Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsSatisfactory printer that can even work on Linux.
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2016
Satisfactory printer that can even work on Linux.
MY OPINION
I like this printer. It is worth the money I spent. I plan to keep it.
When I purchase an electro-mechanical gizmo like this, I see it as a risk. I could receive a malfunctioning unit and get the evasive run-around from customer support. That could have happened to me, but I got lucky (so far).
IMAGE QUALITY
The image quality is by no means perfect. At least this is so for someone like me who knows very little about advanced image control techniques (such as adjusting my computer’s color profiles and so on) that may radically improve the image quality from this printer.
Image problem 1: Printed images are darker than what I see on my video monitor. Printed images are also darker than a printed image of the same file, as printed by a professional art printing company (such as Fineartamerica.com).
Image problem 2: Some shades of green get printed more similar to one another than they’re supposed to be. So far, I have only noticed this problem pertaining to greens. But shades of other colors may also exhibit this problem, for all I know and have yet to discover.
Image problem 3: Glossy finish means the printed images will have restricted viewing angles on penalty of seeing too much glare from reflected light sources. But I suppose that’s just how it goes with all color laser/led printers.
Image problem 4: If one does observe the print from a glaring angle, one can notice straight lines in the image, artifacts of the paper transport mechanisms. But these lines are not streaks, and vanish from sight when viewing the image without glare.
To spite these problems, the image quality satisfies me. I only plan to print copies of my abstract art and promotional fliers on occasion. Color faithfulness is not a priority for this.
And again, the color and brightness accuracy problems might be solvable by an expert in digital image management, which I’m not.
PAPER HANDLING
I’ve printed about 20 sheets so far, and one got a small “dog-ear” fold in a corner. I find that acceptable.
INSTALLATION
My unit is configured as a local network printer for about 10 computers throughout my apartment. It uses the wireless network interface.
I was a bit baffled for awhile about how to connect the printer to the wifi. But printer setup menus tend to baffle me in general. The real mystery for me is always how to enter the wifi password or “key”. I have a vague memory of having to consult the internet to discover how to do it, as it seems I didn’t find any instructions in the documentation that came with the printer. Oh well. I got it done.
Connecting the printer to my computers was an adventure, not because of any serious problems. But because I’m the curious sort who wants to see whether I can connect the printer to a variety of operating systems. I successfully connected the printer to Windows 7 (32 and 64), Windows XP (32), OSX 10.5, and OSX 10.4, Linux Ubuntu 14.4.04 (64), Linux LXLE (32). (No luck with Windows 98. Ha ha.) The real adventure was the Ubuntu and LXLE. That took research.
***Windows 7***
Using the installation CD, Windows 7 connections went well. Except, for some mysterious reason, on my apartment-mate’s Windows 7 computer. After the install wizard completed, no icon for the printer appeared in the printer’s window. So I had Windows do the installing instead of the CD. That worked.
I refused to install the additional maintenance software, by un-checking all the boxes for such things in the final screen of the install wizard. I read somewhere that installing such stuff can set the printer to accept only proprietary Dell toner cartridges that are hella more expensive.
***Windows XP***
Ok. So, similarly with the Windows XP connections. Install CD does fine.
***OSX***
The OSX 10 connections require one to first run the install wizard on CD, then have OSX install the printer. Weird. The OSX installer on the Dell CD does not run automatically. You must open the CD, then open the folder appropriate to your version of OSX, then double click the .mpkg file to start that wizard. When that wizard completes, go to Apple Icon>System Preferences>Print & Fax. There you will find your printer listed. Click on it and install it for real.
***Linux***
There are no official Linux drivers for this Dell 1760nw. But since this Dell 1760nw is really just a re-packaged Xerox Phaser 6000B, the Linux drivers for that Xerox Phaser 6000B can be used to do the job. You just need to know the secrets of getting and installing that driver.
I therefore present those secrets, as instructions for the absolute Linux nubie. The instructions are for Ubuntu, but other Debain derivatives like LXLE seem to work very similarly.
>>>If you have a 64-bit Ubuntu:<<<
Start the text input (command line) terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T at the same time.
A dark window will pop up and you will see the command line prompt there, a string of characters containing the user name and computer name, ending with something like “~$”.
