If you had to rate which printer brand works better with Linux (Fedora and CentOS), what would it be?
TIA,
Jay
14 thoughts on - HP Vs. Brother Printers: Use With CentOS/Fedora
Any Brother printer that I’ve ever had the misfortune to have to deal with either didn’t work at all or if could be made to work, it didn’t work for long.
If it’s a Brother, run away as fast as you can. They’re the cheapest crappiest thing you can possibly imagine.
My wife makes quilts and says the same thing about Brother sewing machines.
CentOS 8, I should specify…
Jay
odd, I’ve had very good luck with Brother B&W laser printers. Supplies are far cheaper than HP or whatever, my MFC-8810DW sits on my LAN (via ethernet although it has wifi too) and lets everything in the house print to it, and it can scan to a SMB file server without needing any special software, just push a few buttons on the printer, it scans either flatbed or sheet fed (single or double sided) and a PDF appears on the file share a few seconds later. Brother supports both LPR and CUPS.
I’ve been running an HP MFP281 for a year or two now and it functions well. There are some downsides though to be aware of:
* HPLIP doesn’t support all HP printers, and not as quickly as you might wish, so be prepared to find the nearest model for CUPS.
* HP have sharp practice over toner cartridges. To be clear, software updates will invalidate full third party cartridges which end up on the skip. The phrase “sod the customer” comes to mind.
I can’t speak to the sewing machines, but I have to say that I’ve had very good luck with Brother printers.
Our office has had a Brother MFC-8510DN for at least five years – no issues. As has been said below, you do have to download and install the driver but the process hasn’t been problematic. Having said that, I haven’t pushed the limit on it’s capabilities, just done rather plain printing.
We currently have a Brother MFC-5490CN. Printer firmware is dated June 1010. (yeah, 10 years old). Few years ago the brother software wouldn’t work for printing under Fedora. No problem, can print under Windows 10. Then it stopped scanning. Could still print…under Windows.
Now, to fix the scanning features working I installed updated drivers under Windows, now it scans like champ, but won’t print, at all.
Time to go!!!
Hence my question…
Jay
I’d say that 10 years is a decent run for a printer, depending on usage.
If you want to stick with Brother, check out the Staples Web site and look at the refurb page.
Cannot comment on sewing machines, however I always head to brother for laser printers. I don’t do inkjet ever, as the cost per page doesn’t fit my use case and dried out ink cartridges drive me nuts.
Great thing about brother is they really support linux! yes you do need to visit their web site but they offer drivers and they seem to provide access to all the printer’s features.
Only gotcha I’ve had is trying to use alternative toner cartridges –
that really didn’t go well at all, got brother product and it was good as new – go figure.
HTH
Sewing machines, I know nothing, not Brother machines anyway.
We’ve had a few different Brother laser printers here (at home) and they’ve been great.
The first one, a HL2070N, when first connected (via USB at that time)
caused a popup window (On CentOS, probably 5.x) saying brother printer found, do I want to configure it now? I did, and it just worked.
Newer ones may require Brother’s drivers, but they exist and work.
My newer HL-L2360D also works with one of the default CUPS drivers on C7, though I forget which one. Discovered this only after using the Brother drivers for a year or two.
I’m currently on a Brother MFC-J4620DW and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Others here have recommended brother for laser printing but I also think they’re great ink jet printers. Because you’re not replacing the print head every time you replace the ink cartridge it cuts back on ink cost considerably and I have had no problems using
3rd-party ink cartridges with it which really bring the cost down big time. You can order sets of 3rd-party cartidges online for next to nothing, and I can count on two fingers the number of times I’ve received a dud cartridge.
I wouldn’t touch an HP with a ten foot pole, though.
Peter
I would recommend HP LaserJet printers. Have no experience with ink printers. I would recommend to make sure that you get postscript printer. Then you will be OK on Linux and UNIX (CUPS will be your friend).
I have no experience with low end printers. I was hesitant recently, and could not throw away HP LaserJet 4050, which was purchased 18 years ago, was getting really tough beating being used in the Department I support, and still works.
Valeri
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have an HP Laser Jet Pro M402n connected on my network. I used to work just fine from CentOS 6 but recently no joy. Something broke and I’m not fixing it because CentOS 6 will be EOL soon and I’m in the process changing over all my systems to CentOS 8.
From CentOS 8 there’s no issues as far a plain paper printing is concerned.
When I comes to printing on envelopes I just this evening won a battle with the printer when printing on #6 3/4 envelopes. I resolved the problem by setting the printer to print on C5 envelopes, and LibreOffice Writer to use the same C5 envelope. The C5 envelope is considerably larger that the #6 3/4 envelope. With some tweeking of the location of the address on the document in LibreOffice Writer I got it to print the address on the #6 3/4 envelope in the right place.
The M402n does not support the #6 3/4 envelope directly. You have to fiddle with it. If you have to print on envelopes make sure that the printer you buy supports the envelope you want to print on unless you like fiddling. Me, I’m a tuba player, not a fiddle player. YMMV
Re ink jets. I have one, a Canon Pro wide carriage photo printer, that uses like 8 colors and makes gorgeous full color prints. Its connected to a Windows workstation. Its the first inkjet I’ve had that can go months of disuse, then fire up and print a glossy 11×17 or whatever right the first time.
