Printers always run out of yellow ink first because it needs to print barely visible, 3LA-mandated fingerprints on all the pages. Even BNW prints. Especially BNW prints.
If you decide to print your manifesto and don't want to be connected with it "post event", to get around this you could just photocopy the printed sheet and thus foil the dastardly plans of the FBI with that simple trick (which they hate).
Photocopiers do it too. Don't fall for it, kids. Think chains of copies, old Craigslist printers, no credit record cash only transactions, camera avoidance, etc.
You can hire one of those old time scholastic monks to have it hand calligraphied. It'll take three years and you'll need to kill the monk, but it's foolproof.
After a Samsung and a Lexmark both Laser MFC (which both had annoying quirks and had the typical printer issues, the brother I have now has been nothing but a reliable workhorse
I bought a Brother HL-L2375DW a couple of years back specifically for Linux compatibility, and it did NOT disappoint.
haven't had a single error
has not refused to print a single time
super quick, good quality, duplex
using cheap 3rd party toner without complaint
works perfectly from Linux
I don't usually like to recommend brands/products, but this is the exception. If you need a printer, and black and white is all you need, go for this one.
Recently got a the Brother L2460DW and that thing was not expensive yet works so well. I got rid of a Canon Inkjet that no longer has supported print drivers. The Canon did fine with third party ink but it was from like 2009 and lasted to 2026 so I figured it did its duty with honor.
Photo printing is about the only thing I say I haven't seen laser do, but the people in my family that appreciated printed photos over screens we would just order them printed to their local Walgreens instead of trying to mail them prints anyway. Don't do that anymore either as they passed away some years back.
Laser does well for photos, but you gotta remember to get laser specific photo paper. The fuser can get hot enough to damage the gloss, or even melt it and smear it around in the printer.
Other than that, crisp photos, no bleed from the ink spread. Holds up well to light and moisture too.
have a decade+ old hl-3070CW brother color laser printer, it’s great. I used brother toner for about 8 years, got a third party toner then and it’s not nearly as good color quality, will probably replace these when these no-names run out. get over a year of printing out of a set of 4 colors.
I like it because I can leave it for two months then print a few hundred pages w/o worrying 'oh shit is the ink all gummed up / dried out'.
edit: I'll add it's a networked printer and everyone can print to it from our network w/o bullshit; androids, desktops, laptops, even the occasional visiting i-person device. shit just works.
I thought about getting a color printer but I realized that I hadn’t used the color features in years anyways. I print documents maybe once a week and with my inkjet I waited for it to do a dance, warm up, and then print. This thing has like a 3 second delay and then immediately prints. It’s pretty amazing. Double sided printing saves paper so I’m happy with it.
My windows computers always fought with printers, but since I switched to Linux Mint both printers in my house have just done what I asked. Maybe it was never the printer that was the problem.
Printing on Linux used to be a massive pain because CUPS, until I learned that I can just yeet PDFs at network printers with nc.
I can't fathom Windows printing being worse than CUPS somehow. But then again I'm pretty sure last time I printed anything on Windows it was via a parallel port.
I have always had decent success with CUPS and old printers, so like printers that are 15+ years old. It just works. Now with newer printers you'd have to be a sucker for punishment to go that route.
I fucking hated when places like HP stopped putting out basic drivers and forced the bloated print and scan app on everyone who wasn't using it over the network
Their plotter printing software is the worst. Not only is is proprietary bullshit, but it alsonhas like zero options. If you're printing to a plotter you probably have enough technical knowledge to want some fucking settings.
Same. Biggest eye-opener for me. My printer was located and installed automatically during setup. Same for all my other devices. It just fucking worked, and I legit cried a bit because I've wasted a significant portion of my life dealing with printer and driver issues on windows.
My father migrated to linux (mint) a couple of years ago and some time after, he said that he got a printer and asked if I could help him configure it when I got some free time. He then never mentioned it again, until I remembered and asked him. He said that he didn't need help after all, because it was very easy on linux.
Brother laser printer. It's there, it works, and I don't have to think about it.
On the other extreme, inkjet is just busted. I'll give ecotank some appreciation for not having an ink resupply problem, but clogs like crazy and have to spend forever trying to unclog it if I have to use it.
Then there's HP, a brand that just works every day to think how to screw over printer purchasers to get more money out of them microtransaction style.
Literally happened to to me the other day with my Brother LaserJet. Was pulling out trays left and right, only to realize that there was indeed a jam...
...in the scanbed feeder, because there was a bit of paper that had ripped off and been jammed in the feeder until I somehow shook it loose.