Copy the following line of text from this document by highlighting it and pressing Ctrl+C at the same time:
sudo apt-get install libcupsimage2:i386
In the terminal window, paste the line at the terminal prompt by pressing Shift+Ctrl+V at the same time.
You should see that text in the terminal now, just after the prompt. If not, try the previous steps again until you do.
Now press Enter.
The terminal should now ask you for your password. Type your password and then press Enter.
Lines of text now appear in the terminal window, telling you it is doing things.
Eventually it shows a message about the amount of killobites or megabites it will use and asks whether you wish to continue. Type the letter Y and press Enter.
More lines of text appear until it shows the regular prompt again.
Now there are two more command lines to copy from this document and paste at the terminal prompt.
First, this one:
sudo apt-get install lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 lib32ncurses5 lib32bz2-1.0
[Update: for Ubuntu 16.04, use: sudo apt-get install lib32stdc++6 lib32z1 lib32ncurses5]
...and press Enter.
More lines of text…
Again, answer “Y”.
Then, this one:
sudo service cups restart
… and again press Enter.
2 or 3 lines of text and it returns to the regular prompt again.
You can close the terminal window now. Proceed to follow all the instructions in the 32-bit section below.
>>>If you have a 32-bit Ubuntu:<<<
Use your web browser (such as FireFox) to go to the following web page:
[Amazon deleted the link from this review. So if you need it, contact me.]
Click on the link that says:
Linux CUPS DEB print driver
...because this is the Linux driver “package” file.
On the page that loads, click the “accept” button to start the download.
Using your file browser, navigate to the folder into which that driver package file was downloaded. It is called “6000_6010_deb_1.01_20110210.zip”. It is a compressed file that needs to be extracted.
To extract it, Left-click the package file (or Right-click it if your left mouse button is your primary mouse button) to get the little “context” menu, then select and click “Extract Here”.
This produces a new folder called “deb_1.01_20110210”. Open that folder.
Now you see the actual driver package file called “xerox-phaser-6000-6010_1.0-1_i386.deb”.
Double-click that package file.
On Ubuntu systems, the Ubuntu Software Center window will now pop up. Wait for this window to display the information about the driver package. Then click the “Install” button.
You will at some point [except for Ubuntu 16.04] see a warning message about the driver package being of “bad quality”. On this message window, click the button that says “Ignore and Install”. The warning message is irrelevant in this case. Near as I can tell, it has to do with Xerox not identifying the author of the driver in a way that complies with Ubuntu rules. In any case, use of this driver has been implicitly sanctioned by members of the Ubuntu community forum who know about the warning.
If you are asked for your password, type it in and click the “Authenticate” button.
The Ubuntu Software Center program may or may not give you obvious confirmation that the driver package has been installed, other than the little “progress bar” completing and vanishing. In fact, after installation, the “Install” button may remain clickable, as if you have not really installed it. That's ok.
Now you can shut the Ubuntu Software Center window.
Now open the System Settings window (by clicking the side-bar icon of the cog with the red-handled wrench superimposed on it). In the middle section called “Hardware”, click on the “Printers” icon. Then click the fat, green plus symbol to add a printer.
The “Select Device” window will pop up. Click on the list item that says something like “Dell C1760nw Color ...” to highlight-select it. If your C1760nw is a network printer, then click on the list item that says “Network Printer” first, wait for the sub list to appear, then click on “Dell C1760nw Color...” to highlight-select it. Then click the “Forward” button.
A window will pop up saying it is “Searching for drivers.” It will vanish soon because it can't find any drivers automatically.
Then the “Choose Driver” window appears. It gives you the opportunity to pick a driver from a database, which is presented as a double level list. The first level is the manufacturer, or what it calls “Makes”. Scroll down to the bottom and click on “Xerox” and click on the “Forward” button. The second level is the “Models”. Pick “Phaser 6000b” (the “b” may be capitalized) and click on the “Forward” button. If “Phaser 6000b” is not on that list, then something went wrong with the installation of the driver package. Try repeating that part and then see if it gets on the list.
Now a “Describe Printer” window pops up, allowing you to name the printer as you please. Do so, or not, and then click the “Apply” button. (Note that it won't let you put spaces in the name. But you can use underscores to represent spaces, as most Linux geeks do.)
If successful, the process will notify you of the success by showing you a printer properties window that has, among other things, a button on it you can click to get a test page. Go ahead and click it. Retrieve the test page. It is now installed.
