Printer advice

[Polytropon]

On Sun, 14 May 2017 08:05:50 +0000, Thomas Mueller wrote:
> My luck with HP has been bad, enough to dissuade me from buying
> any more HP products.

I always suggest to check http://hplipopensource.com/ _before_
actually buying something.



> I have HP LaserJet Professional M1212nf MFP, and the first
> several attempts were fruitless, in both NetBSD and FreeBSD.

Did you use the (most current) CUPS and hplip software?

http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/models/laserjet/hp_laserjet_professional_m1212nf_mfp.html

The following addition is provided:

	This printer REQUIRES a downloadable driver plug-in,
	which is required to enable print, fax or scan support.
	Use hp-setup to install the printer, and to download
	and install the plug-in. Driver plug-ins are released
	under a proprietary (non-open) license and are not part
	of the HPLIP tarball release.

Did you pay attention to this nonstandard part?



> I finally got it to print in NetBSD through cups with a special
> PPD file, think FreeBSD might also work with the same PPD file.

Yes, the first P in PPD means "portable". :-)



> Only Ethernet worked, USB didn't.

I never had any problems with HP networking, but of course I'm
just considering ye olden HP Laserjet office (!) printers (which
do only print, nothing else). ;-)



> I am rebuilding FreeBSD installations after getting nonbootable
> results updating NetBSD (version 7.99.71 of current branch).

It's worth a try. If you have a PPD, it will provide good help.



> I never got scanning or fax from computer to work.

Scanning is not a problem once you have installed hplip and SANE.
Fax... who uses fax anymore? ;-)



> One adverse factor is the need for a proprietary binary plugin.

Definitely.



> I was on Xerox website and more favorably impressed, but didn't
> buy the printer because I already have that HP multifunction
> printer.

It's always worth checking device compatibility first. The less
obstacles are mentioned ("needs firmware upload" etc.), the less
trouble you will have. I know it's not easy today to find a 
printer which will reliably work, but if you do some research
beforehand, you can actually get a good printer.



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...