They work better in Linux than Windows, not to mention backwards compatibility.
EDIT: I may be wrong about newest printer models, 2020 and above.
EDIT2: Hardware problems are an entirely different issue.
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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I do freelance sysadmin work and Macs are actually the hardest to mass deploy printer configurations to.
Macs are usually the hardest to do of any sort of enterprise management. But printers? Holy fuck, its a nightmare lmao
At my workplace we have sketchy-looking unsigned Applescripts to install printers on Macs. You have to find the right file for the printer you want to install, and run it, or ask IT to do it for you.
It's not ideal, but everyone that tries to improve the printing experience ends up ragequitting. Last I heard, someone in IT was looking into some sort of "print anywhere" solution where you just install one virtual printer driver and print to it, then scan your badge at any printer to see all your print jobs and print them. Not sure what the status is with that though - haven't heard about it for a while.
I thought I saw that Mac has the same CUPS print service/printer manager that Linux uses? In fact it seems like apple developed it. I think that helps enormously with standardizing printer configs. https://www.cups.org/doc/admin.html
I think it does; it's just automated installation of new printers that's an issue as far as I know. Not 100% sure since I'm a software developer rather than an IT support person, so I never deal with stuff like that. (I also haven't used a Mac in 7 years)
Enterprise grade MFD printers often have a lot of features that don't get detected/mapped automatically, such as finishing options like staples and folding, as well as color management. I'm not a printer expert, I try to avoid them when possible, but I know that mass deploying those specific configurations in a safe and sane way seems basically impossible.
On the Fedora-based Linux machines, however, all of that seems to just pop in automatically, so I don't think it's a CUPS problem.
If you need one, staple by hand. If you need 30, make 29 copies with staple, and while they're printing, staple the one by hand.
Or at least that's what I would have said in my IT days lol.
It's my understanding that CUPS was developed at Apple.
Apple bought CUPS then did little with it, causing the main dev to leave and fork the project.