From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Sep 22 01:47:37 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4A1AF106566C for ; Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:47:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DB1948FC12 for ; Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:47:36 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id o8M1lWaU068787; Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:47:32 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.4/8.14.4/Submit) with ESMTP id o8M1lWTB068784; Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:47:32 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:47:32 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: "C. P. Ghost" In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <201009201716.o8KHGpxf013791@mail.r-bonomi.com> <20100921174321.ee8d55ef.freebsd@edvax.de> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.6 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:47:32 -0600 (MDT) Cc: Polytropon , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Robert Bonomi Subject: Re: The nightmarish problem of installing a printer X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:47:37 -0000 On Tue, 21 Sep 2010, C. P. Ghost wrote: > On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 5:43 PM, Polytropon wrote: >> >> In that case, I would ask myself: Why hasn't it been done already? >> If your assumption was right, it would already work. As it currently >> does not work, I would check your assumption. :-) > > I don't know why it hasn't been done up to now. After all, this is nothing > but an exercise in mapping one set of interfaces onto another set of > interfaces. We've done this kind of interface matching with with the > Linuxulator, NDIS is another good example, and the Wine guys are > doing a great job too. I fail to see a compelling TECHNICAL reason > why Windows drivers in general (and windrivers in particular) couldn't > be docked to Unix systems. Of course, legal reasons are a different > matter. Technically possible. The brute-force method would be to run a VM with Windows and the real driver, then just capture input and output. Sure it's tricky, but those are just details. But look at this another way: It's a difficult and demanding programming job, with lots of details that have to be just right, may or may not be easy to find without reverse engineering, and an ongoing support headache that will never end. Kind of like Gutenprint; I wonder if they have a perspective on it. What all this effort achieves is support for the most cost-reduced, bottom-of-the-line printers from every manufacturer. It's probably more effective to put some emphasis in the Handbook on the problems with "host-based" printers (the polite euphemism for Winprinter). The issue is confused by printers that aren't host-based, but use proprietary PDLs. If someone comes up with a working GDI printer emulation layer, that would make a great port.