On Sat 19 Nov 2016 at 20:09:10 +0000, Brian wrote: > On Sat 19 Nov 2016 at 13:21:23 -0500, Jape Person wrote: > > > On 11/19/2016 11:31 AM, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote: > > >On Sat, 19 Nov 2016, Brian wrote: > > >>>I'd like to know that, too. I need a new home color printer, my > > >>>10-year-old HP PhotoSmart (blobless) MFP has finally broken down and > > >>>good second-hand parts are not easy to find in Brazil :-( > > >> > > >>Why is it important for the printer to be blobless? Look at it this way: > > > > > >Are we talking about printer firmware, or host-cpu device drivers? > > > > > >All of your reply is only relevant for device firmware (runs in the > > >device). But I thought this was about a binary-only driver blob that > > >runs in the host OS ? Or did I misunderstand? > > > > > I'm pretty sure it's a host-cpu device driver. > > > > http://hplipopensource.com/node/309 > > Sorry to be awkward, but what does "it's" refer to? > > The plugin contains *.fw files and libraries. A firmware file is uploaded to > the printer when it is switched on. Quite what the libraries do I do not > know but my assumption is they are involved in this and the host-based > management of the printer. Enlightenment would be appreciated.
Enlightenment came from thinking about it. :) I concentrated too much on the firmware aspect. I suspect firmware may only be needed with older printers. Maybe the newer printers have a Host Based Printer Language Interpreter. Henrique de Moraes Holschuh and you are correct. If the printing side of the MFP requires the plugin it is a host-based printer and the hbpl1 library would be used. Sorry for the misleading up a blind alley. Even if a colour laserjet MFP can get by for printing without the plugin it probably requires it for scanning. http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/plugin.html -- Brian.
