Anecdotally, I don’t think anyone who isn’t interested in computers has ever had an easy time setting up a printer.
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I haven't had issues using a printer from my mac in about 25 years. I haven't tried from Windows, but I still needed to find and download a driver when I last tried from linux.
I brought a black-and-white laser printer 20 years ago and, much like you, I haven't had a single problem since.
My parents, in the meantime, have probably gone through 6 or 7 printers. For a truly cursed printing experience, here's my advice:
* First of all, make sure it's an inkjet. They give the best colour print quality, you see.
* Second, always be on the look out for a good deal. Why buy a $400 printer when you can buy a $50 one? As far as you know it'll be junk in 2-3 years anyway.
* Third, get a wifi printer that doesn't have a screen, and make sure your wifi router doesn't support WPS. If the printer comes with an app, make sure it no longer works on your dated smartphone. Install the printer at the absolute edge of your wifi coverage.
* Fourth, make sure it's a multifunction printer/scanner/copier, and always install the manufacturer's full suite of software. You want to be able to access all the features, don't you?
Just follow these simple steps and before you know it, you'll have empathy with the many people who say printers suck.
Ubuntu has worked out of the box with every printer I've thrown at it since 2008 or so when I switched to Ubuntu. Literally tens of disparate printers from all manner of expensive laser printers to cheap no name ink jets. Both using USB and network interface.
Same here. My Mac and iPhone find my WiFi printer with ease. The only issues I have are printer related, WiFi disconnects and waking on sleep.
It’s been less than 25 years, but I haven’t had issues printing from a Linux desktop in a long while. It’s as smooth as my apple devices
I haven’t used a printer in ages but I just got a Brother laser printer last month. I plugged it in and pressed the wifi button on the printer, then I pressed the WPS button on the router and it connected. The printer then instantly showed up in the printer list on my MacBook.
I don’t know how it works and I didn’t need to. It just worked. Optionally I could have also plugged the printer in with a usb cable which I assume also just works.
I think I the same Laser Printer The Brother HL-L23600W. Windows? No problem. Chrombeook? No problem. Mac mini? No problem. Rocky Linux 9. Problem. I added the driver using the GUI, it finds it. I send a print job and sits there pretty doing nothing. No even a print queue is displayed. I re-installed the driver several times without luck. I tried cups. No dice. I believe the origin of open source was a guy wanted to code a printer driver for his own system and the printer company gave him the code and said: "go for it". Because they did not have time for that. So no, HL-L23600W The Brother laser printer it won't 'just work' for Rocky Linux 9 kernel 5.14.0-162.18.1.el9_1.x86_64 The only gadget that I own that just works is my Nintendo Switch.
Brother laser printers are such a sublimely simple experience. Quite honestly a contender for the best piece of computing-adjacent technology I have ever owned.
The miracle of mDNS and how it pissed off a bunch of Active Directory admins.
Perhaps so, but nonetheless the chronology of this hassle can be divided into two eras: our own ("USB") and that horrific prior era (LPT1:, COM1:, COM2:, ...)