Bought a 20-year-old used Brother printer for $25, and it runs just fine! Bought it when I planned to print my thesis and figured straight up buying it is cheaper than going to the print shop.
It still prints all I ever need to print, and I never had to change or even refill anything. I did have to install drivers as the printer is not supported in CUPS by default, but drivers are still available on the official site (as well as AUR, my Arch friends), and looks like even some spare parts are still available for purchase.
It also doesn't have any connectivity except USB, which adds some peace of mind.
USB-A to USB-B. It's probably just a driver issue but I can't be arsed fixing it because I barely ever use the damn thing.
I knew the score if I needed to print with any degree of regularity I would just bite the bullet and buy a brother printer but I probably only print five documents a year so it's not worth it.
yeah I've got one that sits in my basement and gets used every few months. basically no issues, and when I do have an issue it's pretty much always because of my shitty Wi-Fi
There were some stories about them enshittifying a few years back. Iric they were adding DRM like all the other shitcos making printers. Apparently just the older ones are good now.
Kind of. Some of the newer models use chip identification and refuse to print if they think the toner is out. The L3765CDW has been something of a nightmare...
I never had any issues with Canon or Brother printers at work, but HP printer are almost always unnecessarily complicated and frustrating all the way through, starting at the initial setup.
I saw this color laser HP printer at work some years ago where the toner cartridges were in this "Ferris Wheel" apparatus and were moved to the paper, rather than the paper moving past them.
I replaced my original monochrome no features brother laser printer because it was physically destroyed in a move. The brother MFC that took its place lasted almost 13 years before a power surge knocked it off the network permanently. So now that one is an offline "print a huge thing and let it run all day" printer we only rarely use, and now have the most modern MFC they make, which I hope lasts another decade+. They're awesome.
I used my first brother MFC laser printer for probably 12 or more years. I passed it on to my brother and lost track of it. I replaced it with a color laser MFC.
I rarely use it anymore so the fact that it works without issue is hardly a surprise. However, I would never own a printer that is not a laser printer. I've had three laser printers in the last 26 years. The current one is about 2 years old. They last.
Some years ago I worked in a place thst had several Canon printers, it hit me after several years that I had never had any problem with them (except a stuck paper on some rare occasion)
Later at a metal festival i talked to a man who worked for Canon, I assuned he worked with cameras but still menetioned how good of a brand it was when it came to printers.
Turns out he worked with canon printers after all and according to him they have way more reliable up-time than the competitors, which he also worked for before.
So yeah, a proper office printer from Canon is something diferent!
Never buying an hp ever again. Between the drivers, setup issues, networking issues and short lifespan, im done. Not even a heavy user, but i am in the industry, so do know what im doing.
I hope mine keeps working. Pixima 5150, iirc. Thing uses the cheapest Amazon EZInk out there. Like 5 full sets of colors/blacks for $25. I don't need fancy, I just need functionality. And I'd recommend it to anyone, but I hear the newer versions suck.
large format plotters and printers are murderously hard to keep running. I worked for a company that had an in-house print shop for blueprints and large format stuff across the hall from me, they spent more time trying to get support / technician visits than actually printing shit.
Can't confirm, my 12 yo HP LJ still spits out pages as expected, and doesn't even complain about the aftermarket toner carts I use.
I would say I miss when printers were good, but they never were..... Just less awful than they are now.
Edit: totally forgot, the printer was single sided for the first 10 years I had it, and I have no idea why (other than windows windows-ing) it suddenly started printing duplex after I migrated to Linux!
The HPs before that were solid. We had an HP 5P that would not quit. The toner cartridge was pricy, but it did last, so it was more of something to plan for than a constant cost. And you could shake it around a lot and get a few thousand more pages before it got bad, so it gave a fair warning.
Oh, tell me about it. When I was working for a local school, we ended up replacing a TON of LJ400s that were still running like champs and refused die, but it was a pain in the ass to source/config the aftermarket card that let it run on the network while we still supported them.
Right now I'm the only one in the house who can print without issues and it's only from my phone via WiFi. The desktop and another phone cannot print at all. A 3rd phone can print but has to select the paper tray on the touchscreen every time.
Okay so my Brother toner ran out (B&W), should I get brother toner or go with a cheap copy?
I feel like the toner didn't last very long, but I have heard rumours that they are a bit empty when you buy printers new. If that's true an original cartridge will probably last me a lifetime ☺️
Most printers come with lower capacity "starter" ink or toner carts. Also, many brother carts are sold in regular and XL versions. I do onsite IT support, and sell consumables. Brother compatibles can vary in quality, but are generally fine. There are reports of newer Brother firmware downgrading quality if they detect compatibles, but I haven't seen it in the wild.
