From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Wed Sep 22 18:40:52 2010
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
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 A12281065672
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:40:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gull@gull.us)
Received: from mail-ey0-f182.google.com (mail-ey0-f182.google.com
	[209.85.215.182])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3F4818FC0A
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:40:51 +0000 (UTC)
Received: by eyx24 with SMTP id 24so296909eyx.13
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:40:51 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.213.6.203 with SMTP id a11mr1113274eba.38.1285180850729; Wed,
	22 Sep 2010 11:40:50 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.14.29.76 with HTTP; Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:40:50 -0700 (PDT)
X-Originating-IP: [69.91.158.134]
In-Reply-To: <r314ps-1064i-7010CD50729840EFB7791BB041B9ADC3@Blue-Star-2.local>
References: <AANLkTin7+L3V5q7028KF_cdoZncjsj-KWRE2zdwLUrNk@mail.gmail.com>
	<r314ps-1064i-7010CD50729840EFB7791BB041B9ADC3@Blue-Star-2.local>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:40:50 -0700
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=EWxGvNkad2owQ+-vAgj_ri0MODDGiMe8NBfCV@mail.gmail.com>
From: David Brodbeck <gull@gull.us>
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
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 <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:40:52 -0000

On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 11:36 AM, Peter A. Giessel <pgiessel@mac.com> wrote=
:
> The question you are missing is *HOW* does MacOS X print to all these
> "cheap printers"?
>
> Lets take a couple of screen captures from Mac OS X.6 (Apple's latest
> released
> OS) with all current updates installed:
> http://giessel.org/pictures/OSX_printers1.png
> http://giessel.org/pictures/OSX_printers2.png
>
> Hmm, CUPS, and Gutenprint.... =A0Are these methods available for FreeBSD?

In some cases, yes.  In other cases, where the manufacturer is
supplying an OS X driver that doesn't come with CUPS/Gutenprint, the
additional driver bits may not be FreeBSD-compatible.

I may be the only person here who actually likes CUPS.  Yes, it's
complicated from a software standpoint, but configuring it is much
less opaque.  Printers really are complicated, so having a GUI to help
set them up is nice.  I remember having to manually write and debug
filter scripts and edit /etc/printcap by hand, and I'm quite glad
those days are over.