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Entry is from 2006. Why isn't there a generic printer driver, like USB HID or USB Mass Storage?
by chrisbolt 16y ago
Entry is from 2006.
Why isn't there a generic printer driver, like USB HID or USB Mass Storage?
- wmf 16y agoWinprinters are supposed to be as cheap as possible; adding a layer of abstraction would cost money. OTOH if you buy a printer with PostScript, Ethernet, and Bonjour it will likely just work with a generic driver. It's not clear that ESR's problems had anything to do with drivers, though.
- loumf 16y agoI updated the title to reflect the year. I posted it because it's related to the Bill Gates e-mail about Windows Usability. It's from a similar perspective -- power user/programmer who has a lot of sway on the platform trying to just use it as a user.
- zdw 16y agoBecause cheap printers are dumb, and want a bytestream in the format that they can feed directly to the printer head and electronics. There are "generic printer drivers" out there, but require more logic on the printer side - Postscript and (to a lesser extent) PCL.