From owner-freebsd-chat Wed Sep 17 01:53:47 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id BAA01036 for chat-outgoing; Wed, 17 Sep 1997 01:53:47 -0700 (PDT) Received: from usr01.primenet.com (root@usr01.primenet.com [206.165.6.201]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id BAA01031 for ; Wed, 17 Sep 1997 01:53:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: from primenet.com (root@mailhost01.primenet.com [206.165.5.52]) by usr01.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id BAA13202; Wed, 17 Sep 1997 01:53:41 -0700 (MST) Received: from foo.primenet.com (ip217.sjc.primenet.com [206.165.96.217]) by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id BAA29101; Wed, 17 Sep 1997 01:53:41 -0700 (MST) Received: (from bkogawa@localhost) by foo.primenet.com (8.8.6/8.8.6) id CAA04105; Wed, 17 Sep 1997 02:00:13 -0700 (PDT) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 02:00:13 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199709170900.CAA04105@foo.primenet.com> To: kelly@fsl.noaa.gov Subject: Re: Printer recommendation Newsgroups: localhost.freebsd.chat References: <341EF83C.CC026F34@fsl.noaa.gov> From: "Bryan K. Ogawa" Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.0 #1 (NOV) Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk In localhost.freebsd.chat you write: >Hi everyone. >My trusty old Panasonic PostScript KX-P4455 laser printer is on its last >leg, and I frankly don't want to maintain the beast anymore. A lot of >my Windows- and Mac-using friends seem pretty happy with these color >inkjets that seem to have saturated the market, and I have to admit they >look pretty darn good! >Would anyone care to recommend a unit? I have an HP Deskjet 600 which I am ambivalent about. It does what I need, and prints well, but seems to have a penchant for eating ink cartridges. If I were to purchase a printer today, I would seriously consider two printer classes: 1. A really cheap laser/LED (e.g. Okidata or Panasonic). The ones that are in the inkjet range. This may be a case where the price has dropped too low for quality to be maintained (a $200 LED printer???). 2. The Epson printers. They seem to have reasonable support (from what I've read, not personal experience), and very good to _excellent_ color (although I don't know how much of this is driver magic). The killer color one is about $500 (Stylus Color Pro ?); the good one is about $300. Alll prices are US dollars, and Fry's prices, which means you should be able to shave $10-$50 off of them if you look. >I'd like color, but the majority of my printing is black/white. The >color had better be decent, though. It doesn't need to be overly >speedy. 600dpi resolution or better. It doesn't need PostScript, >because thanks to the latest fonts, Ghostscript's output finally rivals >that of honest-to-goodness PostScript Level 2. But that does mean it >needs to grok one of Ghostscript's output formats. I'd prefer a serial >interface (got plenty of ports on several machines), but those are >pretty rare on printers these days. Ethernet would be fine, if it's not >too expensive. And, naturally, this'll go on a FreeBSD system. Your request for serial/ethernet really knocks the choices above out of the running, although I think that one of the cheap lasers has serial. >Thanks. >--Sean -- bryan k ogawa http://www.primenet.com/~bkogawa/