My Epson printer came with a disk for Windows and MacOS. I Put it on my network and Linux and Apple machines worked out of the box with no driver disk needed. I haven't tried Windows because I just don't run that nonsense at home.
Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
81–90 of 135 posts
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#82I use special printers that have weird features that require the ability to translate the data on the way to the printer, such as CYMW (W = White) printers (for printing on black or doing t-shirt transfers) or controlling the margins while printing on giant rolls of paper in my banner printer... I do a LOT of fiddling in the printer driver, and I hope that this isn't being somehow discontinued?
As far as I understand there is an industry standard solution to that problem: You put the computer you use to control the special hardware on an isolated network and never, under any circumstances, upgrade it.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#83Printing at home is so horrible. I have a printer connected to my Wifi router. It changes IP every time I reboot. When it changes IP, Windows can't find it. I can give the printer a static IP but how many people know to do this? Wifi has been around for more than 2 decades. Isn't that enough time to figure out a solution?
Apple seems to have solved this a long time ago. I didn't even set up my printer, I just turned it on, connected it to the network, and all the Macs and iPhones print to it, no problem.
They hired the guy who created CUPS for Linux and BSD, that's how they "solved" it
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#84I am not able to ascertain via web searching whether or not Mopria (the new universal print driver framework) supports PostScript passthrough or if all our printed text will have the trademark blurry HP PECL look, as if you printed a jpeg just shy of being at a sharp enough enough resolution. With inkjets it doesn’t make a difference but with lasers it is a night and day difference.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not broadcasting that, so either I did turn it off (and then forgot), or it was off by default. That's funny though. Can you connect to them and print them a message asking them to turn it off?
Thats a good idea! I just printed a google search "how to disable wifi direct"
On my printer (MFP M479dw), you can trivially log into the web interface and disable wifi direct.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#86Mopria And Airprint both use the RFC standard Internet Printing Protocol. Are they not compatible with each other? > IPP is the basis of several printer logo certification programs including AirPrint, IPP Everywhere, and Mopria Alliance, and is supported by over 98% of printers sold today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Printing_Protocol
IPP is a lower level thing - I guess those are built on top of it rather than in/with/through it.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. Buy a Brother laser printer 2. Put it on your Wi-Fi 3. There is no step three This is basically like when people say dishwashers don’t do a good job because they’ve only bought ones designed by American MBAs. HP and Epson made good products in the previous century but are now customer-milking operations and it’s better to pretend they don’t exist.
Problem is high powered industrial dishwashers can't handle decorated plates ... pardon me, I meant to say color lasers can't handle photos well. If you're primarily printing texts and diagrams on A4 copier paper, this is total non-issue. But if you're looking to print nice colors, not necessarily.
I use my home printers to print forms and documents and other things in black and white; if I had a color laser it'd be similar.
Photos are printed at walmart, it's way too cheap for the quality to even bother with anything else.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t bother owning a home printer. They basically all suck. Easier to just go to the library and print.
Get an old brother laser printer, they are rock solid. Better yet, setup Airprint as well. The novelty of printing from my phone never wears off. (coming from an old head).
I really feel like the brother laser printer recommendations should all come with model numbers as not all brother laser printers are created equal. i have a DCP-L2550DW, and i'm not sure i'd recommend it.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#89I live in the Apple ecosystem and I know HP does a lot of consumer-hostile stuff but I bought my HP laser from Costco (who refuse to sell subscription printers) mostly because of it's support for AirPrint with no additional software. And it works, the quality is great, and I'm happy. Didn't have to install anything.
Bought a used HP M203dw off Craigslist for IIRC $80. Using it from a mix of Macs, iPads and iPhones. It’s been fantastic.
Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows
#90I live in the Apple ecosystem and I know HP does a lot of consumer-hostile stuff but I bought my HP laser from Costco (who refuse to sell subscription printers) mostly because of it's support for AirPrint with no additional software. And it works, the quality is great, and I'm happy. Didn't have to install anything.
I upgraded from a my little Brother home b&w printer with scanner to an HP laser as well. I was starting to do more than my home printer and it's very low <$100 price tag should ever be expected to do. I went with a printer suggested by the vendor of a very specific medium I was going to be using in a hobby++ product labeling. It was 4x more expensive, but it works. It's connected to an air gapped computer, so I'm unawares if it suffers from the infamous user-hostile stuff. I works for what I need, and the state of the printing world means I'm happy with it