[Printing-architecture] Automatic printer setup with Printer Applications

[Solomon Peachy]

On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 09:28:47AM +0100, Zdenek Dohnal wrote:
> Solomon, I'm sorry if it is an obvious fact, but I don't know it - would
> you mind me asking why IEEE1284 IDs aren't used so much in drivers?

I can't comment on manufacturer-supplied/supported drivers, but speaking 
of my own experience with Gutenprint we can't use what we don't know 
about.  The tooling that could take advantage of those IDs to 
provide automagic printer setup didn't exist until relatively [1] 
recently, and by then it was a bit too late..

And much like we've seen multiple distinct models with identical USB 
VID/PIDs, I've also seen distinct models that share identical IEEE1284 
IDs. [2] And then there's the iManufacturer/iModel/iSerial strings that 
may or may not match what's in the 1284 data or what's silkscreened onto 
the printer itself..

...Like everything else involving printing, it's a complete mess.

(Of the stuff in Gutenprint, about a quarter of the IEEE1284 IDs, and 
 all of the USB VID/PIDs, were added by myself.)

[1] ie about a decade ago. 
[2] They are in the same family, but the PDL is barely incompatible..

 - Solomon
-- 
Solomon Peachy			      pizza at shaftnet dot org (email&xmpp)
                                      @pizza:shaftnet dot org   (matrix)
High Springs, FL                      speachy (freenode)
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