From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sun May 14 23:07:02 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 85DCFD6DD65 for ; Sun, 14 May 2017 23:07:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mueller6722@twc.com) Received: from dnvrco-oedge-vip.email.rr.com (dnvrco-outbound-snat.email.rr.com [107.14.73.226]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "dnvrco-oedge-vip.email.rr.com", Issuer "dnvrco-oedge-vip.email.rr.com" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 65B6B1930 for ; Sun, 14 May 2017 23:07:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mueller6722@twc.com) Received: from [74.134.208.22] ([74.134.208.22:13975] helo=localhost) by dnvrco-omsmta02 (envelope-from ) (ecelerity 3.6.9.48312 r(Core:3.6.9.0)) with ESMTP id 01/09-29375-F03E8195; Sun, 14 May 2017 23:06:55 +0000 Date: Sun, 14 May 2017 23:06:56 +0000 Message-ID: <01.09.29375.F03E8195@dnvrco-omsmta02> From: "Thomas Mueller" To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Printer advice References: <20170514171907.180a99c2.freebsd@edvax.de> X-RR-Connecting-IP: 107.14.64.7:25 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 14 May 2017 23:07:02 -0000 from Polytropon: > On Sun, 14 May 2017 08:05:50 +0000, Thomas Mueller wrote: > > My luck with HP has been bad, enough to dissuade me from buying > > any more HP products. > I always suggest to check http://hplipopensource.com/ _before_ > actually buying something. I believe I did that. > > I have HP LaserJet Professional M1212nf MFP, and the first > > several attempts were fruitless, in both NetBSD and FreeBSD. > Did you use the (most current) CUPS and hplip software? > http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/models/laserjet/hp_laserjet_professional_m1212nf_mfp.html > The following addition is provided: > This printer REQUIRES a downloadable driver plug-in, > which is required to enable print, fax or scan support. > Use hp-setup to install the printer, and to download > and install the plug-in. Driver plug-ins are released > under a proprietary (non-open) license and are not part > of the HPLIP tarball release. > Did you pay attention to this nonstandard part? Sure I saw that. But hp-setup always failed when attempting to download that plug-in. This is part of the reason, along with poor HP support policy, why I don't want to ever again buy anything from HP. How would I know before buying another printer if it requires a proprietary binary plug-in? A few years ago, on visiting HP website, this printer was past end-of-life, and no drivers were available even for MS-Windows. So I can try, but would be very surprised if that proprietary binary plug-in were even available. But I think I still have some old stuff for MS-Windows on hard drive. I looked in /usr/ports/print/hplip-plugin/pkg-plist, and couldn't see anything for my HP model. But hplipopensource was still alive (and well?). > > I finally got it to print in NetBSD through cups with a special > > PPD file, think FreeBSD might also work with the same PPD file. > Yes, the first P in PPD means "portable". :-) I think my printing success was due to cups; hplip seemed to play no part. > Scanning is not a problem once you have installed hplip and SANE. > Fax... who uses fax anymore? ;-) Scanning didn't work even with hplip and/or sane. Now I wonder if, when I get to needing another cartridge, the toner for my printer model will still be available. If not, I will consider myself blessed because that would mean I can give up on this printer in favor of something better. Besides FreeBSD, I will also have chances with NetBSD and a future Linux installation. I tried copying my custom NetBSD 7.99.71 kernels for amd64 to i386 by NFS from the Intel Ivy Bridge computer to my other (Intel Sandy Bridge) computer, and they booted successfully: a great surprise after failing on Intel Ivy Bridge computer. Tom