Which Laser Printer for FreeBSD

[Warren Block]

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004, Martin Moeller wrote:

> I'm planning to buy a new printer, because the results with my Canon S500 are
> total crap. I guess a laser printer is the best choice for Unix, and I'm
> wondering which one I should buy.
>
> I thought about the HP Laserjet 6L or something in this category.

Avoid the 5L and 6L, as they have failure-prone paper feeds.  Newer 
versions of this top feed printer may share the same problem.

Used 4/4M/4M+ or 5/5M/5M+ series can be found inexpensively; the "M" 
models (for "Mac") have Adobe PostScript.

The LaserJet 4000/4050 is a very nice printer, as is the LaserJet 5000 
if you need 11x17.  Both have a non-Adobe PostScript clone which works 
pretty well.

Internal JetDirect cards are cheap for the 4/5 series, more expensive 
for 4000/5000, but very convenient.

Having PostScript in the printer makes setup easier, and makes printing 
faster in some cases.  If the printer is PCL only, Ghostscript is used 
as a filter, rendering PostScript jobs into PCL.  Sometimes this method 
has speed advantages, also.

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA