5 ms·

Rescuing old printers with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP

230 points by gmac 6mo ago

redeeman 6mo ago
surely a glorious OS like osx would not be without support for hardware that linux supports? when will it be year of osx desktop?
- akdev1l 6mo ago
  wdym? OSX has literally always been supported only on very limited hardware so how would it support anything else?
  - redeeman 6mo ago
    did you read what this is about? support for a printer people buy in stores. the kinda thing people expect working?
    - akdev1l 6mo ago
      Oh I thought you were referring to the VM part Anyway Apple created CUPS so it should support anything Linux does when it comes to printing edit: looks like they didn’t create it, they just hired the guy who did and shipped it
morpheuskafka 6mo ago
If you are using an LLM, wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just have the LLM find the relevant CUPS driver decompile or just capture the USB traffic, and rewrite it in Go or something native? (No need to deal with the system printing framework, the goal was just an app that accepts JPEG input.)
- gmac 6mo ago
  Interesting suggestion: I guess that would have been possible. On the other hand I think this is a more general solution, and it does minimal reinventing-the-wheel.
- dolmen 6mo ago
  Or ask the agent to write a Dockerfile (to abstract the build environment) that builds CUPS and all your stuff around it directl in WASM, instead of targeting x86 and then emulating x86 with WASM.
  - jojomodding 6mo ago
    Is there a Docker-to-WASM pipeline, and how does it do anything differently from emulating x86?
- huflungdung 6mo ago
  [dead]
- ValdikSS 6mo ago
  That's definitely possible for simpler drivers (CUPS filters) which accept CUPS-raster data for input. That's a majority of drivers for old printers.
hulitu 6mo ago
Another AI add.
hahn-kev 6mo ago
This is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing.
juancn 6mo ago
Thank you, loved this and it made me "duh!". I have an old-ish Samsung laser printer that works perfectly and a Linux file server at home and the printer no longer supports AirPrint. I never thought about using the Linux box as an AirPrint server! This will free me from all the odd print requests from my kids! (probably)
- mikepurvis 6mo ago
  I have a Samsung ML-1740 kicking around still that I just can't bear to part with; I've been meaning forever to RasPi-ify it, but it's one of those projects that feels like it's going to end up being a rabbit hole.
  - HeyMeco 6mo ago
    ML-1740 is supported by the driver available here: https://www.bchemnet.com/suldr/index.html https://www.bchemnet.com/suldr/index.html Works on my arm64 sbc as a cups printer for another samsung printer
    - ValdikSS 6mo ago
      It's a Samsung SPL device, it's supported by SpliX: https://github.com/OpenPrinting/splix https://github.com/OpenPrinting/splix
      - mikepurvis 6mo ago
        Yup, I used splix with it for years on Mac, so I think that will be the way to go.
  - ValdikSS 6mo ago
    >but it's one of those projects that feels like it's going to end up being a rabbit hole. I know your feelings. I've started https://printserver.ink https://printserver.ink because I wanted to buy a retail print server and could not find any. I was expecting half a year overall work for everything, but fixing all printer-related bugs for 3 years already.
SoftTalker 6mo ago
I have an old Epson MX80 dot-matrix printer in the closet, have thought about getting a Raspberry Pi and setting that up so we can wirelessly print to it. But... who would really want that?
- mrighele 6mo ago
  For a printer like an Epson MX80 an esp32 should be enough to share the printer on a raw TCP interface (AppSocket I think the protocol is named) on port 9100. It is supported by Windows and CUPS. Very easy implementation as it essentially it just forwards the data to the printer. Since it's a raw interface you need the proper driver, but luckily Epson provides a Windows 10 driver for the Epson MX-80 (!) [1] CUPS doesn't have driver for the MX-80 but it has a number of generic Epson drivers and my guess is that one of those will work. The most difficult part is probably the parallel interface (unless you have a printer with a serial interface in which case it will be much easier) [1] https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Impact-Printers/MX-Series/Epson-MX-80/s/SPT_M80?review-filter=Windows+10+64-bit https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Impact-Printers/MX-Series...
- Pinus 6mo ago
  As for the "who would want that", I think the use case for that kind of printer today is slow logging. With a laser printer that outputs a page at a time, if you log one line per day the power fails after 65 days, you lose the 65 lines that was in its memory. The MX-80 can print a line, or even a character if you poke it in the ribs a bit, at a time, so if the power goes away, your printed lines are still there.
monocasa 6mo ago
Isn't cups a de facto apple project? What's the VM getting you?
- yjftsjthsd-h 6mo ago
  The gutenprint drivers to support the specific printer don't support darwin
  - monocasa 6mo ago
    Gutenprint supports macos as a first class citizen, including this particular printer AFAICT.
    - gmac 6mo ago
      From the Gutenprint home page, https://gimp-print.sourceforge.io/ https://gimp-print.sourceforge.io/: As of July 7, 2024 the Gutenprint project has formally deprecated MacOS support. This means that no further MacOS-compatible binaries will be produced. Gutenprint has not had an active MacOS maintainer for over three years, and the remaining developers lack the technical ability to produce MacOS binaries, much less undertake the substantial amount of work necessary to produce, test, and support binaries on newer (post-Mojave/10.14) MacOS releases.
      - monocasa 6mo ago
        It looks like it's just because they had no way to test, and bandwidth to deal with it. But should still mostly work, once whatever issue (that sounds like app notrization) is fixed. It seems like the better option would have been to fix whatever was blocking them just two years ago, rather than this wild rube goldberg machine of a Linux VM emulated in a browser tab.
        gmac 6mo ago
        I mean, anyone is welcome to do just that! But I guess coding Rube Goldberg machines in JS (to push the boundaries of the web) is a thing I really kind of enjoy.
bityard 6mo ago
Okay, this is reasonably genius. I have quite a few USB devices lying around that are either old enough or were niche enough that they don't work on modern _anything_, even Linux. One of them is a GameBoy Advance flash cartridge.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6mo ago
  Oh, there's a thought - v86 supports lots of old DOS/Windows versions too, so assuming you could get the right port through (probably easy with anything USB, maybe possible with other things?) you could probably use your choice of old drivers:)
leptons 6mo ago
Too bad Apple is still preventing the WebUSB spec from being standardized. They won't even make suggestions to get it through committee because WebUSB might cut into their native app store.
- davsti4 6mo ago
  From: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebUSB_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebUSB_API "WebUSB provides a way for these non-standardized USB device services to be exposed to the web. This means that hardware manufacturers will be able to provide a way for their device to be accessed from the web, without having to provide their own API." That doesn't sound secure at all!
  - monocasa 6mo ago
    Which is why Firefox doesn't support it either.
    - leptons 6mo ago
      Firefox's non-reasons are just as lame as Apple's non-reasons. These APIs aren't security risks, the user has to explicitly opt-in on every website that requests USB access, just like every other privacy-risky API that a website requests, like microphone and camera access. WebUSB is no different. The only thing that has changed since camera and microphone access was allowed is that Apple now considers web apps to cut into their app store business, so they are unwilling to let any new APIs get approved that would make a web app as capable as a native app. This includes WebBluetooth and other APIs. Apple is also getting sued by the DOJ for exactly this type of shady business practice. And I don't really think what Firefox says is relevant, they are so cash-strapped I would not doubt that Apple pays them to have a negative opinion about new web APIs just so people like you can say "Firefox doesn't want it either". The truth is there is no good reason to block WebUSB and WebBluetooth from becoming standards.
      - Gigachad 6mo ago
DeathArrow 6mo ago
I would have asked Claude to write a driver. But this works, too. :)
randusername 6mo ago
what the heck we're not in web 1.0 anymore are we
Gabrys1 6mo ago
> I must apologise that I haven’t so far open-sourced any part of this that I don’t have to. Mainly that’s because I think this would be an awesomely sticky web property for a printer consumables firm to integrate with their sales site. And I’d much prefer it if they paid me to white-label it for them, rather than just forking a repo and getting it all for free. They might be interested if they cared at all about the ease of use of their printers
- kube-system 6mo ago
  They are referring to aftermarket ink cartridge companies, not the printer OEM.
- jeroenhd 6mo ago
  These printer makers have the source code and the ability to write firmware. If they wanted to support WebUSB, they could and would.
  - ValdikSS 6mo ago
    Xerox just removed all the Linux drivers first for the majority of older models (even actual ones, which you can still buy), Windows and macOS drivers second for selected models (yet). https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/xerox-removed-linux-drivers-from-the-website-for-older-printers/182194 https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/xerox-removed-linux-d... https://forum.support.xerox.com/community?id=community_question&sys_id=ceb0a87a97d772101b263f21f053af40 https://forum.support.xerox.com/community?id=community_quest... Canon, Pantum, Brother, Kyocera, HP, they all still produce new devices on older hardware base, which require driver and does not support AirPrint/Mopria even over USB. They just don't care, they reuse what they wrote 20 years ago and ship it. Xerox and HP use Samsung printing engine and drivers, Pantum uses Lexmark.
- zamadatix 6mo ago
  The hardest part would probably be convincing someone to pay to white label something for which most of the key design choices and implementation came from one unfamiliar dev prompting an £18 Claude Code subscription.
ale42 6mo ago
I'm using an ancient Canon Selphy photo printer... on Windows 11 without any issues. Using the Windows 7 64-bit driver, worked basically out-of-the-box. It's definitely not officially supported, but to date it works totally fine.
- gmac 6mo ago
  Huh, interesting. Is the driver built in to Windows, downloaded from Canon, or acquired some other way? TBH the web app story on Windows isn’t ideal anyway because you have to install Zadig before it will work.
  - ale42 6mo ago
    I think I downloaded it from Canon 5-6 years ago. It should still be around I guess, but I can share it if needed. EDIT: you can find it here for example: https://asia.canon/en/support/0100304802 https://asia.canon/en/support/0100304802
