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erikthered ,

My black and white Brother laser printer is 16 years old and still printing almost every day.

drascus ,

I've had a brother laser printer for 8 years now. Recently my wife was asked "can we get a color printer" and I said but we have at least 5+ years of toner left in this thing!

BreadOven ,

I inherited a Brother laser printer from a lab I was once in. Apparently the toner only says it's almost out via an infrared sensor. I read you can tape over the part on the toner cartridge and it will keep printing until it actually runs out.

I've printed so many more things after I did that, it's actually still going now.

amphetaminisiert ,

You can also disable that in the menu. I bought a brother printer and it said that the toner was empty so I purchased a new toner cartridge but then I disabled the warning and I'm still on the original toner. And I printed so much stuff with it, it's like it never runs out 😂

BreadOven ,

Good to know. Thanks for that.

Daxtron2 ,

Why are so many people still printing often enough to justify having a full printer?

First ,

Because having only half of a printer doesn't serve any purpose.

Daxtron2 ,

That's just what HP wants you to think. Think about, you only really need half a page at any one time. They're just up charging you so they can sell more printer!

ptz OP ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Because we live in the real world where you still need to physically print, sign, and return things. Lol, sucks, but that is life.

It's not often, and when the need arises, it's usually important, so a laser printer is there when you need it and works without fuss (or having the ink dry up during long periods of dormancy)

Daxtron2 ,

I just go somewhere to print those things. They don't happen often enough to justify the space a printer takes up

thefool ,

We bought an HP laser printer a few years ago.. it drives me crazy in that when it goes to sleep mode, it never recovers, meaning you have to power cycle it to get it to respond again. Once it's power cycled, it's .. fine, although I curse it anyway since it's 2024 and how can they still make printers that still do this shit.

Anyway.

In Windows, on my wife's and kids' Windows PCs, it works most of the time but was a huge pain to set up with the stupid apps.

On Android, it works most of the time after setting up stupid apps.

On my Linux desktops, it worked perfectly out of the box on both of them. I couldn't believe it. One desktop is Manjaro and the other is Mint

DAMunzy ,

I loved my old HP laser printer. It was 5+ years old when I got it and it lasted another 10. Had a HUGE toner cartridge that was relatively cheap if you got the knockoffs.

I currently have a Ricoh multifunction SP C261SFNw. It's not bad. Black toner cartridge doesn't have anywhere near the amount of pages I'd like but sure beats the cost of ink!

ptz OP ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Is the Ricoh a home model? I only know of their business products which are both huge and $$$$ lol. Our office rotates between those and Kyocera depending on the refresh cycle.

DAMunzy ,

I'm guessing it's a small office model. It has duplexing and 500 sheet capacity. I only paid $189.00 for it back in 2019 on Amazon. At that price point I couldn't resist for home.

It's available now for $2,998.00 on Amazon from a company called Top Amazing Deals(SERIAL NUMBER RECORDED) which has (1081 ratings) 50% positive over last 12 months. I'm sure they are trustworthy!

takeheart , (edited )

I actually have a brother inkjet printer which works reasonably well under Linux. Inkjet printers in general are troublesome, so there's a cap on how well they can work under any operating system.

I could never figure out though how to receive faxes and the return receipts for sending them directly on the PC. There just seems to be a lack of modern, user friendly apps for this. I'm certain it's possible but the technical expertise is just beyond me.

And yes, I still use fax when communicating with government agencies. My country is a backwater when it comes to digitalization and faxes provide legal certainty just like registered mail. But unlike registered mail they cost next to nill.

ptz OP , (edited )
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Yeah, I've had printers with built-in fax before and those never worked right from PC (the fax part). I think the only time I had a working fax solution on my PC was a combo of one particular fax/modem card I had and whatever Windows Fax utility that came with windows 98. Other modems / software just didn't work at all.

alex_02 ,
@alex_02@infosec.pub avatar

As other have said, brother and canon are probably your best bet. Nothing fancy is really needed, but just print.

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Cannon will charge you an arm and a leg for ink. There are third parties but its a mixed bag with the DRM

IMALlama ,

Canon black and white laser. Our original toner lasted for years and years, well above it's rated number of pages. Not that we print a ton, but it was still impressive. The driver is a little flakey at times, but overall it's been a reliable wifi printer.

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Until they push out an update that makes you buy a new one. Not that a bad update is Cannon specific. I just know they pushed out a update last year that made the printer reject third party ink.

IMALlama ,

That's disappointing. We've had our MF229dw since 2016 and it's pulled zero schannigans.

raptore39 ,

Recently bought a Brother laser printer. We use Linux, macOS, Windows 11, Android and iOS in the house and it just works.

cyberpunk007 ,

Preach it. Same boat same result.

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

Brother on Windows can be problematic

mojofrododojo ,

run a mixed network - have never had a single problem with my brother color laser from any device - win10, 11, mac, a bunch of different distros of linux.... android and ios phones.

what kind of problems have you had on windows?

possiblylinux127 ,
@possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip avatar

One particular model won't scan on Windows until remove some random file.

Obscure but it drove me crazy at work. I spent so much time on something that should of never happened

mojofrododojo ,

One particular model won’t scan on Windows

aaaah multifunction devices are the real satan.

vox ,
@vox@sopuli.xyz avatar

tbh i like my canon mf3010, no useless crap, no wifi, it just prints and scans, there's no drm and cartridges last for a long time

Lev_Astov ,
@Lev_Astov@lemmy.world avatar

I'm a big proponent of buying government surplus office printers. I have this huge print center collater thing that came with more toner than I'll ever use in my life. $55

ptz OP ,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Oh gods yes. Government surplus equipment is amazing when you can find it.

My state used to send all their decommissioned IT equipment to a warehouse where the public could buy it. It was a wonderland. My first few laptops all came from there (was poor and that was the only way I could afford one).

About 5 years ago, though, they stopped that and only send old furniture there. Anything electronic now goes to some 3rd party e-waste service where it probably ends up in a landfill in some poor country.

gardylou ,
@gardylou@lemmy.world avatar

I have a Brother laser printer and I highly recommend one.

InternetUser2012 ,

Not just a Linux user, anyone that needs a printer/copier.

acetanilide ,

I have a Brother but I think I must have bought a lemon. It prints SO SLOWLY (like it takes long pauses after every page). And it constantly loses connection with our devices. :(

InternetUser2012 ,

That's your settings more than likely.

KpntAutismus ,

brother certainly has a good reputation, but i've been using an epson ecotank for a couple years now.

once the 18000 page self-brick counter goes off, i'll try to reset it. if that doesn't work, i'll definetely try getting a brother laser printer. i print B&W most of the time anyways.

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