__/ [ thad01@ ] on Saturday 20 January 2007 04:09 \__
> I keep hearing about how problematic Linux printing is supposed
> to be, but I've yet to encounter it myself. The last two printers
> I've installed just plugged in and worked. OK, I did have to
> download a CUPS driver from the HP website to get the new
> Photosmart C3180 working, but once I downloaded and ran the
> self installing driver, it probed the USB bus, found the printer/
> scanner/copier, set up the queues, and printed a test page. The
> printer now shows up in the gnome printer control panel, and I'm
> printing from OpenOffice and other apps with no trouble.
>
> The really cool thing is that we did not even check hardware
> compatibility before trying this printer. A friend of the
> family is living with us while he goes to college, and this
> just happens to be the printer that came with his new Dell
> system. I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of Linux
> support for this consumer grade peripheral.
>
> At this point, the only thing holding back the Linux desktop
> is Windows inertia... and that can only slow the advance, never
> stop it. :)
It was over a year ago that I noticed the same thing. It was easier to set up
a scanner in Linux than it was in Windows (based on the almost long lost
memories from 2000-2001). Personally I prefer to digitise things rather than
surround myself with papers, so I can't comment much on printing.
In SuSE 9.3 it was a matter of selecting the scanner model from YaST2. No
drivers needed. They were already included. The scanner was not even chosen
with Linux in mind. In Ubuntu...? Well, it was even better. Nothing had to
be set up... just launch xsane (installed by default) and everything
works... scanner was apparently detected automatically at installation time.
Now, /that's/ an O/S our grandparents could actually use. No CD's... no
downloads of drivers... just plug and play (excellent scanning program is
already installed)...
--
~~ Best wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Prevalence does not imply ideali$M
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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