Hi there!

I’m looking into getting myself a good printer and I am wondering if I need to install some platform-specific drivers for them to run. I am running Debian 12 (GNU/Linux) and I am afraid that I must run some proprietary blob to connect to the printer.

Could someone share their experience please? Even if you don’t use Linux, your feedback would be very appreciated!

(Also, while you are at it, please share some recommendations for printers, I don’t really know where to go (>v<) Have about ±500€ )

  • ErasmusEnglish
    2•5 hours ago

    OP after I got my printer and got it printing (using a thumb drive for files for a bit) I setup a Raspberry PI running Octoprint on my network. Basically the printer hooks to the Pi and it serves as a print server of sorts. You can then send files to the Pi, configure it to watch your prints remotely (with a camera) and do some pretty cool things with it.

    There are tons of videos on YouTube of course. Just something to think about.

    • Smorty [she/her]OP
      1•4 hours ago

      Hey, that’s really cool! So with a VPN, I could steer this thing form anywhere! That ks for telling me.

      • ErasmusEnglish
        1•2 hours ago

        There is actually an app that will let you remotely view and start/stop the printer without the use of the VPN.

        My wife often works from home and is tech savvy so I have no problems running prints and checking in remotely and I often hear of others doing the same; however…

        I would not recommend doing it without someone handy. Just my two cents. It’s not that someone could hack in - it’s that you are dealing with temps in the hundreds of degrees Celsius. While I don’t recall of these things catching fire, the thought that it could burn my house down has more than once crossed my mind.