Need advice on a new inkjet printer well supported under Linux

[BrunoMiranda]

Hi guys!
I need some advice because I need to replace my dead Canon inkjet printer and I'd like to know how the printing world is on Linux right now.

So I'm planning to buy an inkjet printer with a scanner built-in with photo printing abilities to print a photo every now and then.
My main purpose is to print business cards on photo paper and also some flyers.
I'll do a batch every now and then and probably the printer will stay unused for some weeks or even months. When I need the occasional printed text page just on black, I have an old laser printer that I just fire up and go.
I might also scan the occasional receipt so I can keep a digital copy of it.

I had a Canon PIXMA MP540 and I loved it, it worked a lot, printing a lot of photos until the print head stopped being recognized after almost 10 years of very intensive use, RIP! I'd like to keep it forever but the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics beat me to it. As always...
Back then I used to refill my own ink cartridges, but since now I won't be printing so much I plan to go to a local store that does a fine but cheap job refilling them. In that store they told me the Canon ink cartridges actually carry a good amount of ink, compared with other brands.
So, out of brand loyalty, I'm considering a new Canon, but I'm open to suggestions.
I liked Canon because the printer was very permissible. It warned about low ink but allowed me to proceed instead of stalling in NO! mode until I buy a new cartridge. (yeah I know the ink business, hello HP and thank you but no thank you!)


So what I need / would like:

• I like the 5 cartridge option (CMYK+pigment black). This way I can refill only the needed cartridge as they go empty.
• To have good printing support in Linux, including drivers and fine tuning colors for photo printing color management. And scanning, I've had SANE driving me insane on another scanner!
• WiFi network printing and scanning. Me hates cables.
• My idea is to edit things in Photoshop on WINE and then print it from there. Since I used to work on a Windows system, I've never done this but I'm sure one can easily access the network on WINE for printing.

Worst chances if all the fine tunings fail, I can fire up a VM and work from there. I have Windows XP (both 32 and 64 bits) and Windows 8.1 VMs with an old version of local Photoshop, I don't want cloud stuff or move beyond Windows 8.1. Call me a Luddite if you want and I'll thank you for the compliment!

I have an old laptop with Windows installed on it, but that hardware is threatening to fail, it already takes 2 or 3 hours just to pass POST. After that, it keeps on working perfectly even if I suspend it to RAM and it is a backup machine but unreliable for when I want to go to do some work now and it takes me some hours just to boot, so I'd prefer to have this properly working on Linux or on a VM.

Currently I'm using Mint 20.3 and planning to keep on using it until its EOL.
I know there's some new printing stuff in Mint 21 but how critical is it? Eventually over the years I'll move there but for the moment my setup is perfect on 20.3.

Later on I plan to contact the brand's official tech support and ask them for recommendations and best practices to keep a printer off for some months.

So guys, out of your experience on printing in the Linux world, do you have anything to share? More than a printer model (if you have one you personally recommend, shoot it!) I'd like to know how things are now regarding my printing needs in the Linux world.
As always, thank you so much!

[AndyMH]

Can't comment on any specific model, my day-to-day printer is colour laser. I do have an old epson, but used it so infrequently that the nozzles dried and clogged up. Is that an issue for you? I still use it for scanning (with vuescan). Infrequent print of photos, colour laser is good enough but if I want posh I go with a usb stick to the booth in the local supermarket.

Pretty much any printer you buy today should be 'driverless' so that should not be an issue. Scanning I'll leave for someone else.

[BrunoMiranda]

I do have an old epson, but used it so infrequently that the nozzles dried and clogged up. Is that an issue for you?

Pretty much any printer you buy today should be 'driverless' so that should not be an issue. Scanning I'll leave for someone else.

