Cheap Linux Printer
 

Ok, so I want to be able to print while in Vegas. While the timeshare has free wi-fi, they do not have free printing. In order to print anything, I need to use the business center, which charges $7-8 for 15 minutes.

Since I may want to print coupons, itineraries, etc, I am considering buying and packing a small printer. I can buy a 'travel printer', but these are expensive and meant to be run off of battery power. All I need is a small cheap printer. I already own an all-in-one for home duty.

The added difficulty is that it should be Linux compatible.

The Canon Pixma iP1800 was my first choice. It was $50, and had a nice rectangle shape. It was only when I went looking for Linux drivers that I found that I couldn't find information which gave me %100 certainty it would work with Ubuntu, or even Debian.

I started looking at HP, since they have HPLIP, which supports many HP printers on Linux.

So I started looking at the HP Deskjet D1341. At $70, it's $20 more than the Canon, which is the price I'm paying for peace of mind with the driver installation.

But I also found the HP Deskjet 3940, this has a similar shell to the 1341, but it's half the price, mostly because of poor reviews about the size of the ink cartridge. However, it looks like it uses the same cartridges as the 1341. I don't understand why one printer would get tagged with that issue and another would not.

So, for about $30 I can get a Linux-capable printer which may be more a print hog than it's newer cousin.

Since I will probably print less than th 150 pages rated for this beast on my trip, I think this will resolve my issue.

Can anyone think why I should pay the extra $39 for the 1341?

This is one of the advantages of using hotels rather than timeshares. In all of the Vegas hotel rooms I've stayed in, the hotel supplies a manual printing device for all those smaller, quick jobs. They even supplied paper. It was really helpful. The staff told me that it was actually a hotel tradition to supply these things.

The only hard part was remembering how to operate the device. If I recall, it had a spring-loaded mechanism with a catch, so that when you pressed on one end of it, the ink transfer device would appear at the other. Then you'd move the device around to create the letters and numbers you wanted to print.

Printing with this thing was slower than any other printer I've ever seen. But it was free, extremely lightweight, highly compatible and highly available. Man you should check into it... I would stay at the hotels from now on.

I stayed at the airport hotel and they had a free business center available where you could direct your output. All of the hotels I've stayed at for business trips had free business centers.

I think it sucks that the timeshare doesn't have this feature, but I'm not dropping it just for that.

I decided to buy the printer. It was $32 with the 'processing fee'.

OMG, don't forget to pack the paper! You should probably put a full pack in, because you know, if you just pack a few sheets they'll get bent.

You might look into the ink transfer device I was mentioning anyway, as a backup.

I found an Amazon link for it

A very small point in his defense, you can't "write down" a coupon, the company will want an actual printed copy.

But Rich, you really think you're going to print and use $32 worth of different coupons? I mean each one is going to be, what, $1-2 off? And these coupons on whatever site will be unavailable to print from home the day before your trip?

Never underestimate Rich's ability to play the system. I'd bet he at least breaks even on this trip alone.

Yeh, but if I'm going to Vegas, it had better not be a lot like work.

Rich's playing the system is his avocation.

Try checking out http://www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi

And I will, but theres always last minute opportunities. And in some cases, the coupons could be worth $10, 15, or even $45 dollars for 'buy one, get one' offers. It's a lot easier to print them from a hotel room then go over to the venue and hope they have them when you need them.

I might even buy some gift certificates from restaurant.com.

Plus itineraries, boarding passes, maps, etc. I just don't feel like having to spend $8 to rent a computer for 15 minutes every time I need a hard copy. There is a concierge, but they don't have 'everything'.

It's not like I'm disposing of the printer afterwards. It will be good to have a Linux printer for the laptop at home.