AirPrint seems to be the new standard for printing...

astyle

astyle

Discussion:

I installed print/cups v. 2.4.10_1 and print/foo2zjs so that I could print to my HP LaserJet Pro P1102w. Yeah, a printer from 12 years ago, it still works, and I can still buy toner for it. The whole setup works works perfect on my end, and yes, I use it over wi-fi.

Thing is: When I added the printer in the CUPS web interface, I got greeted with the message that "RAW queues and printer drivers are deprecated and will stop working in a future version of CUPS".

So I did a bit of research on that message. And discovered the following:
  • Per https://openprinting.github.io/cups/, CUPS supports AirPrint, a "driverless" printing standard.
  • This Debian wiki explains the situation with CUPS very well. CUPS works on FreeBSD same as on Linux. If a printer works on CUPS, it really doesn't matter if it's on FreeBSD or Linux.
  • This page provides a list of printers that support AirPrint. Some of them are actually off-market already (AirPrint has been around for some time, after all) because they're old models. They may be found on eBay or Craigslist or other places to find secondhand stuff.

Basically, it looks like any printer that supports AirPrint should be findable and usable in CUPS. CUPS comes with device-independent print filters that will process your print job and send it off to the printer.

The only reason I did not try AirPrint myself is that my P1102w still works, and I don't see a reason to replace it. But if someone could confirm in this thread that AirPrint - capable stuff works, that would be awesome!

Point of posting this is that not all is lost when CUPS stops supporting printer drivers. No need to 'go back in time and look for an older version of CUPS' or other stuff.

Corrections and additions are welcome here, too! ?
 
astyle said:
The only reason I did not try AirPrint myself is that my P1102w still works, and I don't see a reason to replace it. But if someone could confirm in this thread that AirPrint - capable stuff works, that would be awesome!

?
Click to expand...
That's my way of printing and it works very well. Give cups the printers ip address and you are set up.
On FreeBSD and Linux.
 
I have a small page on it, using the everywhere driver, which works fine on my Brother MFC-L3780CDW. I think it works on most printers that can connect wirelessly, and if not, with an ethernet connection.

(I first had the url typed incorrectly, thanks to Jose for catching the error. )

The correct link is

 
astyle said:
The only reason I did not try AirPrint myself is that my P1102w still works, and I don't see a reason to replace it. But if someone could confirm in this thread that AirPrint - capable stuff works, that would be awesome!
Click to expand...

On Linux I'm convinced my printer (HP Pro 8710) would only sometimes print blurry stuff if I used the IPP universal HP driver. I used the socket older-specific driver instead and could print fine, but wondered how long they'll keep that depreciated warning around :p

Printing is on my todo list and I'm curious about what driver to be using too. I'm fine with socket/driver since it works, but is there any word when that might be axed either by CUPS or FreeBSD?
 
Printers that don't support AirPrint are becoming a rare beast. My point is, that old hardware will eventually get fried and need to be replaced.

Hardware-wise, printing is not the most convenient thing - Laser toner is expensive, model-compatible compatible cartridges are harder to find as older models disappear off the market, and ink is going to a subscription-only model that consumers hate. On the upside, some companies do make surprisingly reliable stuff that keeps going for years and years, with no reason to be replaced.

Software-wise, the transition to AirPrint is supposed to be pretty smooth. Just find any printer that has commercial support for AirPrint (should say so on the box), have a recent version of CUPS installed, and you're good to go. I'm basically looking for success stories like that.

Espionage724 said:
Printing is on my todo list and I'm curious about what driver to be using too. I'm fine with socket/driver since it works, but is there any word when that might be axed either by CUPS or FreeBSD?
Click to expand...
My research didn't get that far, but if someone has info, please post it here in this thread!
 
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