Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

theregister.com

111–120 of 135 posts

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, not all routers (particularly combo router/modems provided by your ISP) support multicast DNS, so often this isn't an option.

The router doesn't really need to support anything, the mDNS packets just flood the bridge domain directly between clients like any other flooded packet.

That’s the nice thing about mDNS. No flooding of anything since it’s multicast and not broadcast.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#112
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The router doesn't really need to support anything, the mDNS packets just flood the bridge domain directly between clients like any other flooded packet.

That’s the nice thing about mDNS. No flooding of anything since it’s multicast and not broadcast.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#113
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The router doesn't really need to support anything, the mDNS packets just flood the bridge domain directly between clients like any other flooded packet.

That’s the nice thing about mDNS. No flooding of anything since it’s multicast and not broadcast.

It would be nice... if it were actually "real" multicast :). It's instead link-local multicast, which has none of the filtering advantages of traditional IP multicast (i.e. no group joining via IGMP is performed for the switches/routers to be able learn who actually needs to listen) https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/route-igmp-link-loc... https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/multicast-on-the-la....

The advantage of link-local multicast over a plain broadcast is it gives a unique address (IP and multicast) so the clients themselves can more easily filter them. That's about it. An mdns aware router just enables MORE flooding to happen (across subnet boundaries, where link-local is not supposed to go).

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#114

Remember when OSX used to ship with gigs worth of printer drivers in attempt to satisfy the “it just works” user experience of their products? You could uninstall them and get a huge chunk of disk space back.

well, it did work, didn't it? And no BS bloatware like on Windows. Sometimes the best UX and also the most straightforward solution.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#116
post #4

I 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.

HP laser printers are not on the subscription model? I sought out a Brother laser printer specifically due to several bad experiences with lockout on HP printers.

Costco does not sell printers that require subscriptions. I believe they get custom models from the manufacturer.

Also, the exercise equipment they sell don't require an internet account for basic functionality, and I believe this goes for the TVs sold at Costco as well.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#117
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t bother owning a home printer. They basically all suck. Easier to just go to the library and print.

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.

I bought a Brother laser printer in 2018. I print maybe 3-4 times a year from home, and the damn thing works every time.

I've done nothing to it but put paper in it. The highest praise I can give a printer is: "I don't hate this one"

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#119
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a bog standard M28p that works without installing all the HP stuff, but it still earned the network name "That HP piece of s**".

"Baseball bat fodder" would be more apt.

That Office Space scene deeply resonated with the entire industry.

Re: Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

#120
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ZeroConf actually works pretty well as long as everything is in the same range.

Range as in L2?

L3. ZeroConf is broadcast which doesn't go outside of your current IP's subnet.
Post reply on HN