get me wrong, i really really want to leave microshaft, it is just whenever i have looked for alternatives, they are much much worse for end users. i was hoping reactos would take off but that seems to have stalled.

I know you can right click a .deb file and install it, but you cant just right click it and uninstall it ? ( at least not on the eee pc) you have to open terminal, and then try to run hkpg command etc, its like going back 20 years, just without and logical directory structure.

No matter what i did i could not reinstall, or remove a corrupted .deb file that was installed.

and i have neither the time, or desire to learn linux, or apple, i get more than enough grief from microshaft, and software that comes with it. and the outlook onley gets worse....

[localzuk]

Removing a corrupted installation on windows is now walk in the park...

 

But yes, I do think removal of files, and recovery after an installation of a package needs some work. These can turn into a bit of a dark quest sometimes.

[farmerste]

yes that is what i have found too.

i guess my 'rantings' are due to the fact that whenever a 'new' linux gui comes out it looks so good, but after i have tried it ( admittedly at no great length) i end up having to revert back to windoze.

which is like going back to the girlfriend you constantly row with.

 

lol

[CyberNerd]

Removing a corrupted installation on windows is now walk in the park...

 

 

But yes, I do think removal of files, and recovery after an installation of a package needs some work. These can turn into a bit of a dark quest sometimes.

last time i did it I manually had to go through the registry and delete anything with reference to the badly installed program, takes ages.

 

 

I don't think much of the asus/xandros eepc operating system.

IMO a command line installation is usually easer and faster. a simple "apt/yum install packagename" beats windows by miles. same with uninstalling... how many clicks on windows? I guarantee that you can do it quicker with apt-get/dpkg remove xxx

[jamesb]

when i said compatible i meant actually having the drivers already built in to xandros, the brother printer i was trying to install has .deb packages available, but way you go about installing them is a nightmare, worse, far worse than old dos days.

 

...in DOS days I just used to pipe files straight onto a line printer. That's about as simple as you can get, so I'm not surprised that nowadays, when you've got graphics, fonts, colours and so on to deal with that printers are harder to install.

 

in my opinion the eee pc was marketed as a cheap alternative to a 'big' laptop and thus an alternative to a 'real' desktop, and i'm sure it must be a dissappointment to a lot of people.

 

You must've seen different marketing to me. As far as I was aware they were marketed as small laptops for little more than internet access and maybe some basic office work, with the work then to be uploaded to a desktop machine.

 

You'd be far better off buying an old second hand system with any, and i mean any version of dos/windows. Even 3.1 was better.

 

Depending on your purposes anyway. Personally I use my EEE PC as a mixture of things, by having different operating systems loaded on the SD cards, making it a very fast-loading, multi-specialised system.

 

i played with linux years ago, and i thought 'this is just a weird sort of DOS', and then i had a go with ubuntu etc, still not impressed, but until the wonderful open source programmers come up with a way to make hardware, software,and drivers easy to add and remove ( with just a few clicks, or simple commands)the project is pretty much a waste of time, as computers are all about interfacing to devices.

 

And this pretty much says it all I guess.

 

Computers are about a lot more than just interfacing to devices, I can't even remember the last time I had to resort to a printer. Probably over a year ago. Most of my file transfers, for anything, are either USB key or SD card. Both of which work fine with every modern version of Linux, and Windows, I've encountered.