Hi there


Nate Bargmann wrote:

> As if on cue, IgnorantGuru posts up a very timely and salient post:
>
> https://igurublog.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/openwashing-and-other-deceptions-in-linux/
>
> Sadly, CUPS is long one of these technologies ensnared by Apple and now
> we're beholden to them. At first CUPS was a very good idea and an
> independent project which was then somehow "bought" by Apple and for a
> time things improved. Then a couple of years ago Linux support was more
> or less dropped by Apple and CUPS, which worked flawlessly, almost
> completely stopped working with my Brother HL-5240 save for
> Open|LibreOffice. Last night Firefox actually printed to that printer
> again so perhaps something has turned toward the better.

CUPS used to support 1200 DPI on my printer (HP Laserjet P2015DN). Since
Apple took over, the CUPS PPD will only do 600 DPI. I fixed this by
using the MS Windows PPD, which I extracted from the installation CD
that came with the printer.
CUPS updates leave the config alone, so it just keeps working.

> CUPS seems next to impossible to understand, much less troubleshoot.

Some things just don't work. I use a printer daemon alongside CUPS to
print text (don't install CUPS' BSD LPD emulation). It uses paps to
convert UTF-8 into PS. This way, I can even print plain text hieroglyphs.

> It's the layers upon layers of libraries and the morass of filters and
> drivers that makes printing a near incomprehensible mess. I am naive
> enough to think that if a printer supports PS or PCL that it should be
> trivial to print to it. The reality seems to be another matter
> completely.

Cat Some_File.ps | lpr (bypassing CUPS) should work. If not, it's not a
postscript printer.

<Cut>


Regards,
Rob