PAPPL 1.0 RC1 Released With A Goal To Replace CUPS Printer Drivers

[jabl]

I'm not sure I understand exactly what this is. Hasn't there already been a driver for IPP?

Yes, there is, but it's not what PAPPL does. AFAICS you can think of PAPPL as an emulation layer, which will make a "legacy" printer (with PPD's, JetDirect etc.) appear as an IPP Everywhere device. Going forwards the plan is apparently that CUPS itself will drop support for all backends other than IPP Everywhere (which, with very slight differences, is variously also called Airprint/MOPRIA/whatever), and support for legacy (as in, not supporting IPP Everywhere) printers will be handled by "printer applications", PAPPL being a framework for creating such printer applications.

[jabl]

... and Postscript? Will it support PPD config files?

For backends yes, frontend no.

In the brave new world, "IPP Everywhere" (variously called Airprint/MOPRIA/"driverless printing") is the network protocol that binds everything together (printer discovery, getting and setting printer options, spooling, authentication, whatnot). The various components like command-line tools, libraries, daemons etc. that make up CUPS use IPP Everywhere to talk to each other.

This all works fine when you have a newish printer that natively talks IPP Everywhere. But what if you don't? That's where PAPPL comes up. PAPPL is a piece of software that runs on a computer (might be your laptop, or a print server somewhere on the network) that to CUPS looks like an IPP Everywhere printer, but on the backend it can talk to various legacy printers, such as ones requiring PPD's for config and PS for the job data itself.

[jabl]

So true. My wife and I are currently using an HP LaserJet 1200 that we picked up at a garage sale ~9 years ago for $4 (and $2 for an extra new-in-box toner cartridge). That printer was released in 2002 and still works amazingly well. The original toner cartridge that was in the printer finally died earlier this year. Another 5-10 years and I might need a new/refilled one.

I hooked it up to a Pi running cups so I could use it as a network print server, and now everyone in the house can print without anxiety. And now we're doing it at a much cheaper cost per page than the junky inkjets we used to use periodically, what with the nozzles/cartridges drying out/clogging between uses all the time.

I had a LaserJet 1200 for a very long time as well. Unfortunately it eventually developed a problem where it would frequently pull multiple papers at a time. Fortunately I got my hands on a slightly newer but still old LaserJet that my old job was throwing away, so I threw out the 1200. I put in a new 3rd party toner and it was as good as new. And it has an eth port supporting jetdirect so no need to run a separate print server, and it also has duplex, so I'm pretty happy with it.

That being said, if it were to break down and I had to get a new printer, I think I'd look into the Brother laser printers. From what I've read, they're pretty solid, have good Linux support, and they're not playing those DRM toner crap games that HP has resorted to in the last decade.

[Black_Fox]

That being said, if it were to break down and I had to get a new printer, I think I'd look into the Brother laser printers. From what I've read, they're pretty solid, have good Linux support, and they're not playing those DRM toner crap games that HP has resorted to in the last decade.

As a new owner of a floor model Brother laser printer with a full warranty, I agree with that. For the first time I have a network printer and it even allows driverless printing over Wi-Fi on Linux! I've also checked there are chipped 3rd-party toners that can be had for quite cheap.

[schmidtbag]

Yes, there is, but it's not what PAPPL does. AFAICS you can think of PAPPL as an emulation layer, which will make a "legacy" printer (with PPD's, JetDirect etc.) appear as an IPP Everywhere device. Going forwards the plan is apparently that CUPS itself will drop support for all backends other than IPP Everywhere (which, with very slight differences, is variously also called Airprint/MOPRIA/whatever), and support for legacy (as in, not supporting IPP Everywhere) printers will be handled by "printer applications", PAPPL being a framework for creating such printer applications.

Aaah ok that makes sense. Thanks for the info.

[ed31337]

So true. My wife and I are currently using an HP LaserJet 1200 that we picked up at a garage sale ~9 years ago for $4 (and $2 for an extra new-in-box toner cartridge).
(...)
I hooked it up to a Pi running cups so I could use it as a network print server, and now everyone in the house can print without anxiety.

Oh, you are so lucky! I've got a couple newer Samsung laser printers that work great in x86 Linux, but so far I haven't been able to get them to work on my Raspberry Pi. The Samsung drivers include some x86 binary to do the printer protocol conversion, with no source code and no ARM binary. There is an open source Samsung printer driver project, but it only supports a small handful of Samsung printers, which neither of mine are part of and development of that open source driver looks abandoned to me. So, I'm SOL for now on RPi printing...

[metallurge]

I had a LaserJet 1200 for a very long time as well. Unfortunately it eventually developed a problem where it would frequently pull multiple papers at a time. Fortunately I got my hands on a slightly newer but still old LaserJet that my old job was throwing away, so I threw out the 1200.

A shame, really. It was a cheap fix: https://www.precisionroller.com/pape...ails_5807.html

[Veerappan]

And it has an eth port supporting jetdirect so no need to run a separate print server, and it also has duplex, so I'm pretty happy with it.

Yeah, I wouldn't have turned down a printer with built-in JetDirect or a free external jetdirect box, but a Pi makes a pretty decent substitute. Right now, I've got a Pi 3B running print server, DNS (one of several for failover), ssh gateway, and wireguard duties for the house. If it has to always be on to do print server duties, it can do a few more jobs as well

That being said, if it were to break down and I had to get a new printer, I think I'd look into the Brother laser printers. From what I've read, they're pretty solid, have good Linux support, and they're not playing those DRM toner crap games that HP has resorted to in the last decade.

I've heard a lot of the same things about Brother. If/when our monochrome 1200 dies, I'll be looking for a color laser replacement, and Brother is pretty high on that list.