Mac dosage

[vakkotaur]

I tried the Mac laptop today and didn't get very far. I did get Opera installed and started fiddling with it and found that everything that had been a single key action (or one key and a click) was now a two-key (or two-key and click) action. There was a two-key and click that still is two-key and click, but the keys are now awkward, even for a laptop. Unfortunately while that might be a Mac standard, it's non-standard for, well, everything else. And when I was lucky the two keys could be reached by one hand without contortions. I wasn't lucky very often and gave up quickly. My wrist wasn't hurting, yet, but the weird precursor feeling was starting in.

I think that's a less than subtle hint that I should look at the new Wolvix or maybe Xubuntu.

Comments

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Linux printing. Even with CUPS, I get goofiness like being able to cajole CUPS into eventually printing a test page, but then even when I have told the system that a user can print, I try printing as a user and get nothing. I know I've cajoled, threatened, and beaten CUPS into actually working once before, but I haven't managed to recall the specific incantation to repeat the feat. Looking for help on the web, I get pages that tell me to do exactly what I have already done and everything should just work. "Tell me another one." is my reply. As far as I am concerned, Eric S. Raymond's rant about CUPS (http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html) is still sadly valid.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sorry if I'm covering ground you've already been over, but perhaps some of the following will help.

My experience with CUPS is this. If the printer understands raw Postscript, and you tell CUPS it is a "raw printer", you're in business. Otherwise, all bets are off. But that has always been true of UNIX printing too, for the most part, so that's not terribly surprising.

The other problem with any print control system in Linux is that it must be properly integrated into the distribution. Many I've had to deal with were not integrated at all, but rather hung on the side as sort of "filters" and that never works well.

If you are printing to a network printer, the problem may lie in the network connection and access privileges for the network device, which aren't really part of CUPS itself. This is especially the case with Samba-based printing (usually where the printer is controlled by a Windows server.) Where the printer is a standalone network device (e.g., HP JetDirect or something similar) then the particular API you tell CUPS to use must be activated on the print device (JetDirects supported at least four protocols last time I checked.)

If the printer is directly attached to a physical device on the system from which you are printing, then be sure the device allows write privileges.

Sorry if I'm covering ground you've already been over, but perhaps some of this will help.

[yakko.livejournal.com]

My experience with CUPS is this. If the printer understands raw Postscript, and you tell CUPS it is a "raw printer", you're in business. Otherwise, all bets are off. But that has always been true of UNIX printing too, for the most part, so that's not terribly surprising.

This is why I'll try to make my next printer be a PostScript printer. I've had absolutely no problems with them anywhere. They're by far the easiest to get working. All my non-PostScript printers have had some sort of issue printing (mostly in getting decent output).

For JetDirect, I'd make it use raw mode (direct to port 9100). Then CUPS can be told to use a ghostscript driver or raw mode if it's PostScript, and dump the contents directly to the JetDirect card.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Postscript printers are a lot less expensive than they used to be. I have a Laserjet 1320n here that I got two years ago for about $300 after rebate. It does Postscript, PCL, and HPGL, double sided printing, envelopes, the whole bit, and works perfectly with CUPS, including all the features if you load the PPD file from HP's web site. The Jetdirect interface is built in too, so you just have to plug in a cable and go.

[yakko.livejournal.com]

Ubuntu (Gibbon) seemed to work OK tonight, letting me set up a PostScript printer (which was on a JetDirect interface) with the included administration widget. One big problem, though:

Apps state the page size is Letter, the printer setup states it's Letter, the TEST PAGE prints in Letter, but the system paper size defaults to A4. Ergo, the output to the printer is almost always in A4. And unless you're onto the shenanigans, you'll be driven insane.

dpkg-reconfigure libpaper1 to sort it out, although that shouldn't ever have to be done. It should be in the administration dialog! Things worked fine after that.