[kde-linux] Switching to KDE-4.2: Problem #1: I can't print to my printer

[James Richard Tyrer]

Kevin Krammer wrote:
> On Saturday 07 February 2009, James Richard Tyrer wrote:
>> Dale wrote:
>>> James Richard Tyrer wrote:
> 
>>>> Wonder what things these would be.  All I know is that it is hard to
>>>> setup unless you purchase the proprietary printer drivers for it.
>>> I been using cups for years.  I have never bought any drivers.  It comes
>>> with a lot of drivers included.
>> Won't argue how many years, but when I first tried it, the drivers were
>> proprietary; ESP charged for them.
> 
> That must have been in a time before Linux distributions started using it.
> Since then at least the Linux packages shipped with tons of PPD files and 
> external rasterizers (e.g. ghostscript) for printers without built-in 
> rasterrizers such as cheap ink jets.
> 
Linux distros were shipping free drivers even then.  The FOSS FooMatic 
RIP (which works with CUPS) and the PPDs that go with it have been 
available for some time.  Since distros (e.g. Fedora) still include 
FooMatic, it is really hard to tell when/if ESP started including more 
than a few free "demo" drivers.  Fedora was/is still shipping FooMatic, 
so it didn't even occur to me to think that things had changed (my bad). 
  Now I find that the URLs for the proprietary CUPS drivers are 404.

-- 
JRT