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  • I am thinking about buying the Brother MFC-J4540DW printer.

Is it supported by Solus OS?

  • thought I would check my add printer brother driver list:

    looks slim but still doable.

    if you want 2 more cents just from me spending too much time here, HP's are usually the all-in-one's I see the least asked about in forum and most supported. I don't have one, so not advocating a brand here.

I downloaded the installer from your model, as a targz file after I chose "deb" and not "rpm"--they had only those two choices. That's always the option you want last, but most of the time it works. I did not run the installer.

I don't see any 4540-specific packages in the repo but it doesn't mean our un-specific bro driver packages and bro scanner packages won't work. Or your add printer driver list might be populated in the add printer list with the 4540. I wish I knew what was supported inside the un-specific packages. there is a list somewhere.

I think technically you could install any printer/all-in-one in Solus or any distro. It's always easy or a brutal 3-day affair and somewhere in-between and I've had them all.

Many people swear by the middleman cups/631 but that one makes me uncomfortable to so I never tried it.
I know this is muddy but there is always a way.

thought I would check my add printer brother driver list:

looks slim but still doable.

if you want 2 more cents just from me spending too much time here, HP's are usually the all-in-one's I see the least asked about in forum and most supported. I don't have one, so not advocating a brand here.

Brest experience with hp printers and hplip.
Personally would not and do not use any other printers.
I have paid enough tuition.
whoever buys cheap, buys twice

I have a brother MFC it sits on the shelf.
Because I dont print alot anymore but when I needed it was always out of ink, So you say whats the issue
wasnt used but 2 or three times and I need ink again?

Did some investigation and what I found was even tho you have printer turned off it will cycle through
print head cleanings dont remb how often (Prob depends on how much printer is used) so only way prevent that would be uplug it.

I understand the reason for print head cleaning and maybe if it was used more it would not be an issue.

From my adventures in the forum on printers and the Hplaser I have from the late90's with a 10 year old cartridge in it and still prints I tend to sway Hp Because of Hplip and the support for it in solus.

Every body has different needs So its more along those lines and (Alpha) prob made a wise comment and
I can only comment on my issue with my brother printer.

Thanks for your responses. I will check out the HP printers.

    Archdevil Thanks for your responses. I will check out the HP printers.

    It doesn't matter to me what kind of printer you buy, but I thought I'd point out that the Epson Ecoprint printers are wonderful, and not very expensive.

    They fill up their "ink tanks" from bottoes of ink instead of requiring users to purchase disposable cartridges, Mine came with enough ink for about two years of average printing before I need to buy more, and the ink bottles are no more expensive than a set of cartridges.

    This is the model I bought:

      Thats why I got upset with mine to the dreaded Ink devil.
      This winter going research cause I still need a color printer from time to time.

        Axios This winter going research cause I still need a color printer from time to time.

        I don't know where you're located, but if Amazon is an option for you, that would be the place to start your researh. That's where I bought mine, and there is quite a number of different models of the Epson, based on fearures. I went for one that features two-sided printing, and it works quite well.

        One might assume that there's a danger of spilling ink from those bottles, but Epdon solved that problem. It's virtually impossible to even spill a drop as you refill the tanks. Very thoughtful design.

          7 days later

          I just bought a brother laser AIO (DCP3520) and it just works. However, that's pushing twice the price of yours.

          You've two considerations ; refill cost and driver support.

          HP used to be brilliant, 20 years ago I never even looked at another printer company, but now they have a reputation as a gang of thugs. But if you can find a good one not scamming on ink maybe.

          I tend to agree with @WetGeek , I've never had one of these but I have considered them several times, I think Linux support is pretty decent (you'd have to check) and they're economical to run. I've owned 2 or 3 Epson Inkjets in the past and they've worked fine.

          While I'm philosophically opposed the https://631 route (who needs an outside middleman bridge....for anything?) this thread is fascinating for Solus 2024--2025.

          if one of us could crack open the hplips and foomatic packages, there's master brother and canon and epson packages too I think in repo... we could publish an up-to-date list of Solus compatibilities for printers/all-in-ones/and possibly standalone scanners..

          ..this would be a labor of love and herculean...but the "should I buy the XXX printer?" threads would be directly answered. so would the "I have XXX does Solus have support?"

          How revolutionary for any distro to have a real-time list of what printers/scanners it does and does not support. Since a potential Solus user has at least an 85-90% chance of being supported, wouldn't there be a sigh of relief and confidence moving forward, paving the way to an install?
          And if we did not support a model someone has, who cares about judgement? they can move along having dodged a bullet.

