[buug] Buug Digest, Vol 50, Issue 12

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Zeke Krahlin (pewterbot9 at gmail.com):

> Thanks much for all those excellent recommendations, Rick. I know
> they'll come in handy somewhere down the line, 'cause I can only put
> off for so long, w/o doing my own printing.

You're very welcome.  I have to admit that I boggle, every time I see
people boggling over how to select hardware that is (1) Linux-compatible, 
(2) inexpensive, and (3) a newly released model that is available only
"new" on the retail market.  

It's usually laptops, but the same principle applies to (various types
of) printers:  Why not discard criterion #3, since doing so makes the
other two massively easier to satisfy?

I almost never see people do that.  Instead, they scrimp and save to buy
some extremely new, expensive unit, then post complaints about how Linux
support lags for its newly-created chipset, printer language, etc.  And
I find myself thinking "Well, what'd you expect?"

Buying used is (speaking generally) smarter, not just because you get a
huge price break, but also because you can ensure that you're buying 1-2
year old chipsets that, by now, have rock-solid Linux support in
released distros.

-- 
Cheers,                      Notice:  The value of your Hofstadter's Constant 
Rick Moen                    (the average amount of time you spend each month 
rick at linuxmafia.com          thinking about Hofstadter's Constant) has just 
McQ!  (4x80)                 been adjusted upwards.