Silk Road forums
Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: HeatFireFlame on July 07, 2013, 08:56 pm
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Going to buy a label printer soon for becoming a vendor and looking at the speks it said it worked with windows and mac, But it didnt say anything about linux, Now i dont know if it would work with wine or some sort of program like that but i didnt want to make the dive and buy one and realize it doesnt. Does anyone know if the brother QL-500 works with linux and if it doesnt a similarly priced label printer that does work on linux cheers.
Well actually i would be using tails, But my actual OS is linux, So maybe somebody could clarify to me what would actually be needed here. I would definetely be taking addresses to print via tails.
Cheers all .
Hff
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Take a look at this.
*CLEARNET WARNING*
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/es/os/linux/linux_ql500550.html
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Take a look at this.
*CLEARNET WARNING*
http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/es/os/linux/linux_ql500550.html
thanks.. it isnt listed there so i guess it doesnt work. Correct?
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In short: unless you find someone who claims to have your exact model of printer and that it works in your exact distribution of Linux, you won't know until you hook it up and try it.
I do my best to avoid having to deal with printing in Linux (in fact usually I skip it altogether and literally reboot into Windows just to print something -- no joke), but it's been my experience that it's a) almost always a nightmare, and b) is usually a very picky nightmare.
The problem is that manufacturers don't really give a fuck about Linux because it has an almost meaningless share of the PC market. There's very little profit in it for most products; just because Brother doesn't have a Linux driver for it doesn't necessarily mean it won't work. Just means if it does, it's no thanks to the company. You basically have to rely on random devs writing drivers for their own printers (not that you always get poor quality software that way, mind you). Basically: try using CUPS (Common Unix Printing System I think). If it doesn't print and Brother doesn't have an official Linux driver... well, you can always do what I do: say "fuck it" and just boot into Windows to do it :P
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Remember that there are ways other than Tails to vend safely on SR. Even a minilaptop with an SSD drive could work great with Windows installed on a TrueCrypt boot volume. Wouldn't be a huge investment either + you'd have more printers to choose from. This would also make it possible to have more hidden volumes inside for storing sensitive info. However I never do recommend storing client info anywhere for longer than necessary. There are ways to conduct business without saving any info at all.
But remember always when screwing around with encryption you should be well aware of the laws concerning plausible deniability in your country of residence.
Nothing bad about safely configured tails. :)
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In short: unless you find someone who claims to have your exact model of printer and that it works in your exact distribution of Linux, you won't know until you hook it up and try it.
I do my best to avoid having to deal with printing in Linux (in fact usually I skip it altogether and literally reboot into Windows just to print something -- no joke), but it's been my experience that it's a) almost always a nightmare, and b) is usually a very picky nightmare.
The problem is that manufacturers don't really give a fuck about Linux because it has an almost meaningless share of the PC market. There's very little profit in it for most products; just because Brother doesn't have a Linux driver for it doesn't necessarily mean it won't work. Just means if it does, it's no thanks to the company. You basically have to rely on random devs writing drivers for their own printers (not that you always get poor quality software that way, mind you). Basically: try using CUPS (Common Unix Printing System I think). If it doesn't print and Brother doesn't have an official Linux driver... well, you can always do what I do: say "fuck it" and just boot into Windows to do it :P
God i knew linux would have problems like this, Only problem is, I didnt save a windows partition....... Hmm, im tempted to buy the machine anyway now just to see if it works, however im just going to be starting out so every little bit of cash counts and spending that on a label printer even if its a little amount just doesnt seem worth it.
I dont think brother actually do have an official linux driver, Im not sure but i doubt it.
Yeah linux is a fairly picky nightmare, to say the least SS. Shiit, I might not even be able to print labels proper now, haha what a dick move on my part for not keeping a windows partition.
Remember that there are ways other than Tails to vend safely on SR. Even a minilaptop with an SSD drive could work great with Windows installed on a TrueCrypt boot volume. Wouldn't be a huge investment either + you'd have more printers to choose from. This would also make it possible to have more hidden volumes inside for storing sensitive info. However I never do recommend storing client info anywhere for longer than necessary. There are ways to conduct business without saving any info at all.
But remember always when screwing around with encryption you should be well aware of the laws concerning plausible deniability in your country of residence.
Nothing bad about safely configured tails. :)
Yeah, I am using atm a safely configured version of tails. I cant afford new laptop at the moment i have just bought this one as brand new, Thats what im looking to do, not save any info at all just get it straight onto the labels, and if i did have to store it, only keep it until it is printed and then delete it.
Linux is bloody awkward for things like this, its the same as trying to play games on linux. bastard to install etc.
cheers all
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Buy ZEBRA brand printer like LP2844. In Tails to add a printer it is listed ZEBRA ZPL and ZEBRA EPL which are the two protocol this printer users. ZEBRA is a very common printer for labels. It works for all the shipping services.