PunchyHamster 6mo ago
Doesn't Apple outright uses CUPS in the first place ? Did they just removed old drivers in their version ?
- nubinetwork 6mo ago
  I'd be curious if cups works on wsl as well...
  - ValdikSS 6mo ago
    It does: https://openprinting.github.io/wsl-printer-app/ https://openprinting.github.io/wsl-printer-app/
- ValdikSS 6mo ago
  You might think that such an important and long-standing feature as printing would undoubtedly be backed up by a large company. This was true until 2019, when it was backed by Apple. Currently, however, CUPS and all related projects are supported by volunteers, including myself. Apple abandoned CUPS years ago, and recently have archived the repo on github: https://github.com/apple/cups https://github.com/apple/cups All the current development runs in OpenPrinting github: https://github.com/OpenPrinting https://github.com/OpenPrinting, and mostly focused on newer projects, such as CUPS v3, PAPPL, Printer Applications. Recent versions of CUPS v2 are still used in Chrome OS and Chromebooks though (apart from all Linuxes).
hexmiles 6mo ago
I know that it is a heavyweight solution, but it could be useful for some situations with old driver/devices/applications. I have some old hardware that is compatible only with pre-WinNT OS, and I could do something similar to provide a simple solution for the end user.
- Narishma 6mo ago
  Would such old hardware even be able to run a modern browser needed for this?
  - hexmiles 6mo ago
    Sorry, I wasn't clear. By old hardware, I meant peripherals connected to the computer via serial or USB. We are at a level of performance where running an entire VM as a driver is kind of feasible, if wasteful.
    - jillesvangurp 6mo ago
      It's not that wasteful if you don't need this stuff most of the time. I have an old HP laser printer from 2008 or so. Nearly 20 years old at this point. Works fine but HP does not provide new drivers and the current x86 ones for my mac will stop working when Apple stops supporting x86 emulation. HP could fix this but they probably don't want to. There likely is a decent Linux driver for this thing. A solution like in the article, or qemu or docker with some way to access this thing over USB could probably get the job done. I rarely print anything in any case; which is why replacing this thing is not a really a priority for me. I print something maybe once or twice per year at best at this point. It works and does the job. I can get replacement toner cartridges on Amazon. There are decent non branded ones that are really affordable. I've only ever bought two, I think. I just don't print a lot. If somebody provides something that works indefinitely, I might still be using this thing in another 20 years.
  - CodeWriter23 6mo ago
    You run old operating system in browser as a gateway.
simoncion 6mo ago
Oh neat. v86 is mentioned in the FOSDEM 2025 slides [0] for another wasm port of QEMU. Interesting that what appears to be v86's inability to run x86 executables didn't fuck you. I wonder why the decision wasn't made to use the network sharing features of SANE and CUPS, instead of requiring one to use Chrome due to the WebUSB dependency. Seems to me that you'd have a way more general solution if you could usefully deploy your VM both in any major web browser and as a standalone program. [0] <https://archive.fosdem.org/2025/events/attachments/fosdem-2025-6290-running-qemu-inside-browser/slides/238760/slides_1dDtpcS.pdf https://archive.fosdem.org/2025/events/attachments/fosdem-20...>
- gmac 6mo ago
  Can you elaborate on how using the network sharing features of CUPS would let you achieve the same thing (printing to old USB printers) in any major web browser?
  - simoncion 6mo ago
    Given your commercial aspirations, I'm happy to consult on your project as a paid contractor.
    - gmac 6mo ago
      Fair enough! I just don’t think I fully understand what you’re suggesting.
      - simoncion 6mo ago
        > I just don’t think I fully understand what you’re suggesting. Sure, sure. Like I said, given your commercial (and closed-source) aspirations, I'm happy to consult on your project as a paid contractor. Doing work for free on a closed-source for-profit project is neither interesting nor in my interest.
        amaccuish 6mo ago
minutesmith 6mo ago
[flagged]
CodeWriter23 6mo ago
So. Does this methodology mean someone can surreptitiously boot up a Linux VM running Wireguard in your browser and be inside your firewall via chrome.sockets API?
- bastawhiz 6mo ago
  No? It's still a web page. And the chrome socket API was deprecated and removed for everyone except ChromeOS users in certain cases. The closest you can get is installing a Chrome extension that exposes sockets, but if someone is able to do that, they don't need the browser for help. Moreover, you don't even need Linux and Wireguard. WebRTC accomplishes p2p encrypted traffic without libraries.
- skinner927 6mo ago
  You don’t need a VM. Do what Netbird does. Compile wireguard-go to WASM and you’re g2g https://docs.netbird.io/about-netbird/browser-client-architecture https://docs.netbird.io/about-netbird/browser-client-archite...
aesopturtle 6mo ago
One thing I appreciate here is that it treats old hardware as worth saving, not as a nuisance to route around. There’s a lot of hidden value in software that extends the life of perfectly functional devices, especially when the alternative is replacing them for reasons that are mostly ecosystem drift. This is the good kind of absurd.
ValdikSS 6mo ago
