I have a Dell 922 printer. I cannot for the life of me get it to work in Mandrake 2005. I have searched for "Linux Dell 922 driver" and can't find anything. Also, in the add printer options, Dell is not an option. Since I know they are made by Lexmark, I tried the "generic Lexmark" option, but that isn't working. How can I get it to work?
Short answer: you probably cannot get it working. To be bluntly honest, Lexmark printers are probably the worst in the world. Since they have no hardware formatter like most printers, they are driven 100% by their Windows drivers which, by the way, contain spyware. There is actually a class-action lawsuit against Lexmark for this reason. It is true that there are reverse-engineered Lexmark drivers for certain Lexmark printers, but since they are reverse-engineered from closed specs they are not perfect. My opinion is that Lexmark printers suck on any platform. For that reason, I recommend a new printer. My home LAN uses an HP Laserjet 1100 and an HP Deskjet 5850, both of which are fully supported in Linux, and they work great. I realize you probably got this printer bundled with a PC, so you didn't have to the opportunity to research it before purchasing it. But just doing 5 minutes worth of research before you buy your next printer to confirm its Linux compatibility and you shouldn't have any problems in the future. Heck, it never hurts to research hardware before you buy it anyway.
With low-end printers like that the profit is made off of the overpriced ink cartidges, not so much the hardware itself.