          Some of us were in a thread for a Solus user whose Printer was not supported. I felt bad for that person.

          If I had it to do all over again as a newbie I wouldn't have wanted to do factory driver CLI installs which were about 50% effective, or crack open .deb and .rpms and get underwater with that, etc. EDIT: I got what I wanted by petitioning devtracker T83 years ago, but that becomes overwhelming for you all.

          I know dear devs that there are more ideas than there is manpower/girlpower. I'd throw my hat in the ring to help compile a real-time dealio.

          2 cents.
          [If we have such a list then I am ready, as always, to fall on the sword of my ignorance]

            brent
            You drastically underestimate the amount of printers out there and history has shown that just because we add a driver to the repository that should handle a heap of printers some will work, some will not.

            hplip-drivers will have periods where everyone is happy but then it is updated and now some users with specific printers are reporting it no longer works.

            Brother printers are a nightmare...

            brother-dcp135c                  - Printer driver for Brother DCP-135C
brother-dcp1510                  - Printer driver for Brother DCP-1510 and DCP-1512
brother-dcp1610w                 - Printer driver for Brother DCP-1610W
brother-dcp7010                  - Printer driver for Brother DCP-7010
brother-dcp7057                  - Printer driver for Brother DCP-7057
brother-dcp7060d                 - Printer driver for Brother DCP-7060D
brother-dcpj4120dw               - Printer driver for Brother DCP-J4120DW
brother-dcpl2520dw               - Printer driver for Brother DCP-L2520DW
brother-dcpl2530dw               - Printer driver for Brother DCP-L2530DW and DCP-L2532DW
brother-dcpl2540dw               - Printer driver for Brother DCP-L2540DW
brother-hl1110                   - Printer driver for Brother HL-1110
brother-hl1210w                  - Printer driver for Brother HL-1210W and HL-1212W
brother-hl2220                   - Printer driver for Brother HL-2220
brother-hll2300d                 - Printer driver for Brother HL-L2300D
brother-hll2315dw                - Printer driver for Brother HL-L2315DW
brother-hll2320d                 - Printer driver for Brother HL-L2320D
brother-hll2360d                 - Printer driver for Brother HL-L2360D and HL-L2360DW
brother-hll2375dw                - Printer driver for Brother HL-L2375DW
brother-hll2390dw                - Printer driver for Brother HL-L2390DW
brother-hll5100dn                - Printer driver for Brother HL-L5100DN
brother-mfc1910w                 - Printer driver for Brother MFC-1910W.
brother-mfc440cn                 - Printer driver for Brother MFC-440CN
brother-mfc9130cw                - Printer driver for Brother MFC-9130CW
brother-mfc9330cdw               - Printer driver for Brother MFC-9330CDW
brother-mfcj220                  - Printer driver for Brother MFC-J220
brother-mfcj480dw                - Printer driver for Brother MFC-J480DW
brother-mfcl2700dw               - Printer driver for Brother MFC-L2700DW and MFC-L2703DW
brother-mfcl2740dw               - Printer driver for Brother MFC-L2740DW

            Those are just the Brother printers we have specific drivers for, many others will not need a separate driver or will require a driver we have not packaged. Brother keeps adding more unique drivers so supporting them all is never going to happen.

            Most if not all printer drivers have been added by staff who can't possible test/troubleshoot them all. You can't just repackage the .deb/.rpm to an .eopkg and assume it works. Every single one needs to be tested with that hardware.

            Regarding compatibility lists: We already have one for laptops and it is useless https://help.getsol.us/docs/user/hardware/compatibility/laptops No one has added their laptop to that list in years and we have no way of knowing if everything on that list still works without issue.

            Imagine someone buys a laptop or printer because it is on the compatibility list and when they try use it on Solus it no longer works. That would be awful. Users have to just try it and see for hardware they already own or act on recent recommendations from the community.

            With cups/631 generally you are accessing the printer directly on your local network / local machine it is not a middleman its about as direct as you can get.

                Harvey Users have to just try it and see for hardware they already own or act on recent recommendations from the community

                I forgot we had a laptop list. It never occurred to me Solus would not install on some laptops.
                Printers and scanners, though, I like the idea of it. Had no idea we tested all these drivers before packaging. That's a lot of drivers. Thanks for the clarity---it was a pie in the sky notion perhaps.