3 ms·

Why can't printers just run a Web server where I upload a PDF?

bipson 6y ago
Some (professional ones, e.g. Canon) do - additionally to offering other interfaces. But let me tell you, it is terrible not being able to print from your system dialogue. Then there is IPP and LPD/LPR. But those are either limited and sometimes the results not ideal (LPD), or again rely on a driver on your system to access the features of your printer (IPP) e.g. double sided printing, toner levels, print quality, etc.
jstimpfle 6y ago
Because that's just another shitty implementation of a print service. There is a reason why print services are implemented on the Desktop OS and not on the printer (well I'm sure many printers do have a shitty implementation): Because there's few Desktop OSes but so many printers. You want to split the work and implement each thing where it is most efficient. Things a print spooler should do: - Queue print jobs, be able to watch progress, cancel them. - Manage permissions, maybe implement quota or similar. - Offer desktop integration in print dialogues: N-up, shrink, duplex, and other common postprocessing features. With a print dialogue, a lot of manual labor of creating temporary files and editing them with a particular application is saved.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Don't forget manage several printers. At home I only have one so this doesn't matter. At work I need to choose between one of several printers in the building. In a school lab: students want to print and have whichever of the 3 identical printers right next to each other print it, depending on which printer isn't busy with some other student's work.
magicalhippo 6y ago
Why can't printers just have a USB standard ala USB mass storage, or USB HID, so I can just plug it in and it works for basic printing?
- jstimpfle 6y ago
  https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usbprint11a021811.pdf https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usbprint11a021811.pd...
  - magicalhippo 6y ago
    Hah of course it exists. Neat, now lets see if I can make my STM32 pretend to be a printer...

Some (professional ones, e.g. Canon) do - additionally to offering other interfaces. But let me tell you, it is terrible not being able to print from your system dialogue. Then there is IPP and LPD/LPR. But those are either limited and sometimes the results not ideal (LPD), or again rely on a driver on your system to access the features of your printer (IPP) e.g. double sided printing, toner levels, print quality, etc.

jstimpfle 6y ago

Because that's just another shitty implementation of a print service. There is a reason why print services are implemented on the Desktop OS and not on the printer (well I'm sure many printers do have a shitty implementation): Because there's few Desktop OSes but so many printers. You want to split the work and implement each thing where it is most efficient. Things a print spooler should do: - Queue print jobs, be able to watch progress, cancel them. - Manage permissions, maybe implement quota or similar. - Offer desktop integration in print dialogues: N-up, shrink, duplex, and other common postprocessing features. With a print dialogue, a lot of manual labor of creating temporary files and editing them with a particular application is saved.

bluGill 6y ago
Don't forget manage several printers. At home I only have one so this doesn't matter. At work I need to choose between one of several printers in the building. In a school lab: students want to print and have whichever of the 3 identical printers right next to each other print it, depending on which printer isn't busy with some other student's work.

magicalhippo 6y ago

Why can't printers just have a USB standard ala USB mass storage, or USB HID, so I can just plug it in and it works for basic printing?

jstimpfle 6y ago
https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usbprint11a021811.pdf https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/usbprint11a021811.pd...
- magicalhippo 6y ago
  Hah of course it exists. Neat, now lets see if I can make my STM32 pretend to be a printer...