The nightmarish problem of installing a printer

[Steven Friedrich]

On Saturday 18 September 2010 6:09:57 pm perryh at pluto.rain.com wrote:
> Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
> > On Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:10:45 -0700, perryh at pluto.rain.com wrote:
> > > Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
> > > > I would like to have ONE thing that is used for printing,
> > > > and that does support ALL printers ...
> > > 
> > > Isn't that exactly what CUPS is supposed to be?
> > 
> > Obviously not.
> 
> Er, I said "is supposed to be", not "is" :)  "Common Unix Printing
> System" certainly sounds as if the intent was to be the "ONE thing
> that is used for printing".  Whether they did a good job of it is
> another question entirely :(
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to
> "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"

I think that you don't fully apreciate the task at hand.  When Unix was first 
invented, there were no laser printers, ink jets, USB, etc.

That no one can create a one-size fits all solution OWES to the fact it's 
simply not always possible to unify disparate designs.  They weren't designed 
to be interoperable.  Technology keeps marchng forward. We need to discard all 
of it eventually.

If you want easy, peasy printing success under *nix, choose a Postscript 
capable printer that has a network connection and supports IPP. Make sure the 
priner has a .ppd file available for it. You can get this file for free before 
buying the printer itself.
I use (and love) my Brother HL-6050DN mono Laser. I'd like to get a Brother 
color laser, but it has to wait...

--