[HN Gopher] Fedora contemplates the driverless printing future ___________________________________________________________________ Fedora contemplates the driverless printing future Author : Tomte Score : 42 points Date : 2021-06-07 06:39 UTC (1 days ago) (HTM) web link (lwn.net) (TXT) w3m dump (lwn.net) | linuxftw wrote: | I used to be able to just find my printer in Linux with the | dialog, and it magically worked. Same printer on a newer release | of Fedora, took several days of tinkering to finally be able to | print again wirelessly. | | This IPP stuff is broken IMO. I found an lpadmin command | somewhere online and was able to mangle it to get my printer to | work. | | IPP is probably easier for some people if it works. If it doesn't | work, it's going to be impossible for most people to figure out | for a few years. | cors-fls wrote: | I discovered IPP by accident/chance because getting the HP driver | or PDD file was not easy. And it has been working perfectly for | years ! | | It was the only choice on the CUPS interface for which driver was | optional/not needed. I did not use avahi-discoverh though, I | typed the printer IP. | | The fact that I choose a semi-pro printer, to get laser and | reliability, probably helped. It also allows me to scan directly | to a network drive so I never had to install a scanner driver. | trasz wrote: | Why not adopt a solution that's already there and works well, | namely AirPrint? | etaioinshrdlu wrote: | Desktop printers will have the same demise as cable tv and | landline phones: quality will continue to go down and prices up | as providers squeeze any remaining profits out of the business. | pengaru wrote: | > Desktop printers will have the same demise as cable tv and | landline phones: quality will continue to go down and prices up | as providers squeeze any remaining profits out of the business. | | Landline phone-call quality has always been and continues to be | infinitely better than anything people are using today to | replace it. | | I can't believe that in 2021 people aren't actively revolting | over how useless smartphones are at actually doing phone | duties. | mcpherrinm wrote: | I guess the voice quality is fine for me. Maybe that's | because of whatever "HD Voice" that my carrier claims to | have. The reality is, I rarely make phone calls anymore | either way. Almost everything is a video call now, whether on | Zoom or Google Meet or Facetime or Whatsapp. | | Even if I get a "land line", it's just an expensive VOIP line | from my ISP. | axus wrote: | I feel like these are prompts to advertise Brother network | printers. The quality makes me consider buying their sewing | machine. | philjohn wrote: | Which is why when I was in the market for a new printer I went | for a model meant for a medium sized office - a pretty hefty | Xerox Versalink. | | The toner cartridges last 8-10k pages and if you purchase at | least one a year (easy enough to do) they extend your next day | onsite parts and labour support contract. | | I got an amazing deal on it as well - but not the typical $80 | "make a loss on the printer and make it back on ink" that | consumer models adhere to. | freeone3000 wrote: | And what, exactly, is replacing them? What else can convert a | digital document to paper form? | quicklime wrote: | Other than digital forms? | | The printer at work, which is free and convenient if you work | in an office. | | Or the one at the local copy shop, which is 10c a page. I | probably spend ~$1/year printing out forms, there aren't that | many left... | freedomben wrote: | It absolutely enrages me that in 2021 printers are still the | absolute horror show that they are. Things were better in 1999. | | The article covers the driver story so I won't go into that, but | in addition to the horrible Linux support it amazes me that a | cheap affordable printer and ink is still not available. Ink is | now not only outrageously priced but commonly has DRM in it. | adontz wrote: | I do not think it's that bad now. | | A few days ago I have bought a new non original toner cartridge | for my HP printer for about $7. Is it expensive tho? I expect | it to print at least 2000 pages, so $0.0035 per page. | | For ink jet: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_ink_system | brnt wrote: | I've never actually had a problem printing in Linux. It had | always been plug and play for me. My trick is to make sure the | printer actually can be plugged in (USB or Ethernet) and that | it isn't the most recent model. | | Also, get a laserprinter. Inkjets are going to be a problem | regardless of drivers. | freedomben wrote: | Do you print photos? My wife loves to print photos and has | been told by friends that a laser printer won't do photos. | HarryHirsch wrote: | For that use case I'd actually recommend Walmart's photo | printing service, either in-store or on-line. Outsourcing | makes sense in this case - the alternative would be a | 7-colour inkjet printer, and the really pricey thing is | replacement of the printhead when it invariably gets | clogged up. | [deleted] | Retric wrote: | Color laser printers are IMO even better at photos than | inkjet, but many are black and white. | adontz wrote: | I am not sure how will it function for USB printers or | multifunction devices. I mean, it's a really nice initiative, but | removing printer drives does not look like a realistic plan. | DesiLurker wrote: | Driverless cars to driverless printing .. Oh my how far have we | fallen. | zamalek wrote: | If this actually works, it would definitely be a pro of Linux on | the Desktop vs. practically anything else. | codeulike wrote: | _In the IPP Everywhere future, printers simply work_ | | Ah, my sweet naive child. There is no such thing as 'printers | simply working', it's just a story that we tell to keep away the | nightmares | agumonkey wrote: | point to them, they made me believe for a second | TruthWillHurt wrote: | The only thing worse than printers - scanners. | HarryHirsch wrote: | Yes, and that's why printer-scanner combos are called | multimalfunction devices. Extra demerit points are accorded for | scanning to email or CIFS share. | smackeyacky wrote: | I have a couple of HP printers here, and the HP OfficeJet Pro | 8740 is a multifunction device that has been completely | trouble free. Scans to a CIFS share, emails stuff, wakes up | from sleep on a print request properly. Amazing. | | The older HP CP1025NW laser printer in my study is a complete | POS though, for some bizarre reason the driver software | completely fails to find it on a regular basis and it seems | to forget how to print semi regularly as well. | whateveracct wrote: | Linux printing works..but also doesn't. And then you have to fix | it. | | Now I just put files on a Samba share on my Linux machine and | AirPrint from my iPhone :) ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-06-08 23:00 UTC)