hplip and use of the "driver plugin"
On Fri, 18 Nov 2016 20:34:03 -0500
Jape Person <japers@comcast.net> wrote:
> 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.
Out of curiosity, why the printer? Is it failing? Ink unavailable?
> 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.
>
<snip>
I hope I caught you in time.
Not to long ago I bought an HP LaserJet 200 color M251nw.
As for a scanner, I bought the HP 8200. It's an older model, though, and
support was just added in sane backends for it. Search for the thread:
"Cannot get hp scanjet 8200 working" in sane devel.
Beware of HP inkjets, HP recently had to change the code so that people
could install ink cartridges that were not HP's and no, refilling the old
ones did not work. So everyone had to have a firmware update.
If you want you could try the Bother brand, there Linux support is
getting good from what I've read.
Epson is working to get support for their scanners working under Linux,
but last I read (1 year ago), the software was still alpha quality.
Sincerely,
David
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