From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Nov 6 06:28:37 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D4FBD8D8 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 2013 06:28:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 6BB7724F1 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 2013 06:28:37 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id rA66STwR066540; Tue, 5 Nov 2013 23:28:29 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) with ESMTP id rA66SSP1066537; Tue, 5 Nov 2013 23:28:28 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2013 23:28:28 -0700 (MST) From: Warren Block To: Charles Swiger Subject: Re: CUPS and Epson Epson WF-3540 on FreeBSD 9.2/11.0-CURRENT In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <20131102115534.71afaa03@thor.walstatt.dyndns.org> <1383669454.21378.43329325.475E1FD0@webmail.messagingengine.com> <20131105205801.13be6358@thor.walstatt.dyndns.org> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:28:29 -0700 (MST) Cc: "O. Hartmann" , FreeBSD Questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 06:28:37 -0000 On Tue, 5 Nov 2013, Charles Swiger wrote: > Hi-- > > On Nov 5, 2013, at 11:58 AM, O. Hartmann wrote: >>> I don't think it's likely you'll find this working. I'd suggest you >>> find a printer that can natively speak postscript and works with SANE >>> without a proprietary driver. It's getting hard to find printers that >>> can do this, though. >> >> A pity. >> I think it is hard to find an ink-jet printer that "speaks" natively >> PS. Mots of them I saw have their proprietary BLOB driver managing the >> communication if they are multi-function-systems - mostly Linux. > > It costs money to license a real PostScript interpreter from Adobe, which > means that the cheaper inkjets won't pony up for that capability. Ghostscript supports a number of native inkjet page description languages. I have a couple of older Epson inkjets that I think Ghostscript will drive directly. > It looks like the Lexmark Pro4000 and the HP OfficeJet 276dw are sanely priced > PostScript-capable inkjets, but there are literally hundreds of laser printers > around which have native PostScript support, and their cost-per-page usually > is much more reasonable than inkjets end up being. Maybe those models are fine, but generally higher-end inkjets are disproportionately priced. And because few people buy them, those extra features are not heavily tested. Relevant articles: This one shows setting up a print filter with Ghostscript: http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/lpdprinting.html And this talks about the value of a used office laser printer: http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/usedlasers.html