hplip and use of the "driver plugin"

[Jape Person <japers@comcast.net>]

Hi.

I'm getting ready to replace all of our old equipment that has been used 
for well over a decade in our home network.

I decided to try to do everything with FOSS -- open source Luxul router, 
open-source-only drivers for everything on the libreboot PCs. But I've 
run into a snag with the printer and scanner.

I was going to make life easy for myself and use hplip with something 
like an HP MFP. But all of the new HP MFP and scanners seem to make use 
of a "driver plugin". If I'm understanding correctly, a user has to run 
the hp-setup program that comes with hplip. That program actually 
downloads this proprietary blob during installation of the printer. This 
is not at all what I want. So far, the only MFPs and scanners I've found 
that don't use the driver plugin are either FCC Class A devices so not 
really suitable for home use or are at end of support. There are a 
couple of single function laser printers that might work, but I'd still 
have to find a scanner that doesn't require the blob. HP doesn't appear 
to make one.

What about hplip? Doesn't inclusion of the hp-setup program in hplip 
sort of violate the spirit of having only FOSS in the main repository 
when executing it will result in installation of a proprietary blob? I 
just ran it as a test on one of the old OfficeJets, and I didn't see 
bubkiss about it installing proprietary software.

I've been pretty ill and not paying careful attention to the list for a 
long time now. has this already been discussed? If so, didn't find any 
pertinent threads.

This seems to be a step backward in HP's technical support for open 
source software. I'm disappointed.

So, does anyone know of a laser MFP (or a separate laser printer and 
scanner) which I can hook up to my network (preferably wirelessly) and 
use in Debian testing without violating my planned avoidance of 
proprietary software and drivers?

Can I use simpler or lower level drivers for the printer and scanner 
components of something like one of the HP Color LaserJet 477 series?

Thanks for any help you can provide. I am sending an e-mail to HP tech 
support to see if they can help, but my foray into that area by phone 
today wasn't promising.

Thanks,
JP