One of the main reasons for people not adopting Linux on the desktop was its inability to play games. However, Valve Inc., has made great strides in bringing gaming to the Linux desktop. The other main disadvantage was the lack of driver support by leading printer manufacturers. This also does not seem to be the case now.
Canon Pixma 2770
Now that I am building a house, I need to scan and print a lot of documents. I chose a printer brand that seemed to support Linux. They had some wiki pages that talked about a driver that needs to be installed. The model that I wanted had a display (useful for troubleshooting) but did not have wireless connectivity (creates a vulnerability)). It was not among the list of supported models but I decided to take a chance anyway.
The Canon 2770 printer and scanner was recognized by Linux with a driverless driver, as soon as I plugged in the USB. I was thrilled, as no driver installation or configuration was necessary. The printer is fast and has separate ink tanks for C, M, Y and K colours. It is not the old slow type that uses only two ink cartridges - one for black and one for colour.
The printer works with all applications that can print. The default scanner application in the Linux desktop had no problems recognizing the scanner in the printer. It was all very easy and hassle-free.
The printer supports regular A4 size paper and 4x6-inch photo paper. I have a bundle of A5 paper that I had bought by mistake and wondered what to do with it. The printer showed an error message every time I tried to print with it. Eventually, I discovered that the printer ignores the error and prints without trouble if I subsequently press the OK button.
If CUPS is installed, you can manage print jobs inside a browser at
http://localhost:631/
DISADVANTAGES
The printer requires thick and expensive paper for colour printouts. Ordinary photocopy paper become soggy with ink and get stuck inside the printer. It also gets clogged with A5 paper if you use normal or high finish. Both problems can be fixed if you use draft finish or use expensive paper.
THANKS
I do not know who I should thank for enabling printing in Linux — FOSS developers or the printer manufacturer.
LAPTOP
I bought a laptop from a local store at almost the same price as online (Diwali discount). After my horrible experience with Acer, I am limiting my online purchases to small-ticket items. The battery is from BYD. To limit the wear, I have configured the battery (in the BIOS) to be charged only between 50% and 80% to limit the charge cycles and prolong the life. My old laptop is still on its original battery and has no wear. In my other laptops, the battery gradually but steadily lost capacity and became unusable eventually. In Windows, I shrank the Windows partition and created new partitions for Linux. Now, the new laptop and printer are all working fine.