Personally when my toner runs out I will buy Brother toner to reward them. Even if it costs more than off-brands, it lasts so long it's not like it would save me that much money per year anyway.
Printers always run out of yellow ink first because it needs to print barely visible, 3LA-mandated fingerprints on all the pages. Even BNW prints. Especially BNW prints.
If the FBI can’t find the printer you’re using to disseminate information about government crimes, how will they punish whistleblowers?
Printing Zines is a crime
?
It's a pattern not visible to the eye, unique for each printer, so that the CIA (for example) can figure out which printer printed a document.
ty
If you decide to print your manifesto and don't want to be connected with it "post event", to get around this you could just photocopy the printed sheet and thus foil the dastardly plans of the FBI with that simple trick (which they hate).
Photocopiers do it too. Don't fall for it, kids. Think chains of copies, old Craigslist printers, no credit record cash only transactions, camera avoidance, etc.
You can hire one of those old time scholastic monks to have it hand calligraphied. It'll take three years and you'll need to kill the monk, but it's foolproof.
You want a monk, Dude? I can get you a monk. Forty eight hours, no problem at all. And he'll be fresh.
Three Letter Agencies
thanks
Oh Brother 😄
My brother LaserJet has been unstoppable. It's on the wifi, and has never even frustrated my wife! It just prints, every time.
In 25 years I replaced it only once and that was to get a model that supported wifi. The first one could have gone another 50 years.
After a Samsung and a Lexmark both Laser MFC (which both had annoying quirks and had the typical printer issues, the brother I have now has been nothing but a reliable workhorse
What are you doing, step-printer? That is not where the ink cartridge goes!
I bought a Brother HL-L2375DW a couple of years back specifically for Linux compatibility, and it did NOT disappoint.
I don't usually like to recommend brands/products, but this is the exception. If you need a printer, and black and white is all you need, go for this one.
Recently got a the Brother L2460DW and that thing was not expensive yet works so well. I got rid of a Canon Inkjet that no longer has supported print drivers. The Canon did fine with third party ink but it was from like 2009 and lasted to 2026 so I figured it did its duty with honor.
Nice, that one seems really similar. How do you like Laser compared to Inkjet?
Better in almost every single respect.
Photo printing is about the only thing I say I haven't seen laser do, but the people in my family that appreciated printed photos over screens we would just order them printed to their local Walgreens instead of trying to mail them prints anyway. Don't do that anymore either as they passed away some years back.
Laser does well for photos, but you gotta remember to get laser specific photo paper. The fuser can get hot enough to damage the gloss, or even melt it and smear it around in the printer.
Other than that, crisp photos, no bleed from the ink spread. Holds up well to light and moisture too.
have a decade+ old hl-3070CW brother color laser printer, it’s great. I used brother toner for about 8 years, got a third party toner then and it’s not nearly as good color quality, will probably replace these when these no-names run out. get over a year of printing out of a set of 4 colors.
I like it because I can leave it for two months then print a few hundred pages w/o worrying 'oh shit is the ink all gummed up / dried out'.
edit: I'll add it's a networked printer and everyone can print to it from our network w/o bullshit; androids, desktops, laptops, even the occasional visiting i-person device. shit just works.
I thought about getting a color printer but I realized that I hadn’t used the color features in years anyways. I print documents maybe once a week and with my inkjet I waited for it to do a dance, warm up, and then print. This thing has like a 3 second delay and then immediately prints. It’s pretty amazing. Double sided printing saves paper so I’m happy with it.
doh wrong person replied to sorry
I did not choose a printer but I have this one at home and it is really good. Definitely adequate for home use.
Wait, so the printer chose you?
Real! My sister chose the printer
Well then.. compliments to your sister for the choice.
My windows computers always fought with printers, but since I switched to Linux Mint both printers in my house have just done what I asked. Maybe it was never the printer that was the problem.
Oh how the turntables
Printing on Linux used to be a massive pain because CUPS, until I learned that I can just yeet PDFs at network printers with
nc.I can't fathom Windows printing being worse than CUPS somehow. But then again I'm pretty sure last time I printed anything on Windows it was via a parallel port.
I have always had decent success with CUPS and old printers, so like printers that are 15+ years old. It just works. Now with newer printers you'd have to be a sucker for punishment to go that route.
Well, I'm glad for the reversal because I am not technical at all.
