On Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 07:42:59PM +0000, Brian wrote:
I was attracted by this idea and it gave me pause for thought. Leaving aside printers that include a network interface, the IPP-over-USB standard applies to a non-network-capable printer. The specs require IPP (put in firmware, I suppose) and DNS-SD discovery (again in firmware). Little extra cost? AFAICT, a networking stack is not specified. Why should it be for an isolated machine?
Because that's how IPP works: IPP-over-USB essentially creates a point-to-point network to the printer, which is then addressed via TCP just like any other networked printer. Historically there was a significant cost associated with adding a networking stack (more processors, memory, etc), but as everything gets more integrated it's essentially a zero-cost addition. It's not going to be added to old hardware, but not many new designs are likely to be introduced without it.