Which dot-matrix printer will work on my Ubuntu 9.10 machine - Old Hardware Warning

[Rashkae]

Ian Coetzee wrote:
> Hi guys, this might seem like a strange question, but here it goes 
> (warning this message is not for the feint of heart).
> 
> I have an option to aquire one of the folowing dot-matrix printer, 
> however I have been unable to find out whether any of them works on 
> ubuntu (my Epson LQ-400 did not work :( )
> 
>     * Oki Microline 590 Elite
>     * Oki Microline 5590
>     * Oki Microline 390FB
> 
> I have done some googling and tried looking at openprinting.
> 
> In google I got to the OKI website and could not see whether they might 
> work on linux.
> 

I'm sorry I don't have any recent real experience, but I find it 
incredibly hard to believe any of these, including your LQ-400, don't 
work.  As far back as I've ever remembered, all dot-matrix printers have 
built in emulation for a handful of common command languages, as well as 
the ability to work as pure ASCII printing machines (although, I haven't 
configured a text only printer since before cups, I haven no idea how I 
would do that now, unless I was outputting my text files myself right to 
device, or a raw printer queue.)

The only snafu I see as likely is the need to configure your printer 
emulation to the same model as what you configure as your printer type 
in cups.... Example, I believe IBM Proprinter was one of the common 
emulation types.

The pertinent details are whether the printer is standard width or wide 
carriage, and 9-pin vs. 24-pin.  So generally, you only have 4 possible 
configurations to deal with.