Yeah, maybe it's the proprietary printer adware.
I fucking hated when places like HP stopped putting out basic drivers and forced the bloated print and scan app on everyone who wasn't using it over the network
Their plotter printing software is the worst. Not only is is proprietary bullshit, but it alsonhas like zero options. If you're printing to a plotter you probably have enough technical knowledge to want some fucking settings.
Same. Biggest eye-opener for me. My printer was located and installed automatically during setup. Same for all my other devices. It just fucking worked, and I legit cried a bit because I've wasted a significant portion of my life dealing with printer and driver issues on windows.
My father migrated to linux (mint) a couple of years ago and some time after, he said that he got a printer and asked if I could help him configure it when I got some free time. He then never mentioned it again, until I remembered and asked him. He said that he didn't need help after all, because it was very easy on linux.
To make the fairy tale work out:
On the other extreme, inkjet is just busted. I'll give ecotank some appreciation for not having an ink resupply problem, but clogs like crazy and have to spend forever trying to unclog it if I have to use it.
Then there's HP, a brand that just works every day to think how to screw over printer purchasers to get more money out of them microtransaction style.
I love my Brother laser printer!
“Why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam?”
PC LOAD LETTER? The fuck does that mean?!
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Literally happened to to me the other day with my Brother LaserJet. Was pulling out trays left and right, only to realize that there was indeed a jam...
...in the scanbed feeder, because there was a bit of paper that had ripped off and been jammed in the feeder until I somehow shook it loose.
Bought a 20-year-old used Brother printer for $25, and it runs just fine! Bought it when I planned to print my thesis and figured straight up buying it is cheaper than going to the print shop.
It still prints all I ever need to print, and I never had to change or even refill anything. I did have to install drivers as the printer is not supported in CUPS by default, but drivers are still available on the official site (as well as AUR, my Arch friends), and looks like even some spare parts are still available for purchase.
It also doesn't have any connectivity except USB, which adds some peace of mind.
Half the time my printer refuses to acknowledge that it even exists. Windows lists it as an unknown device quite a lot of the time.
I've started to think it might be easier to 3D print a printing press and just do it manually.
3D printing a movable type press might be very fun. You have awakened something in me.
USB, or networked?
USB-A to USB-B. It's probably just a driver issue but I can't be arsed fixing it because I barely ever use the damn thing.
I knew the score if I needed to print with any degree of regularity I would just bite the bullet and buy a brother printer but I probably only print five documents a year so it's not worth it.
Ive got an electric brick in the shape of a printer because apparently if you stop paying for the ink subscription it just stops working.
My Brother never failed me, praise for this one in a million company.
yeah I've got one that sits in my basement and gets used every few months. basically no issues, and when I do have an issue it's pretty much always because of my shitty Wi-Fi
100% would recommend
There were some stories about them enshittifying a few years back. Iric they were adding DRM like all the other shitcos making printers. Apparently just the older ones are good now.
I have a printer that works. B&W laser printer from Samsung. It survived multiple windows update, and still works on Linux.
Guess that's why Samsung discontinued their printer business and sold it to HP.
I love how this is a statement that is said in all seriousness.
We can go to the moon, but can't have a printer that works.
OP is right. Brother laser printer will never let you down. It will also never run around or desert you.
Kind of. Some of the newer models use chip identification and refuse to print if they think the toner is out. The L3765CDW has been something of a nightmare...
I love the chapter “Black text requires cyan”. 😙
I never had any issues with Canon or Brother printers at work, but HP printer are almost always unnecessarily complicated and frustrating all the way through, starting at the initial setup.
Yeah, HP is currently in several lawsuits for their printers. They remotely disable them and a bunch of crazy stuff.
I saw this color laser HP printer at work some years ago where the toner cartridges were in this "Ferris Wheel" apparatus and were moved to the paper, rather than the paper moving past them.
I couldn't believe it even worked for a week.
Brother mfc's
I replaced my original monochrome no features brother laser printer because it was physically destroyed in a move. The brother MFC that took its place lasted almost 13 years before a power surge knocked it off the network permanently. So now that one is an offline "print a huge thing and let it run all day" printer we only rarely use, and now have the most modern MFC they make, which I hope lasts another decade+. They're awesome.
I used my first brother MFC laser printer for probably 12 or more years. I passed it on to my brother and lost track of it. I replaced it with a color laser MFC.
I rarely use it anymore so the fact that it works without issue is hardly a surprise. However, I would never own a printer that is not a laser printer. I've had three laser printers in the last 26 years. The current one is about 2 years old. They last.
