From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 4 03:29:55 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C6B81106564A for ; Sat, 4 Dec 2010 03:29:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 849F68FC0A for ; Sat, 4 Dec 2010 03:29:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-195-8-222.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.8.222]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id C92351E3A1; Sat, 4 Dec 2010 04:29:53 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id oB43TqtY005484; Sat, 4 Dec 2010 04:29:52 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2010 04:29:52 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Warren Block Message-Id: <20101204042952.0ac21e45.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: References: <20101203043805.GB8149@comcast.net> <20101203191339.61205ccb.freebsd@edvax.de> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Charlie Kester , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: printer recommendations? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2010 03:29:55 -0000 On Fri, 3 Dec 2010 19:26:43 -0700 (MST), Warren Block wrote: > On Fri, 3 Dec 2010, Polytropon wrote: > > > I'm using a HP Laserjet 4000 duplex for more than 5 years now > > at home, I'm happy with it, allthough it's a _huge_ printer > > with all the accessories, but I don't care for that. > > It's only huge in comparison to smaller, lesser printers. A LaserJet > 8000 makes a 4000 look small. Not a big difference. Rotate printer 90 degree and make sure it has enough (at least two) additional (!) paper supply cartridges. :-) > > Used office-class equipment, I can't emphasize it enough. The > > HP Laserjet printers have a good "eco-mode standby behaviour", > > so even energy costs are low, compared to the usual home consumer > > ink-pee stuff where a seperate power supply consumes energy > > even when the printer is "off" (haha). > > Office-class printers also have power switches, so they can be turned > off for zero power consumption. Some home printers don't have a power > switch at all. I thought it was obvious that REAL printers have REAL power switches. But you're right of course: Power consumption is zero when switched off, and you will notice that when using the printer occassionally (compare cummulative standby to zero). > The last time I used parallel on FreeBSD, it was slow...well, slower > than expected. Haven't really tested USB printers for speed. Ethernet > is superior in many ways. The speed is acceptable, just the "error messages" are annoying, started with FreeBSD 7, I think. I do feed PCL into the printer as this is faster than PS, but recent office class printers do provide good (and FAST!) PS support. An example for a well-designed internal CPU is the Kyocera FS-3900DN which also supports different "personalities"; it might be considered "expensive", but it will pay. Good networking printers usually do provide their own lpd, so you can simply hand them the files according to the IP. The system's lp* commands (lpr, lpq, lprm) then query the printer. A simple entry in /etc/printcap is enough to make them work. No "drivers", "USB access permissions" or other strange stuff is needed. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...