From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 28 20:14:33 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9C3C816A4CE for ; Tue, 28 Dec 2004 20:14:33 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp4.server.rpi.edu (smtp4.server.rpi.edu [128.113.2.4]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D73143D2F for ; Tue, 28 Dec 2004 20:14:33 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from drosih@rpi.edu) Received: from [128.113.24.47] (gilead.netel.rpi.edu [128.113.24.47]) by smtp4.server.rpi.edu (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id iBSKEV5R029510 for ; Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:14:32 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <20041228143449.GA50323@keyslapper.org> References: <001401c4ec49$d919f020$a23db918@D1TWQX41> <20041227193742.GC22614@keyslapper.org> <20041228024631.GA1393@holestein.holy.cow> <20041228143449.GA50323@keyslapper.org> Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:14:30 -0500 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: Garance A Drosihn Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" X-CanItPRO-Stream: default X-RPI-SA-Score: undef - spam-scanning disabled X-Scanned-By: CanIt (www . canit . ca) Subject: Re: Printer X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 20:14:33 -0000 At 9:34 AM -0500 12/28/04, Louis LeBlanc wrote: >On 12/27/04 09:46 PM, Parv sat at the `puter and typed: > > >> Lest somebody gets the wrong idea that all Lexmark printers behave >> as descried above, my Optra E310 laser printer -- US$[23]00, 199[89] >> -- is still going strong. It worked/works in Windows 9[58], Me, XP. >> It of course just works, like a PS printer, in FreeBSD 3.x, 4.x, and >> sure would in 5.x. > >Some few from that time period (very few, if I remember the weeks of >research I wasted on my particular model) used standard protocols and >could be easily made to work with any OS. The majority of Lexmark >printers up to around 2002 (I think) used a proprietary protocol, and >they guarded it like it was Microsoft code. I don't think they even >released MacOS drivers. I believe most of their printers now use >standard drivers, but that's still no guarantee they'll work with *nix >systems. Some are explicitly supported through the various methods, >but unless it was, I wouldn't even bother, myself. Sigh. We have a few hundred Lexmark printers here at RPI, covering a variety of models. We have been buying them since Lexmark was created as a separate company (a spin-off of IBM). They have all worked fine, printing from a variety of systems using standard protocols. In our case, we tend to buy Lexmarks for black-and-white laser printing. We have a few of their color printers too, but we have not been happy with the printing-results. Which is to say, they do *work*, but in general we weren't too happy with the color output, compared to the output we get from Tektronix (now Xerox) Phaser printers. We print over two million pages a year on our various Lexmark printers. They seem to do just fine for us. > > Mind that i am interested mainly in sharp and clear black/white > > text currently. > >Which would probably be a deciding factor in changing printers. My >guess is you'll get another year or two with good maintennance. I >vaguely remember reading somewhere that those standard protocol >printers were decent quality, but the proprietary protocol models >were mediocre at best. That might have been a factor in their >abandoning it. > >I'm glad your experience with Lexmark has been better than mine. >Myself, I'm pretty brand-loyal. When something works well for me, I >stick with it. When a brand burns me, I avoid it like the plague >unless circumstance forces me to take another chance. My experience is that Lexmark is really best at the higher-end printers, but then that's what we tend to buy here at RPI, because we do a lot of printing. I have never bought a cheap (< $100) lexmark printer, but then I don't buy cheap printers from anyone. My experience is that almost all cheap printers are more trouble than they are worth. I have wasted many many hours on a cheap HP, Epson, or Canon printer that some friend of mine has bought. I am sure that I would have similar headaches with a cheap Lexmark, assuming I were to buy one. -- Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@gilead.netel.rpi.edu Senior Systems Programmer or gad@freebsd.org Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or drosih@rpi.edu