[geeks] Brother laser printers (specifically the 2170W)?

[James Fogg]

> What are everyone's opinions on Brother's laser printers? Buy.com has
> the Brother HL-2170W on sale for $102 shipped[0] ($92 for new Google
> Checkout users) this week and I'm considering picking one up. It's
> supposed to have great *nix support through CUPS and it has a built in
> print server, both of which are pluses for me.  From what I've read
> there are a couple of gotchas[1] with the 2170W, but they shouldn't be
> an issue for me.  For light home printing use, is there anything about
> Brother printers I should be aware of before I go ahead and order
this?


In my mix we have a Brother All-in-one printer (fax, scanner, printer,
dishwasher & vacuum cleaner). It has performed fantastically over 5
years now. In our model, the toner supply is separate from the drum, and
it's a long-life drum. This makes routine supplies cheaper. This printer
gets heavy use, and it handles odd paper well (like coated label stock).
It also has a nearly flat feed path. Your model may vary.

As for multi-OS support, I have no idea. It is a USB printer, but
through the local workstation I shared it to my Windows AD server, which
I then shared as a network resource, and I print to it using Linux.