Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would calling it a "driver adapter" fit more accurately .. ?
I don't think so, no. It does not appear to be functioning as an OSX device driver. It's just hosting a network print server in docker.
Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
161–170 of 241 posts
Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#162...I would have asked Fable.
Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#163Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#164Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#165Unfortunately this is a very misleading article and headline. I don't doubt the end result - it's useful that it works, but it's not "natively" and, unlike what some people assume, Claude didn't write a driver. It basically used HP's existing proprietary driver in a Linux VM on macOS, and just bridged that to macOS. It also requires a root launcher that runs code from the user ~/.hp1008 dir, so security is weakened.
Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
The way that you talk to it influences the way that it responds to you and it is not subtle. I don't want to hitch on to the "it's just really complicated autocomplete" bandwagon, but this is one of the ways that it does feel like that.
With voice dictation (wispr flow), I find it easier for me to talk naturally as if I'm talking to a friend. I'll sometimes give lengthy notes on context for a project, like why I want to do it, e.g. something for my wife to use. So I find it common (and fine, I suppose) for Claude to reply using that context. "Let me know what your wife thinks of the app" etc.
Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#167Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Had a similar thought today - maybe we could finally get Linux drivers for more HW...
I don't understand the technology enough to see why, but LLMs seem unusually skilled at reverse engineering proprietary software.
Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand the technology enough to see why, but LLMs seem unusually skilled at reverse engineering proprietary software.
IMO it's because they don't get burnt out by a lack of results. After 5-6 consecutive approaches fail, I need a reason to think the next one might work out to stay motivated. Claude will keep burning credits trying new approaches until something sticks. That's a huge advantage in a field where most of the things you try don't go anywhere.
Re: Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Had a similar experience getting a niche app running under wine. The bot had to bring in a different open source renderer, patch dlls, adapt a mapping tool from a different chip architecture to partly map and modify the binary, crazy stuff. Alternatives exist but are expensive, this got it working in an hour when doing it myself would probably be 2 weeks.
Last week I had Claude add support for aac audio to davinci resolve on Linux, just by patching the binary. It did almost exclusively with gdb and objdump, patching about 5 functions over an hour or two. I only got it to the proof of concept stage. The patch adds aac but breaks flac support in the process. And it only works for aac in mp4 container files. But I’m sure with a bit of time we could make a patch which wor…