On 11/19/2016 03:09 PM, Brian wrote:
On Sat 19 Nov 2016 at 13:21:23 -0500, Jape Person wrote:On 11/19/2016 11:31 AM, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:On Sat, 19 Nov 2016, Brian wrote:I'd like to know that, too. I need a new home color printer, my 10-year-old HP PhotoSmart (blobless) MFP has finally broken down and good second-hand parts are not easy to find in Brazil :-(Why is it important for the printer to be blobless? Look at it this way:Are we talking about printer firmware, or host-cpu device drivers? All of your reply is only relevant for device firmware (runs in the device). But I thought this was about a binary-only driver blob that runs in the host OS ? Or did I misunderstand?I'm pretty sure it's a host-cpu device driver. http://hplipopensource.com/node/309Sorry to be awkward, but what does "it's" refer to?
Uh, I'm the awkward one here. That's why I'm asking for help.
The plugin contains *.fw files and libraries. A firmware file is uploaded to the printer when it is switched on. Quite what the libraries do I do not know but my assumption is they are involved in this and the host-based management of the printer. Enlightenment would be appreciated.
Let's not start with unreasonable expectations. The likelihood that I will enlighten you in such a matter is vanishingly small.
I didn't find any information this specific about the driver plugin. If you can steer me toward the relevant information I would appreciate it. I read information at all the links that seemed as though they could be pertinent from the hplipopensource.com location.
So, are you saying that nothing within that driver plugin gets invoked by or interacts with the host system? It's just some firmware that gets copied to the printer and some libraries which reside on the host and which interact with the printer. If that's the case, then my concern about the driver plugin is a tempest in a teapot.
It still would seem to beg the question as to why the system would be designed this way. But I'm not a printer hardware designer, and I don't know what requirements are placed on those guys by the production and delivery schedules. Maybe it's just a workaround to help HP get the most up-to-date stuff out the door in the most timely manner possible.
At any rate, I can probably fulfill my requirements my buying a little more hardware than I had originally intended. And I appreciate the efforts you and Henrique have made on my behalf.
If I should learn anything interesting from HP tech support I'll try to come back with it.