Thanks for replying, AndyMH.
Yes, clogged nozzles might be an issue, since I assume the printer will remain off and stored for months on end.
I've washed the print head of my deceased printer, I don't know if that was also related to its death, the last time I've washed it the print head just stopped being fully accepted by the printer. While on warranty that should void it, so I'd like to avoid it for the 2 year period (it actually can be 3 in the E.U. but it's the user himself who has to prove the defect was there from the very beginning, and that's hard to do). And also, a new print head is barely the price of a new printer, so not damaging it is a must.
There are instructions online on how to wash print heads with distilled water and ammonia detergent, if your printer is out of warranty and you'd like to try that. Just bare in mind that some models (like the one I had) are rendered pretty much useless large heavy bricks when the print head fails. So not even scanning.

Regarding long term storage I pretend to contact the manufacturer so they'll give me best practices on that.

There's also the solution of those 2 pack cartridges (one for color and one for black) that have the print head on themselves. This way clogging won't be an issue (just buy another cartridge) but they take much less ink and are more complex to refill. Also, if you print mainly in one color, when it goes out the whole cartridge needs replacement or refilling. I wouldn't like this since printing photos usually have some dominant color that will be more spent.

Yes going to the shop is a very valid option, but I have a degree on photography so I usually can make better color management than those shops. I've seen photos on exhibition on their windows where brides on their dresses had an awful green dominant and a friend of mine returning the whole wedding photo album because it was... deep purple...
And I like the printing process itself, actually digital printing is one of my favorite subjects.


I've heard about driverless printing and I believe it is on Mint 21, not sure if on 20.3.
Do you know if it is available on Mint 20.3 and if it allows the configuration of every setting a printer can offer (specially regarding color management) like drivers usually allow?

[warriorofthelight]

Sorry, no answer for you but I have the same issue. After doing a lot of research I think I'll go for Epson. Canon seems to provide Linux support, but only rpm and source code? Seems to be rather tedious. Check this out (you have to switch to your country/language):
https://www.canon.at/support/consumer_p ... formation/
I was interested in the GX6050, but there is no Linux driver for this printer. So I'm not sure now, do I even need one? And will "driverless" support the printer fully, like duplex printing, color options etc.? I don't know.

About driverless: I still don't understand the concept tbh, but they tried it I think with Mint 20.1, and it broke a lot of things it seems as they went back to the old way after that. Not sure what the problem was or if that has been fixed by now. I used an Epson Stylus Office printer years ago with Mint and it was ok... the only thing that did not work was duplex printing which is a shame of course. I can only hope that it got better since then.

Also I use a small HP laser/scanner right now (M28-31). HP provides pretty good support and a well made printer utility and the hplib. It seems they put in quite a bit of effort, however, HP lost my trust a long time ago with their firmware stunt (to block third party inks/toners after you bought the printer...) and their ink prices are just immoral. However, they do include the printer head on the cartridge so clogging is not an issue with them, so you may consider that as an option. To be honest though, even though my printer works most of the time, also scanning, there are issues now and then that can be pretty unnerving. Sometimes the printer disappears completely, you can find and reinstall it though, sometimes it's there but doesn't print anything, sometimes the scan program won't find a scanner, ... it's pretty lame really, but most of the time things work fine. Still, not really a big recommendation from my side.

Last thing: do you know Turboprint? It's a commercial product that supports most HP, Epson, Canon and Brother printers on Linux. I never used it but reviews and billboard messages seem positive. It's gotten rather expensive (50 EUR by now), but if nothing else works it might be an option for whatever printer you decide to get.

Cheers.

[warriorofthelight]

Oh and you may be interested in this page, it just explained a lot to me about the driverless thing

https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedoc ... nters.html

It seems you have the option of using driverless OR the manufacturer drivers after all.

[AZgl1800]

We have an Epson ET-2550 which is now getting long in the tooth,
we like it better than others, because it uses 4 tanks for the ink, each can be refilled when needed, independent of the other colors.