>Perhaps I could set them up a Raspberry Pi as a print server? But that would make it not so cheap. And anyway, I’m not convinced they’d go for the extra plugs and wires. $35 and it's yours, with tech support and CUPS/SANE development funding included, and all open source: https://printserver.ink https://printserver.ink Extra plugs could be eliminated with the help of "IEC320 3 pin C14 TO Male C13+2" cable: https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/S4c8681fb1283499b8b5ae15be3937030G.jpg https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/S4c8681fb1283499b8...
- sublinear 6mo ago
  > 1 GiB LPDDR4 Wouldn't this be a huge problem trying to print anything with images or more than a page or two (most PDFs for example)?
  - ggm 6mo ago
    print spoolers typically consume space in /var/ for the files being printed and then stream them to the device through the output filters. The amount of data in play to render a page is not typically that big. Yes, there are corner cases analogous to a zip bomb which can make the print model explode. No, in practice this isn't very normal: printing is one of the spaces where compression of the data is entirely normal. "please print another row of black, where black is that thing I told you before, do that 2048 times and then come back"
  - morpheuskafka 6mo ago
    Most network printers don't have that much right? I remember seeing a few 256MB sticks in those old copiers that served a whole buildings.
  - ValdikSS 6mo ago
    Huh? I don't have any PDF files larger than 150 MB (2500+ pages long). It won't be a problem. 512 MB is more than enough. The previous revision had 256 MB (that's a bit tight), and the newer PCB does not have RAM less than 1 GB. Printing stack supports streaming, either per-band (part of a single page) or per-page. Even 1200 DPI CMYK color page is less than 50 MB.
Fnoord 6mo ago
I did this with a Raspberry Pi. The printer in question only has WiFi and USB, no ethernet (the WiFi wasn't stable, and I don't trust the TCP/IP stack anyway). So what I did was I connected it to a Raspberry Pi via USB which is connected via ethernet to the living room. I added AirPrint and brscan, and the device can be shared via usbip. For example, you can use a USB SDR and connect to it via usbip. Initially, I also had to actually use qemu x86-64 for the scanner part which wasn't ideal. The only UI computers which use it, are Apple's (iPhone and iPad). In a world where the network is the computer, usbip and iscsi are very cool tech. The reason I went with a Raspberry Pi is since it already acts as an interface for Valetudo. So it was already in use anyway. Also, I want to add Bluetooth for IoT scanning, considering to run Home Assistant on it. But yes, what it does lack is a UI. I was thinking of adding something with a reverse proxy, but I have no idea what, and this whole project isn't residing in my house. It is in my mother's apartment.
- paradox460 6mo ago
  I've been using a pi print server for a few years now. Runs my shipping label printer, an excellent HP color printer from the early 2000s, and a few other oddball printers
martmulx 6mo ago
[flagged]
steve-atx-7600 6mo ago
If you value reliability and have other things to do besides maintaining a Linux machine, I recommend https://www.decisivetactics.com/products/printopia/ https://www.decisivetactics.com/products/printopia/ for Mac OS (works on Tahoe). I scrapped my Linux box, got a Mac mini for a home server, and use printopia (not the pro version, just the buy it once individual version) for using my 2 10-20 year old printers on my lan. Can even air print to them. I used to do this with Linux and it was a huge pain in the ass. Lowest common denominator and buggy driver support (duplex printing silently fails, old hp all in one works until the next Ubuntu major upgrade which introduces the odd impossible to debug cups problem or two). For a Mac OS server based scanning solution, I attach my client Mac to my Mac mini server using https://www.virtualhere.com/ https://www.virtualhere.com/.
- george916a 6mo ago
  It’s pretty easy now days on Linux. Including AirPrint bridging to legacy (even real old) printers.
Chepko932 6mo ago
Running automation pipelines with LangGraph agents that control real hardware (Raspberry Pi Pico W over USB HID) makes sandboxing non-negotiable. A rogue agent on a terminal is annoying, and sending the wrong HID commands to a device can brick it. So here’s what I did: the agent only spits out a JSON action plan and never executes anything directly. A separate validator checks the plan against a whitelist of allowed USB commands before anything gets sent forward. In short, treat the agent like an untrusted external contributor—that’s exactly what it is. The SSH/VM approach from the article works well for pure coding. But with hardware-in-the-loop setups, you need that extra barrier between "the agent wants to do X" and "X actually happens."
ComSubVie 6mo ago
I do have an ancient Dr. Stika cutter plotter which works on an old WinXP with parallel port. I did try a few times to get it to work in a VM with an USB-Parallel adapter but haven't been successful so far. "Fixed" it by replacing it with a new CriCut. But unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any open driver or software for CriCut - so I'm afraid I'll run into the same problem in a few years again :-/
- nxobject 6mo ago
  As a Silhouette owner (for the plotter), same - I genuinely wonder whether the Chinese market have models... the type of Chinese-market product that seems to live on because it gets rebadged.
RajT88 6mo ago
What I'd really like to know is how to rescue an old printer by making its rubber rollers sticky enough not to jam. I have an old tank of a Brother laser printer whose only issue is feeding paper. 0 fuckery with DRM or spyware or subscriptions.

