From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Oct 28 00:38:43 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DD77106566C for ; Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:38:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D9D08FC0C for ; Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:38:42 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-104-16.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.104.16]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id E5D583C91D for ; Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:38:41 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id p9S0cf2u073255 for ; Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:38:41 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:38:41 +0200 From: Polytropon To: FreeBSD Message-Id: <20111028023841.60b8f06b.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20111027193917.64997639@scorpio> References: <15996.1319704110@tristatelogic.com> <1319712142.89939.YahooMailNeo@web36507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <20111027172944.75a96733.freebsd@edvax.de> <4EA989C2.6060909@infracaninophile.co.uk> <20111027133905.34315b83@scorpio> <20111027211132.78d4d1e4.freebsd@edvax.de> <20111027174621.2dda6bdc@scorpio> <20111028005249.5977ec0c.freebsd@edvax.de> <20111027193917.64997639@scorpio> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Fast personal printing _without_ CUPS X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:38:43 -0000 On Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:39:17 -0400, Jerry wrote: > On Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:52:49 +0200 > Polytropon articulated: > > > There isn't much you can invent on a hammer. :-) > > Absolutely true. However, as Abraham Maslow said in 1966, "It is > tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as > if it were a nail." Heh, I also thought about that saying after sending the message. Maybe a bad example. :-) > This sort of tunnel vision, at least in my opinion, has infected the > *BSD community in general. They look at a problem and then, rather than > finding a solution, find someone to blame. My my late father was so > fond of saying when someone complained, "It's better to light a candle > than curse the darkness." It's always a consideration of "what to invest" versus "what to get out of the deal", considering risks and options. And often politics. Just imagine a "thing" like FreeBSD would implement a means to simply use "Windows" printer drivers. And then MICROS~1 starts suing, both FreeBSD and its users (!!!) for "illegally using" something. Sounds stupid and contraproductive? It is - but things like this seem to be common. You surely know that MICROS~1 has more revenue from its competitor HTC than from their own mobile phone platform? The idea: "You know, maybe we have some patents, but we won't tell you which they are, even in a court trial we won't, but maybe we have some. And if you don't pay $5 per unit sold, then... maybe... we'll sue you and all your customers." The "fee" has been raised to $15 some time later. (If I understood the process correctly - I'm not much interested in this mobile stuff and all the ugly politics involved because this has nothing to do with a free market.) There needs to be some security both for developers and for users. Current market politics don't seem to provide them. On the other hand, implementing drivers for "simple printers" (typical inkpee products) is easy when you know the control codes to make the paper and the printing head move. Reverse-engineering such stuff isn't that easy, sadly. The question is: Are the manufacturers willing to publish those little details? Do they see that as "too costly"? This is the opposite approach to making a "Windows"-like driver interface in UNIX / Linux to use the currently (and on the long run, partially) working drivers. But see my concerns regarding politics & blackmail. By the way, I'm also a fan of "lighting the candle". After all, it's a consideration of how you value your time, if you see it worth investing in getting something to work, learn important things (for your IT career), or if you feel you should return something to the community that provides you a powerful OS for free. There are many ways you can "light the candle", it's up to you _how_ you do it. Anyway, everything is better than staying in darkness and stumbling into a pile of garbage. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...