Got a new Brother and its been a welcome addition to the family, no doubt.
Some years ago I worked in a place thst had several Canon printers, it hit me after several years that I had never had any problem with them (except a stuck paper on some rare occasion)
Later at a metal festival i talked to a man who worked for Canon, I assuned he worked with cameras but still menetioned how good of a brand it was when it came to printers.
Turns out he worked with canon printers after all and according to him they have way more reliable up-time than the competitors, which he also worked for before.
So yeah, a proper office printer from Canon is something diferent!
I worked for Canon Printing in R&D about a decade ago.
The problem with canon, is they absolutely eat you alive when it comes to ink. Motherfuckers got light cyan, light magenta and gray/photo black.
Unless you go laser and then it's just a rebadged HP.
I have never wanted to shake anything as bad as I've wanted to shake a printer.
Reporting in with a hassle free printer like some other commenters.
I have a Canon monotone LaserJet MFP I bought at a big box store with no prior research like four or five years ago. Been great. Always just works.
Text and image printers are so bad now, I think it might be easier to modify my 3D printers to reproduce a document with a pen.
CNC
printingwriting is the future.But only for corporations. Computer assisted manufacturing is being outlawed for hobbyists.
Let’s see if it ever launches, but I’ll be keeping this in mind…
https://www.crowdsupply.com/open-tools/open-printer
I had an okay Canon inkjet for a little while, but the ink prices sucked. Still infinitely better than an HP, hate those things so much.
Never buying an hp ever again. Between the drivers, setup issues, networking issues and short lifespan, im done. Not even a heavy user, but i am in the industry, so do know what im doing.
I hope mine keeps working. Pixima 5150, iirc. Thing uses the cheapest Amazon EZInk out there. Like 5 full sets of colors/blacks for $25. I don't need fancy, I just need functionality. And I'd recommend it to anyone, but I hear the newer versions suck.
Praise the Omnissiah!
My office's printer is literally down atm lol
My office blueprint printer is perpetually down
large format plotters and printers are murderously hard to keep running. I worked for a company that had an in-house print shop for blueprints and large format stuff across the hall from me, they spent more time trying to get support / technician visits than actually printing shit.
You’ll never be able to finish building your office. :(
i wish i could use a laser printer but all the cool paper products require inkjet.
Uh, what?
Printable temporary tattoos, printable vinyl, that kind of thing. They're all for inkjet, don't work on laserjet.
As others have said LaserJet but I’m not sure if they’ve pointed out that it’s named after two objectively kickass things
Can't confirm, my 12 yo HP LJ still spits out pages as expected, and doesn't even complain about the aftermarket toner carts I use.
I would say I miss when printers were good, but they never were..... Just less awful than they are now.
Edit: totally forgot, the printer was single sided for the first 10 years I had it, and I have no idea why (other than windows windows-ing) it suddenly started printing duplex after I migrated to Linux!
The HPs before that were solid. We had an HP 5P that would not quit. The toner cartridge was pricy, but it did last, so it was more of something to plan for than a constant cost. And you could shake it around a lot and get a few thousand more pages before it got bad, so it gave a fair warning.
Oh, tell me about it. When I was working for a local school, we ended up replacing a TON of LJ400s that were still running like champs and refused die, but it was a pain in the ass to source/config the aftermarket card that let it run on the network while we still supported them.
Right now I'm the only one in the house who can print without issues and it's only from my phone via WiFi. The desktop and another phone cannot print at all. A 3rd phone can print but has to select the paper tray on the touchscreen every time.
I've had issues with printers and printer drivers until I got a brother laser printer. It seems to just work all the time.
Okay so my Brother toner ran out (B&W), should I get brother toner or go with a cheap copy?
I feel like the toner didn't last very long, but I have heard rumours that they are a bit empty when you buy printers new. If that's true an original cartridge will probably last me a lifetime ☺️
Most printers come with lower capacity "starter" ink or toner carts. Also, many brother carts are sold in regular and XL versions. I do onsite IT support, and sell consumables. Brother compatibles can vary in quality, but are generally fine. There are reports of newer Brother firmware downgrading quality if they detect compatibles, but I haven't seen it in the wild.
Thank you ❤️ !
Personally when my toner runs out I will buy Brother toner to reward them. Even if it costs more than off-brands, it lasts so long it's not like it would save me that much money per year anyway.
I've got one of those, from Pantum.
Go back in time grab a me a new laserjet 2 and worry free for 5-10 years. Easy Peasy.