LM21 found it upon install and it works just fine, LM21 is using this setup

EPSON ET-2550 Series, driverless, cups-filters 1.27.4

My daughter uses the same printer from Win10, it seems to not really care if it is windows or LM21

[warriorofthelight]

Good to know AZgl1800, I'm also looking at one of the Ecotanks as my next printer. Shame yours seems to not have duplex+adf, because it would be interesting to know if these features also work well on Mint. My last Epson worked, but duplex didn't... so I'm a bit hesitant to just buy one. But anyway thanks for sharing your experience. One more point for the epson

[AZgl1800]

Good to know AZgl1800, I'm also looking at one of the Ecotanks as my next printer. Shame yours seems to not have duplex+adf, because it would be interesting to know if these features also work well on Mint. My last Epson worked, but duplex didn't... so I'm a bit hesitant to just buy one. But anyway thanks for sharing your experience. One more point for the epson

I just gave away a Duplex Printer, that worked perfect, better then the Epson.
but, it was a Lexmark Pro205 for WinXP to Win7

making it work on Mint was a super PITA, in 18.3 and I never tried to do it again.
what I liked about the Lexmark is that after a Power Outage, it would restart, and log back into the WiFi just like nothing happened.

Not so, with the Epson, once it goes down, it is down forever, until you MANUALLY press the Power Button.

[BrunoMiranda]

Thanks for your comments, guys.

I'm still in the process of choosing a printer and doing it online is not so straight forward because the store from where I think I'll buy it has the information presented not in a coherent way, i.e. while browsing different models it's hard to find if a printer has 2 or 5 ink cartridges, automatic reverse printing, WiFi capabilities, etc.
I need to pay a visit to a couple of physical stores where it's easier there to lift up the lid and look inside to figure it out, take notice of the ink cartridge model, etc.

Regarding Canon's drivers, the website needs to know the printer model for Linux compatibility, and if I haven't chosen the model yet I have no information to further go on...

As for rpm drivers, alien is a piece of software, on the repos, that converts rpm to deb and does it pretty well, I've used it before and probably used it for the drivers of my deceased printer.

The IPP thing seems interesting but there again, it's just a protocol and it depends how well it is implemented, including on the printer's side. It might work flawlessly for every single function. Or not...
Meanwhile I think my best solution will be running from a Windows 8.1 VM with the drivers installed and print from the WiFi network. From there, on Photoshop, I know my precise measurements and color management corrections will work.

I'll post more info here when I have it...

[AZgl1800]

I always get the Model number of the printer in question,

then I go to the manufacturer's website, or find a Review that explains the features....

Best Buy is kind of local, about 30 miles away, I use Amazon for free shipping,
as 60 miles round trip, at 10 mpg, and $5/gallon, is no fun

[warriorofthelight]

Hey Bruno,

I just got my new Brother MFC-J4540DW to work with Mint over LAN only by using ipp for printing and sane-airscan for scanning. I think these 2 protocols are not "just protocols" anymore, because they come from Mopria, the alliance of all major manufacturers and IPP is, as far as I understand, the same as AirPrint which was done by Apple, so not some minor company... and every printer that supports AirPrint should be working fine with Linux over IPP. After my experiences with manufacturers drivers in the past and now with ipp/airscan I would never ever try again with drivers. They never really worked well or not at all. Try one that supports AirPrint, make sure you can get your money back and just try it. It should work best over the network as this is what AirPrint/IPP was designed for. It's also available over USB, but I'm not sure about it.

However with Mint 20.3, which is what I also use, you have to manually install sane-airscan if you get a MFD with scanner. IPP however should already be installed and working.

[BrunoMiranda]

Hi @warriorofthelight, and thank you so much for sharing your practical everyday use experience. This is exactly the kind of advice I needed.

From what you've wrote I feel that I'll be basically OK with every standard printer that supports IPP. That's very well done indeed and that's what Linux needs to be used by the masses, a It Just Works!

By the way, from your experience, can you control the fine details settings for your printer? Settings like resolution, color adjustment, the every little thingies that make advanced printing?
How do you control them? Through your desktop environment's Control Panel, some printing applet or some installable software from the repos?

Once again, thanks!

[warriorofthelight]

Hey Bruno,

sorry for ignoring you! Didn't get an alert that you answered. Glad I could help, I have the feeling many people don't know how freaking great this really is now with Airprint/IPP/Mopria.

To answer your question that is probably no longer relevant Yes, there are all the usual options to control the print process. I'm not the expert here (Brian from Team Mint is...), the printer dialog that shows up just has the usual tabs and options.