i have a working printer. what i dont have is a way to make it work with linux (or at least one that wont make me tear my face off of frustration.)

glaeven

@Matt. Right on. Good for you. Enjoy that extra cash.

Michael@ Awareness * Connection

I wouldn't be interested in getting to far into one of those as they're built to be disposable. And those more disposed to mechanical DIY may be able to save some dough, and make our landfills fill up a bit less quickly.

The way printers are marketed seems like it is creating a gigantic, worrisome amount of waste. This is a good stop gap measure, but I wonder what we could do, if anything, to influence how they are built, or how much of them is recyclable.

Michael@ Awareness * Connection

What a coincidence! I used this site just yesterday to find out that I could fix a problem with our laser printer myself for about $41, whereas it would have costed $500+ to have Xerox fix it.

Matt

@glaeven: I have a working flatbed scanner that is plugged into my Windows desktop... however I want to be able to plug it into my MacBook laptop, and there is no driver for MAC :(

I wonder if anyone out there is making Mac drivers for such things? My laptop will not recognize it when I plug her in (Simple USB plug-in).

MCWHAMMER

And I happen to be in the middle or soldering a usb cable directly into the printer circuit board because the plug was completely destroyed.

swdriver

@MCWHAMMER: What's the model number of the scanner you have?

Jrsy

I mistyped the URL as [www.fixyourprinter.com]
and wouldn't you know it.. owned by Xerox.. .make sure you go to your the right URL.. [www.fixyourownprinter.com]

rreimund

@Jrsy: Compaq S200. I bought it on eBay, just because I needed a cheap flatbed, and it has come in very handy. It's an old model (I think Compaq is HP now? Not sure), but it works as well as I need. I'd love to find a way to get it working on my Mac.

MCWHAMMER

Electrical tape over the ink sensor? Damn, and I just bought a new toner cartridge for the Brother, too.

infmom

I've used bought their fix-it-yourself kit for HP LaserJet 5L/6L two times (to fix two different printers). The problem was that the original rubber pads wore out so that the printer fails to feed paper reliably. The kit comes with replacement parts and a detailed video (your choice: MPG on CD-R or VHS) showing in detail how to perform the repair. I made that repair when my LaserJet 5L was 5 years old. Now, another 5 years later, the printer is still chugging along without a problem!

Posco Grubb

@glaeven: I feel your pain. I have two options with my Canon printer when using Ubuntu: horrible print quality or slightly better print quality using five times as much ink.

Interesting that FixYourOwnPrinter.com doesn't offer a kit for Canon printers. That's gotta be one of the most popular brands out there.

eeefresh

Too late, just bought a new one! If anyone wants my half-working Epson Stylus Photo R320, they can have it for the price of shipping...

unique172

I wonder if Lifehacker could do a special topic or forum or poll on least expensive/most reliable printers. Lately there seems to be a debate about whether laser printers really save much money. And the Kodak inkjets have cheaper ink but some say they tend to clog. Possible for a poll/forum?

Durbrow

When I bought my printer I was sure to check that it supports Linux. My Samsung ML-2010R works great with any distro I've tried (openSUSE, Ubuntu and Fedora).

Mikko / [lightlinux.blogspot.com]

MikJP

i have the printer in the photo - brother hl-2040. don't buy it. if you bought it, don't bother trying to save money fixing it - just buy something else. if you're not replacing toner, you're replacing the drum unit - it's a constant headache.

@Durbrow: depending on your printing needs, imho, the best/most reliable printer is hp's officejet pro series. i have a 4050 - the thing is a workhorse. it would set you back ~$1500 if you bought it new a decade ago - now you can probably pick one up for $100.

mac-phisto

It's pretty much slashdotted right now.

Deadhacker

@mcwhammer: You should try Vuescan from www.hamrick.com. You can download a trail version and see if it works with your scanner on the Mac or you can check to see if your scanner is on their compatibility list. It's great software, full of features and controls and very inexpensive. One license allows you to install on 4 computers, Mac or Windows. Also, they have educational discounts for their software.

I have used the software with various Canon and HP Scanjets (since HP abandoned the Mac software) scanners. Never a problem getting them to work. I even control a SCSI Scanjet connected to a G4 via firewire cable with the software. Nothing else recognized the scanner.

ivantaylor

Great site. Lifehacker once again reads our minds (scary). I just fixed my Lexmark Laser duplexer which had been broken for a week based on some great tips in their forum. If you're handy, highly recommended.

RenwickLion