230 points by gmac 6mo ago

surely a glorious OS like osx would not be without support for hardware that linux supports? when will it be year of osx desktop?

akdev1l 6mo ago
wdym? OSX has literally always been supported only on very limited hardware so how would it support anything else?
- redeeman 6mo ago
  did you read what this is about? support for a printer people buy in stores. the kinda thing people expect working?
  - akdev1l 6mo ago
    Oh I thought you were referring to the VM part Anyway Apple created CUPS so it should support anything Linux does when it comes to printing edit: looks like they didn’t create it, they just hired the guy who did and shipped it

morpheuskafka 6mo ago

If you are using an LLM, wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just have the LLM find the relevant CUPS driver decompile or just capture the USB traffic, and rewrite it in Go or something native? (No need to deal with the system printing framework, the goal was just an app that accepts JPEG input.)

gmac 6mo ago
Interesting suggestion: I guess that would have been possible. On the other hand I think this is a more general solution, and it does minimal reinventing-the-wheel.
dolmen 6mo ago
Or ask the agent to write a Dockerfile (to abstract the build environment) that builds CUPS and all your stuff around it directl in WASM, instead of targeting x86 and then emulating x86 with WASM.
- jojomodding 6mo ago
  Is there a Docker-to-WASM pipeline, and how does it do anything differently from emulating x86?
huflungdung 6mo ago
[dead]
ValdikSS 6mo ago
That's definitely possible for simpler drivers (CUPS filters) which accept CUPS-raster data for input. That's a majority of drivers for old printers.

hulitu 6mo ago

Another AI add.

hahn-kev 6mo ago

This is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing.

juancn 6mo ago

Thank you, loved this and it made me "duh!". I have an old-ish Samsung laser printer that works perfectly and a Linux file server at home and the printer no longer supports AirPrint. I never thought about using the Linux box as an AirPrint server! This will free me from all the odd print requests from my kids! (probably)

mikepurvis 6mo ago
I have a Samsung ML-1740 kicking around still that I just can't bear to part with; I've been meaning forever to RasPi-ify it, but it's one of those projects that feels like it's going to end up being a rabbit hole.
- HeyMeco 6mo ago
  ML-1740 is supported by the driver available here: https://www.bchemnet.com/suldr/index.html https://www.bchemnet.com/suldr/index.html Works on my arm64 sbc as a cups printer for another samsung printer
  - ValdikSS 6mo ago
    It's a Samsung SPL device, it's supported by SpliX: https://github.com/OpenPrinting/splix https://github.com/OpenPrinting/splix
    - mikepurvis 6mo ago
      Yup, I used splix with it for years on Mac, so I think that will be the way to go.
- ValdikSS 6mo ago
  >but it's one of those projects that feels like it's going to end up being a rabbit hole. I know your feelings. I've started https://printserver.ink https://printserver.ink because I wanted to buy a retail print server and could not find any. I was expecting half a year overall work for everything, but fixing all printer-related bugs for 3 years already.

SoftTalker 6mo ago

I have an old Epson MX80 dot-matrix printer in the closet, have thought about getting a Raspberry Pi and setting that up so we can wirelessly print to it. But... who would really want that?

mrighele 6mo ago
For a printer like an Epson MX80 an esp32 should be enough to share the printer on a raw TCP interface (AppSocket I think the protocol is named) on port 9100. It is supported by Windows and CUPS. Very easy implementation as it essentially it just forwards the data to the printer. Since it's a raw interface you need the proper driver, but luckily Epson provides a Windows 10 driver for the Epson MX-80 (!) [1] CUPS doesn't have driver for the MX-80 but it has a number of generic Epson drivers and my guess is that one of those will work. The most difficult part is probably the parallel interface (unless you have a printer with a serial interface in which case it will be much easier) [1] https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Impact-Printers/MX-Series/Epson-MX-80/s/SPT_M80?review-filter=Windows+10+64-bit https://epson.com/Support/Printers/Impact-Printers/MX-Series...
Pinus 6mo ago
As for the "who would want that", I think the use case for that kind of printer today is slow logging. With a laser printer that outputs a page at a time, if you log one line per day the power fails after 65 days, you lose the 65 lines that was in its memory. The MX-80 can print a line, or even a character if you poke it in the ribs a bit, at a time, so if the power goes away, your printed lines are still there.

monocasa 6mo ago

Isn't cups a de facto apple project? What's the VM getting you?

