MEPIS Community Forum

+1

I own a HP inkjet printer/scanner and it works perfectly with MEPIS straight OOTB. The only complaint I have is that it goes through cartridges pretty fast. So if you're going to refill them yourself then it won't cost too much, but you'll be refilling them more often than other brands.

I have an AIO F2280, works peachy with everything.

Well, I did it. I bought an HP OJ 6500 A.

In attempting to install it using the install new printer print wizard in CUPS, it allowed me to select HP as the manufacturer but not OJ 6500 A as the model. So I went to the HP web site and it told me to download something called HPLIP. This I did, and then went to execute it through Konsole. I got the following error messages:

warning: There are 7 missing REQUIRED dependencies.
note: Installation of dependencies requires an active internet connection.
warning: Missing REQUIRED dependency: gcc (gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler)
warning: This installer cannot install 'gcc' for your distro/OS and/or version.
error: Installation cannot continue without this dependency. Please manually install this dependency and re-run this installer.

It wasn't clear about what it actually wants. Checking in Synaptic, I saw that GCC-4.3 and GCC-4.3-base are both installed (actually, 4.3.2-1.1). That seems to be the latest version available.

Can anybody tell me what it wants me to do? (For my MEPIS version, see below.)

Hplip-cups is available in the repos. You should install it from there as well as hplip-gui, hplip-ppids. hplip-cups,hplip-data, hplip-ijs. If you mark hplips-gui, the others should come along. Enable the CR and install those versions.

I have to agree that the ink is pricey for anyone that does much printing. Looked at the prices from the UK site and from the other site mentioned. I have an HP c3100 all in one printer that has worked well with Mepis (up until using the HP plugin for the laser printer -more about that in a minute). My inkjet takes two cartridges an hp 92 and 93 . If you figure in shipping both ways to have your cartridges filled or buying theirs, that's about $30 plus dollars for a couple hundred copies if (and it's a big IF) you can get a couple hundred copies from the cartridge. Probably much less on the color. Those might be acceptable for the occasional print home user but, not for anyone with much printing to do.

That is why when I had the chance to connect the HP laser jet 1000 (just monochrome) printer up, I went for it. The toner costs a bit more (anywhere from $25.00 or so for re manufactured to $83.99 new from HP) but, now you are talking thousands of copies (2500 to 3500 depending on the exact cartridge) for one toner rather then a couple hundred from the ink cartridges. When you start looking at those kinds of costs, it is easy to see where the laser jets are much more cost effective in the long haul. And if I really need a color copy for something, I do still have the photo-smart c 3100 but, as you pointed out, it is probably more cost effective to have a professional do the photos and such.

Couldn't have said it better.

No smearing is a good point for Laser printers. Water resistance is another. I find that monochrome does what I need done. And cost-per-page is important for me.

Hi Rich,

I couldn't find hplips-gui but I did find hplip-gui, so I marked that for installation. But it wouldn't install it because of the following dependency problems:

hplip-gui:
Depends: hplip but it is not going to be installed
Depends: dbus-x11 but it is not installable
Depends: python-qt4 but it is not installable
Depends: python-qt4-dbus but it is not installable
Depends: python-reportlab but it is not installable

I have the following repositories enabled:

ftp://ftp.mepis.com/mepis/ . . mepis-8.0 . . main
http://main.mepis-deb.org/mepiscr/repo/ . . mepis8cr . . main non-free
http://restricted.mepis-deb.org/mepiscr/repo/ . . mepis8cr . . restricted restricted-non-free
http://main.mepis-deb.org/mepiscr/testrepo/ . . mepis8cr . . test

Is there another repository I should be using?

Thank you for your help so far.

Jennifer

Spelling error on my part, I am not sure what the dependency issues would be with M8, as I no longer recall what is in those repos. You might try changing the preferred distro to Mepis. Can someone else chime in for Jennifer?

Probably also need the Debian lenny repo enabled.

ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

Even if it doesn't help in getting hplip installed, the lenny repo should be enabled at all times in Mepis 8.0.

My experience with printers so far:

An old hp Deskjet 520: noisy, but (quite) reliable. Needed cleaning of the feeders often

hp LaserJet 6L : worked quite well, but problems also with feeders. Cleaning them often, also.

hp DeskJet 920: not quite good at photos, short lived. Nozzles obstructed with original ink

hp DeskJet 1015: Even shortest lived, never could get black printing OK, either with hplip or original driver (cupswrapper).
Black appeared brown, picking ink from colour tanks.

Brother Laser 1270N : Best value, lasted 11 (eleven) years with high/moderate load.
Toner-per-page cheap. Included PostScript interpreter.

Brother Laser 1430: Good experience, still works after 6 years.

Brother Ink J3150 : Good performance and ergonomy, still works. Propietary driver for CUPS.
Cheap replacements, without annoying chips.

Canon Pixma iP 4000: Fine and sturdy printer, capable to print CDs. Amazing photo prints.
The CUPS drivers appeared one year or so later, so I had to use Turboprint.

Canon Pixma MP 270: Substituted successfully the hp 1015 at my sister i law rig.
Clean printing, no paper jams. Still working after 3 years. Drivers provided by Canon.

Canon Laser MF4320d : All-in-one, but prints double face. Good performance and speed. Still working.
Needs proprietary drivers, easy to install.

Epson Stylus SX420W : All-in-one, good quality in photos and scanning. Still working.
Uses also proprietary drivers, but easy to install.

My 2 cents.