[Wylug-discuss] RE: CUPS -aarrrgggg + hp-ijs

[Roger Leigh]

"ALLEN, David" <David.ALLEN at eur.crowncork.com> writes:

[/Please/ do not top-post.  Thanks.]

> Thanks for all your comments, but after spending (wasting) several days
> trying to get it to work, I have given up on hpijs. I found a postscript ppd
> which works OK.

Great.  If the printer is a PostScript printer, that's the best
solution anyway.

> Much as it pains me to say it, this is one area where windows really scores,
> and "linux on the desktop" will suffer until the printer manufactures start
> producing easy to install/reliable drivers.

That's not going to happen.  Most printer manufacturers won't even
support e.g. MacOS X, especially for older models, so Linux support is
even less likely.  Most drivers are written by us (users), and are
usually equal or better in quality than the Windows equivalents.

Note that hpijs is a Hewlett-Packard product, so HP /have/ produced a
driver.  Epson also have made some effort at drivers, but since they
are all still horribly non-free i386-only binaries, they are not worth
consideration.

I'd just like to take exception to the above comment: "easy to
install" software is the duty of the distributor, not the software
writer.  I (and most other Linux users) will not tolerate the mess of
Windows InstallShield-type installers.  Easy to install means properly
packaged as an RPM or .deb, plus source code.

CUPS now provides all the necessary infrastructure for easy
installation of third-party drivers.

> Wash your mouth out with soap I hear you all cry................

The best thing you could do is to work on the problem some more, file
bugs against the relevant packages in your distribution and help
getting it fixed.


The situation today is a world apart from what it was 4-5 years ago
when I first started printing on GNU/Linux.  Today, you can install
CUPS and a printer driver package, and then quickly set it up using
the CUPS web interface.  Easy and foolproof.  Mostly.

In reality this isn't perfect, and is not always trouble free, but TBH
it's easier and more reliable than Windows printer administration.
Now I've fixed the bugs, I've not had any problems for well over a
year.


If you'd like an introduction to today's printing architecture, an
article I wrote last summer is available on the wylug website under
past talks.


Regards,
Roger

--
Roger Leigh

                Printing on GNU/Linux?  http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
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