On Fri 16 Aug 2019 at 09:51:15 +0300, Reco wrote: > On Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 08:47:34PM +0100, Brian wrote: > > > Nowadays that system often relies on printer/print queue Bonjour > > broadcasts. > > And that is called "jumping to conclusions". > Printing itself haven't changed a bit for last 15 years - a print server > takes user's PS or PDF, mangles it to fit printer's representation (be > it PCL or something else), and feeds it to the printer. By utilizing > unicasts of course.
I was going to let this go because it takes us beyond the server situation we are discussing and is a reasonable, succinct description of classic printing (which will become unsupported by CUPS in a few years time). However, modern printers will accept and print jobs (e.g. PDF and JPEG) without the mangling. These AirPrint-enabled, IPP printers completely do away with having to use non-free software or plugins also. What is there to dislike about that? > A user can discover a print server via mDNS multicasts (*not* > broadcasts). Or a user can be told a location of such print server. So - I give my VIP, Android-using customer a piece of paper with a URI to type into his phone rather than telling him which printer to use to print out the multimillion Euro contract he has just signed? Very last century. Anyone fancy carrier pigeons? -- Brian.