yjftsjthsd-h 6mo ago
The gutenprint drivers to support the specific printer don't support darwin
- monocasa 6mo ago
  Gutenprint supports macos as a first class citizen, including this particular printer AFAICT.
  - gmac 6mo ago
    From the Gutenprint home page, https://gimp-print.sourceforge.io/ https://gimp-print.sourceforge.io/: As of July 7, 2024 the Gutenprint project has formally deprecated MacOS support. This means that no further MacOS-compatible binaries will be produced. Gutenprint has not had an active MacOS maintainer for over three years, and the remaining developers lack the technical ability to produce MacOS binaries, much less undertake the substantial amount of work necessary to produce, test, and support binaries on newer (post-Mojave/10.14) MacOS releases.
    - monocasa 6mo ago
      It looks like it's just because they had no way to test, and bandwidth to deal with it. But should still mostly work, once whatever issue (that sounds like app notrization) is fixed. It seems like the better option would have been to fix whatever was blocking them just two years ago, rather than this wild rube goldberg machine of a Linux VM emulated in a browser tab.
      - gmac 6mo ago
        I mean, anyone is welcome to do just that! But I guess coding Rube Goldberg machines in JS (to push the boundaries of the web) is a thing I really kind of enjoy.

bityard 6mo ago

Okay, this is reasonably genius. I have quite a few USB devices lying around that are either old enough or were niche enough that they don't work on modern _anything_, even Linux. One of them is a GameBoy Advance flash cartridge.

yjftsjthsd-h 6mo ago
Oh, there's a thought - v86 supports lots of old DOS/Windows versions too, so assuming you could get the right port through (probably easy with anything USB, maybe possible with other things?) you could probably use your choice of old drivers:)

leptons 6mo ago

Too bad Apple is still preventing the WebUSB spec from being standardized. They won't even make suggestions to get it through committee because WebUSB might cut into their native app store.

davsti4 6mo ago
From: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebUSB_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebUSB_API "WebUSB provides a way for these non-standardized USB device services to be exposed to the web. This means that hardware manufacturers will be able to provide a way for their device to be accessed from the web, without having to provide their own API." That doesn't sound secure at all!
- monocasa 6mo ago
  Which is why Firefox doesn't support it either.
  - leptons 6mo ago
    Firefox's non-reasons are just as lame as Apple's non-reasons. These APIs aren't security risks, the user has to explicitly opt-in on every website that requests USB access, just like every other privacy-risky API that a website requests, like microphone and camera access. WebUSB is no different. The only thing that has changed since camera and microphone access was allowed is that Apple now considers web apps to cut into their app store business, so they are unwilling to let any new APIs get approved that would make a web app as capable as a native app. This includes WebBluetooth and other APIs. Apple is also getting sued by the DOJ for exactly this type of shady business practice. And I don't really think what Firefox says is relevant, they are so cash-strapped I would not doubt that Apple pays them to have a negative opinion about new web APIs just so people like you can say "Firefox doesn't want it either". The truth is there is no good reason to block WebUSB and WebBluetooth from becoming standards.
    - Gigachad 6mo ago

DeathArrow 6mo ago

I would have asked Claude to write a driver. But this works, too. :)

randusername 6mo ago

what the heck we're not in web 1.0 anymore are we

Gabrys1 6mo ago

> I must apologise that I haven’t so far open-sourced any part of this that I don’t have to. Mainly that’s because I think this would be an awesomely sticky web property for a printer consumables firm to integrate with their sales site. And I’d much prefer it if they paid me to white-label it for them, rather than just forking a repo and getting it all for free. They might be interested if they cared at all about the ease of use of their printers

kube-system 6mo ago
They are referring to aftermarket ink cartridge companies, not the printer OEM.
jeroenhd 6mo ago
These printer makers have the source code and the ability to write firmware. If they wanted to support WebUSB, they could and would.
- ValdikSS 6mo ago
  Xerox just removed all the Linux drivers first for the majority of older models (even actual ones, which you can still buy), Windows and macOS drivers second for selected models (yet). https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/xerox-removed-linux-drivers-from-the-website-for-older-printers/182194 https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/xerox-removed-linux-d... https://forum.support.xerox.com/community?id=community_question&sys_id=ceb0a87a97d772101b263f21f053af40 https://forum.support.xerox.com/community?id=community_quest... Canon, Pantum, Brother, Kyocera, HP, they all still produce new devices on older hardware base, which require driver and does not support AirPrint/Mopria even over USB. They just don't care, they reuse what they wrote 20 years ago and ship it. Xerox and HP use Samsung printing engine and drivers, Pantum uses Lexmark.
zamadatix 6mo ago
The hardest part would probably be convincing someone to pay to white label something for which most of the key design choices and implementation came from one unfamiliar dev prompting an £18 Claude Code subscription.

ale42 6mo ago

I'm using an ancient Canon Selphy photo printer... on Windows 11 without any issues. Using the Windows 7 64-bit driver, worked basically out-of-the-box. It's definitely not officially supported, but to date it works totally fine.

gmac 6mo ago
Huh, interesting. Is the driver built in to Windows, downloaded from Canon, or acquired some other way? TBH the web app story on Windows isn’t ideal anyway because you have to install Zadig before it will work.
- ale42 6mo ago
  I think I downloaded it from Canon 5-6 years ago. It should still be around I guess, but I can share it if needed. EDIT: you can find it here for example: https://asia.canon/en/support/0100304802 https://asia.canon/en/support/0100304802

PunchyHamster 6mo ago

Doesn't Apple outright uses CUPS in the first place ? Did they just removed old drivers in their version ?

