Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 23:22:07 -0600 (MDT) From: Wes Peters <softweyr@xmission.com> To: Sean Kelly <kelly@fsl.noaa.gov> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Printer recommendation Message-ID: <199709170522.XAA01552@obie.softweyr.ml.org> In-Reply-To: <341EF83C.CC026F34@fsl.noaa.gov> References: <341EF83C.CC026F34@fsl.noaa.gov>
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Sean Kelly writes:
> 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'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.
My trusty Epson Stylus 300 has been whining along for nearly 3 years
now, and has never given me a problem. I bought it and two brothers,
both immediately sold to friends, back when both Comptuer City and
Circuit City was closing them out for $99. Mine's got the fourth
cartridge in it now, and still prints quite nicely. It's attached to my
FreeBSD system, fed by Ghostscript + apsfilter from Unix, and Samba from
my wife's Win95 system.
The newer Epson color Stylii, along with an up-to-date Ghostscript, will
give you color postscript. I'm not sure about support for the Canon
printers in Ghostscript, but they seem to have lower consumables costs
than the Epsons. HP consumables are much higher than either the Epson
or Canon.
Good luck. Let us know how you do, my wife wants a color printer soon
(and I want to separate our computers by an entire floor).
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
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