Hardware companies that support Linux well are hard to find. HP's printer division has gone out of its way to support Linux with its software. Every HP printer I've tried has always worked with the HPLIP drivers. Today I picked up a HP Photosmart D110A Wireless e-All-in-One Printer (CN731A#B1H) printer from Best Buy to replace an HP printer that is several years old and finally stopped working.

Now, I've had issues with Best Buy in the past, but I've got the Reward Zone credit card and having racked up $40 in store credit from using the credit card, so I figured I'd put that toward a printer. Just something simple. The printer I got was selling for about $70 bucks, which means I took it home for $30 after cashing in the credit.

The set-up was surprisingly easy. I turned it on, it printed a test-page which it then scanned to align the print heads. Then it asked to pick the wireless router and had me enter the WPA password. It then connected to the internet and, with permission, downloaded and installed a firmware update. It then printed out a page telling me how to register the printer online such that I can now email it documents to print. Strange, but true. Once connected to the network, configuring the printer in Ubuntu was a breeze in 10.10. My wife's laptop was a little tricky since she has a slightly older version of Ubuntu and I had to install the drivers from HP's page. That took a few minutes, but worked fine.

Basically, it prints and works great with no wires needed. That's handy. Any time a hardware company has top-notch support for Linux, they become the default choice for Linux users everywhere. I only wish more companies realized this.