nubinetwork 6mo ago
I'd be curious if cups works on wsl as well...
- ValdikSS 6mo ago
  It does: https://openprinting.github.io/wsl-printer-app/ https://openprinting.github.io/wsl-printer-app/
ValdikSS 6mo ago
You might think that such an important and long-standing feature as printing would undoubtedly be backed up by a large company. This was true until 2019, when it was backed by Apple. Currently, however, CUPS and all related projects are supported by volunteers, including myself. Apple abandoned CUPS years ago, and recently have archived the repo on github: https://github.com/apple/cups https://github.com/apple/cups All the current development runs in OpenPrinting github: https://github.com/OpenPrinting https://github.com/OpenPrinting, and mostly focused on newer projects, such as CUPS v3, PAPPL, Printer Applications. Recent versions of CUPS v2 are still used in Chrome OS and Chromebooks though (apart from all Linuxes).

hexmiles 6mo ago

I know that it is a heavyweight solution, but it could be useful for some situations with old driver/devices/applications. I have some old hardware that is compatible only with pre-WinNT OS, and I could do something similar to provide a simple solution for the end user.

Narishma 6mo ago
Would such old hardware even be able to run a modern browser needed for this?
- hexmiles 6mo ago
  Sorry, I wasn't clear. By old hardware, I meant peripherals connected to the computer via serial or USB. We are at a level of performance where running an entire VM as a driver is kind of feasible, if wasteful.
  - jillesvangurp 6mo ago
    It's not that wasteful if you don't need this stuff most of the time. I have an old HP laser printer from 2008 or so. Nearly 20 years old at this point. Works fine but HP does not provide new drivers and the current x86 ones for my mac will stop working when Apple stops supporting x86 emulation. HP could fix this but they probably don't want to. There likely is a decent Linux driver for this thing. A solution like in the article, or qemu or docker with some way to access this thing over USB could probably get the job done. I rarely print anything in any case; which is why replacing this thing is not a really a priority for me. I print something maybe once or twice per year at best at this point. It works and does the job. I can get replacement toner cartridges on Amazon. There are decent non branded ones that are really affordable. I've only ever bought two, I think. I just don't print a lot. If somebody provides something that works indefinitely, I might still be using this thing in another 20 years.
- CodeWriter23 6mo ago
  You run old operating system in browser as a gateway.

simoncion 6mo ago

Oh neat. v86 is mentioned in the FOSDEM 2025 slides [0] for another wasm port of QEMU. Interesting that what appears to be v86's inability to run x86 executables didn't fuck you. I wonder why the decision wasn't made to use the network sharing features of SANE and CUPS, instead of requiring one to use Chrome due to the WebUSB dependency. Seems to me that you'd have a way more general solution if you could usefully deploy your VM both in any major web browser and as a standalone program. [0] <https://archive.fosdem.org/2025/events/attachments/fosdem-2025-6290-running-qemu-inside-browser/slides/238760/slides_1dDtpcS.pdf https://archive.fosdem.org/2025/events/attachments/fosdem-20...>

gmac 6mo ago
Can you elaborate on how using the network sharing features of CUPS would let you achieve the same thing (printing to old USB printers) in any major web browser?
- simoncion 6mo ago
  Given your commercial aspirations, I'm happy to consult on your project as a paid contractor.
  - gmac 6mo ago
    Fair enough! I just don’t think I fully understand what you’re suggesting.
    - simoncion 6mo ago
      > I just don’t think I fully understand what you’re suggesting. Sure, sure. Like I said, given your commercial (and closed-source) aspirations, I'm happy to consult on your project as a paid contractor. Doing work for free on a closed-source for-profit project is neither interesting nor in my interest.
      - amaccuish 6mo ago

minutesmith 6mo ago

[flagged]

CodeWriter23 6mo ago

So. Does this methodology mean someone can surreptitiously boot up a Linux VM running Wireguard in your browser and be inside your firewall via chrome.sockets API?

bastawhiz 6mo ago
No? It's still a web page. And the chrome socket API was deprecated and removed for everyone except ChromeOS users in certain cases. The closest you can get is installing a Chrome extension that exposes sockets, but if someone is able to do that, they don't need the browser for help. Moreover, you don't even need Linux and Wireguard. WebRTC accomplishes p2p encrypted traffic without libraries.
skinner927 6mo ago
You don’t need a VM. Do what Netbird does. Compile wireguard-go to WASM and you’re g2g https://docs.netbird.io/about-netbird/browser-client-architecture https://docs.netbird.io/about-netbird/browser-client-archite...

aesopturtle 6mo ago

One thing I appreciate here is that it treats old hardware as worth saving, not as a nuisance to route around. There’s a lot of hidden value in software that extends the life of perfectly functional devices, especially when the alternative is replacing them for reasons that are mostly ecosystem drift. This is the good kind of absurd.

