Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2015 21:19:45 +0000 From: "Thomas Mueller" <mueller6724@bellsouth.net> To: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Subject: Re: cups, and hplip too, fail to recognize printer when I try to print Message-ID: <367626.70666.bm@smtp111.sbc.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: <263570.73680.bm@smtp114.sbc.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <4321846.9hHPBs9sCR@desk8.phess.net> <2166876.6zk2LzEg5t@mercury.ph.man.ac.uk> <2323011.3jCvCUZvQ4@desk8.phess.net> <544000.23949.bm@smtp119.sbc.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <BLU436-SMTP2519826ED84FBA73F5C18B680B40@phx.gbl>
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> The problem has nothing to do with proprietary drivers, etcetera but rather > the extremely fractured system of printing on non MS Windows based systems. I > have had extensive conversations with representatives from Brother and while > they do include PPD's and other assorted files for some of their printers, > they claim it is just not financially feasible to do so for all their > products, ie, scanners, copiers, etcetera due to the multiple platforms that > they would be required to support. They need only support one when working > with MS Windows, If the *nix community would come together and devise one > consistent printing system, they would be inclined to support it. They > informed me that due to the way FreeBSD likes to due things differently than > anyone else, they would never in all likely hood support it directly. This is > not a problem with the manufacturers, it is a fundamental flaw in the way > *nix handles printers, copiers, FAX machines, scanners, etcetera. > You might want to check out this URL: > <http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting>; > Specifically this portion for starters: > PDF is the standard print job format from CUPS 1.6.x on > All important desktop applications (GTK/GNOME, Qt/KDE, > LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Thunderbird, ...) send print jobs in PDF > and not in PostScript any more by default. In addition, a complete CUPS > filter chain to process print jobs in PDF is available and used. > Carmel I tried running the MS-Windows executable installer in Wine under NetBSD-current i386, but it did nothing at all. Subsequently I tried mousing through Wine Explorer to get an idea of what it was like. It seemed to get bogged down after a short time, long file names were truncated, and it subsequently went into a reboot (crash), file system not cleanly dismounted. So it looks like this wine is unstable; I could try in FreeBSD-current i386 and amd64 after I get that built. But I really think I need to build/install a Linux system. It would be helpful if a laser printer/all-in-one would support a standard print file format/interface, like PDF, instead of having their own proprietary PCL. Then such a printer might work in Linux and BSD even without a specific driver. Or am I wrong? Then printing would work even without a specific driver, even from Haiku. I looked at the web link, had to remove < at the beginning and > at the end to make it work. Yes, Unix/quasi-Unix is an anarchy regarding printing interface. HP provided hplip, which can be seen either as an indication that they are helpful to Linux, or as a red flag that their printer interfaces are proprietary and that only their software will work. So now I view hplip as a red flag and intend not to buy anything further from HP, printer or otherwise. Tom
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