Re: [tlug] Okay... wow. Ubuntu just impressed me greatly.

["Gernot Hassenpflug" <aikishugyo@example.com>]

On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 9:00 PM, Wayne <fedorawayne@example.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-10-07 at 18:43 +0900, Johan Berntsson wrote:
>> Do Canon's low price printer have decent Linux drivers now? I bought a
>> Canon MP-5 printer a few years back but I could never get it running
>> in Linux. After that I've avoided Canon, but perhaps the situation has
>> improved? How about Epson?

Canon has not improved, but Epson has always had fairly good support,
and continues to have such, although not for all models. They did
receive a fairly large grant from the IPA to develop some intermediate
software that would enable their proprietary drivers to work with
GPL's ghostscript, so they have quite some experience in that field.

The best things about Epson's printers is that a) you get the *full*
resolution available with free drivers; and b) you get borderless
printing.

> We have a Canon MP-610 all-in-one and there are drivers for it on
> Canon's site. A quick google will turn them up. It's connected to 'er
> indoors' G4 iBook but I tried it a few days ago from my crappy old Linux
> box and it printed just fine. Haven't been able to use printer sharing
> yet. Prolly won't bother as this machine is on its last legs and is
> begging me to throw it out :)

Canon's MP610 has the been the subject of several open-source efforts
to get the printer and the scanner to work, so it is quite well
supported. However, as with all Canon inkjet printers, the maximum
resolution with free drivers is a measly 600dpi, and there is no
borderless printing. This is a truly sad situation (I have an MP710),
and AFAIK the linux binary drivers also do noy give greater
resolution? What about the Mac drivers, do you get the full resolution
and similar functionaly (borderless printing) as under Windows?

Regards, Gernot


-- 
Gernot Hassenpflug