ValdikSS 6mo ago

>Perhaps I could set them up a Raspberry Pi as a print server? But that would make it not so cheap. And anyway, I’m not convinced they’d go for the extra plugs and wires. $35 and it's yours, with tech support and CUPS/SANE development funding included, and all open source: https://printserver.ink https://printserver.ink Extra plugs could be eliminated with the help of "IEC320 3 pin C14 TO Male C13+2" cable: https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/S4c8681fb1283499b8b5ae15be3937030G.jpg https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/S4c8681fb1283499b8...

sublinear 6mo ago
> 1 GiB LPDDR4 Wouldn't this be a huge problem trying to print anything with images or more than a page or two (most PDFs for example)?
- ggm 6mo ago
  print spoolers typically consume space in /var/ for the files being printed and then stream them to the device through the output filters. The amount of data in play to render a page is not typically that big. Yes, there are corner cases analogous to a zip bomb which can make the print model explode. No, in practice this isn't very normal: printing is one of the spaces where compression of the data is entirely normal. "please print another row of black, where black is that thing I told you before, do that 2048 times and then come back"
- morpheuskafka 6mo ago
  Most network printers don't have that much right? I remember seeing a few 256MB sticks in those old copiers that served a whole buildings.
- ValdikSS 6mo ago
  Huh? I don't have any PDF files larger than 150 MB (2500+ pages long). It won't be a problem. 512 MB is more than enough. The previous revision had 256 MB (that's a bit tight), and the newer PCB does not have RAM less than 1 GB. Printing stack supports streaming, either per-band (part of a single page) or per-page. Even 1200 DPI CMYK color page is less than 50 MB.

Fnoord 6mo ago

I did this with a Raspberry Pi. The printer in question only has WiFi and USB, no ethernet (the WiFi wasn't stable, and I don't trust the TCP/IP stack anyway). So what I did was I connected it to a Raspberry Pi via USB which is connected via ethernet to the living room. I added AirPrint and brscan, and the device can be shared via usbip. For example, you can use a USB SDR and connect to it via usbip. Initially, I also had to actually use qemu x86-64 for the scanner part which wasn't ideal. The only UI computers which use it, are Apple's (iPhone and iPad). In a world where the network is the computer, usbip and iscsi are very cool tech. The reason I went with a Raspberry Pi is since it already acts as an interface for Valetudo. So it was already in use anyway. Also, I want to add Bluetooth for IoT scanning, considering to run Home Assistant on it. But yes, what it does lack is a UI. I was thinking of adding something with a reverse proxy, but I have no idea what, and this whole project isn't residing in my house. It is in my mother's apartment.

paradox460 6mo ago
I've been using a pi print server for a few years now. Runs my shipping label printer, an excellent HP color printer from the early 2000s, and a few other oddball printers

martmulx 6mo ago

[flagged]

steve-atx-7600 6mo ago

If you value reliability and have other things to do besides maintaining a Linux machine, I recommend https://www.decisivetactics.com/products/printopia/ https://www.decisivetactics.com/products/printopia/ for Mac OS (works on Tahoe). I scrapped my Linux box, got a Mac mini for a home server, and use printopia (not the pro version, just the buy it once individual version) for using my 2 10-20 year old printers on my lan. Can even air print to them. I used to do this with Linux and it was a huge pain in the ass. Lowest common denominator and buggy driver support (duplex printing silently fails, old hp all in one works until the next Ubuntu major upgrade which introduces the odd impossible to debug cups problem or two). For a Mac OS server based scanning solution, I attach my client Mac to my Mac mini server using https://www.virtualhere.com/ https://www.virtualhere.com/.

george916a 6mo ago
It’s pretty easy now days on Linux. Including AirPrint bridging to legacy (even real old) printers.

Chepko932 6mo ago

Running automation pipelines with LangGraph agents that control real hardware (Raspberry Pi Pico W over USB HID) makes sandboxing non-negotiable. A rogue agent on a terminal is annoying, and sending the wrong HID commands to a device can brick it. So here’s what I did: the agent only spits out a JSON action plan and never executes anything directly. A separate validator checks the plan against a whitelist of allowed USB commands before anything gets sent forward. In short, treat the agent like an untrusted external contributor—that’s exactly what it is. The SSH/VM approach from the article works well for pure coding. But with hardware-in-the-loop setups, you need that extra barrier between "the agent wants to do X" and "X actually happens."

ComSubVie 6mo ago

I do have an ancient Dr. Stika cutter plotter which works on an old WinXP with parallel port. I did try a few times to get it to work in a VM with an USB-Parallel adapter but haven't been successful so far. "Fixed" it by replacing it with a new CriCut. But unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any open driver or software for CriCut - so I'm afraid I'll run into the same problem in a few years again :-/

nxobject 6mo ago
As a Silhouette owner (for the plotter), same - I genuinely wonder whether the Chinese market have models... the type of Chinese-market product that seems to live on because it gets rebadged.

RajT88 6mo ago

What I'd really like to know is how to rescue an old printer by making its rubber rollers sticky enough not to jam. I have an old tank of a Brother laser printer whose only issue is feeding paper. 0 fuckery with DRM or spyware or subscriptions.