14 thoughts on - HP Vs. Brother Printers: Use With CentOS/Fedora
Any Brother printer that I’ve ever had the misfortune to have to deal with either didn’t work at all or if could be made to work, it didn’t work for long.
If it’s a Brother, run away as fast as you can. They’re the cheapest crappiest thing you can possibly imagine.
My wife makes quilts and says the same thing about Brother sewing machines.
CentOS 8, I should specify…
Jay
odd, I’ve had very good luck with Brother B&W laser printers. Supplies are far cheaper than HP or whatever, my MFC-8810DW sits on my LAN (via ethernet although it has wifi too) and lets everything in the house print to it, and it can scan to a SMB file server without needing any special software, just push a few buttons on the printer, it scans either flatbed or sheet fed (single or double sided) and a PDF appears on the file share a few seconds later. Brother supports both LPR and CUPS.
I’ve been running an HP MFP281 for a year or two now and it functions well. There are some downsides though to be aware of:
* HPLIP doesn’t support all HP printers, and not as quickly as you might wish, so be prepared to find the nearest model for CUPS.
* HP have sharp practice over toner cartridges. To be clear, software updates will invalidate full third party cartridges which end up on the skip. The phrase “sod the customer” comes to mind.
I can’t speak to the sewing machines, but I have to say that I’ve had very good luck with Brother printers.
Our office has had a Brother MFC-8510DN for at least five years – no issues. As has been said below, you do have to download and install the driver but the process hasn’t been problematic. Having said that, I haven’t pushed the limit on it’s capabilities, just done rather plain printing.
We currently have a Brother MFC-5490CN. Printer firmware is dated June 1010. (yeah, 10 years old). Few years ago the brother software wouldn’t work for printing under Fedora. No problem, can print under Windows 10. Then it stopped scanning. Could still print…under Windows.
Now, to fix the scanning features working I installed updated drivers under Windows, now it scans like champ, but won’t print, at all.
Time to go!!!
Hence my question…
Jay
I’d say that 10 years is a decent run for a printer, depending on usage.
If you want to stick with Brother, check out the Staples Web site and look at the refurb page.
Cannot comment on sewing machines, however I always head to brother for laser printers. I don’t do inkjet ever, as the cost per page doesn’t fit my use case and dried out ink cartridges drive me nuts.
Great thing about brother is they really support linux! yes you do need to visit their web site but they offer drivers and they seem to provide access to all the printer’s features.
Only gotcha I’ve had is trying to use alternative toner cartridges –
that really didn’t go well at all, got brother product and it was good as new – go figure.
HTH
Sewing machines, I know nothing, not Brother machines anyway.
We’ve had a few different Brother laser printers here (at home) and they’ve been great.
The first one, a HL2070N, when first connected (via USB at that time)
caused a popup window (On CentOS, probably 5.x) saying brother printer found, do I want to configure it now? I did, and it just worked.
Newer ones may require Brother’s drivers, but they exist and work.
My newer HL-L2360D also works with one of the default CUPS drivers on C7, though I forget which one. Discovered this only after using the Brother drivers for a year or two.
I’m currently on a Brother MFC-J4620DW and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Others here have recommended brother for laser printing but I also think they’re great ink jet printers. Because you’re not replacing the print head every time you replace the ink cartridge it cuts back on ink cost considerably and I have had no problems using
3rd-party ink cartridges with it which really bring the cost down big time. You can order sets of 3rd-party cartidges online for next to nothing, and I can count on two fingers the number of times I’ve received a dud cartridge.
I wouldn’t touch an HP with a ten foot pole, though.
Peter
I would recommend HP LaserJet printers. Have no experience with ink printers. I would recommend to make sure that you get postscript printer. Then you will be OK on Linux and UNIX (CUPS will be your friend).
I have no experience with low end printers. I was hesitant recently, and could not throw away HP LaserJet 4050, which was purchased 18 years ago, was getting really tough beating being used in the Department I support, and still works.
Valeri
—
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have an HP Laser Jet Pro M402n connected on my network. I used to work just fine from CentOS 6 but recently no joy. Something broke and I’m not fixing it because CentOS 6 will be EOL soon and I’m in the process changing over all my systems to CentOS 8.
From CentOS 8 there’s no issues as far a plain paper printing is concerned.
When I comes to printing on envelopes I just this evening won a battle with the printer when printing on #6 3/4 envelopes. I resolved the problem by setting the printer to print on C5 envelopes, and LibreOffice Writer to use the same C5 envelope. The C5 envelope is considerably larger that the #6 3/4 envelope. With some tweeking of the location of the address on the document in LibreOffice Writer I got it to print the address on the #6 3/4 envelope in the right place.
The M402n does not support the #6 3/4 envelope directly. You have to fiddle with it. If you have to print on envelopes make sure that the printer you buy supports the envelope you want to print on unless you like fiddling. Me, I’m a tuba player, not a fiddle player. YMMV
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_
°v°
/(_)\
^ ^ Mark LaPierre Registered Linux user No #267004
https://linuxcounter.net/
****
Re ink jets. I have one, a Canon Pro wide carriage photo printer, that uses like 8 colors and makes gorgeous full color prints. Its connected to a Windows workstation. Its the first inkjet I’ve had that can go months of disuse, then fire up and print a glossy 11×17 or whatever right the first time.
We use the networked Brother laser for 99%