Canon MG5200 -- Nonfree Printer Drivers
Ahoy there!
I just installed Trisquel Toutalis on my parent's computer (I'll be
migrating them from
windows in the next week or so), only to discover that the only drivers
available for
the main printer are non-free software. I can't seem to find any
alternative free drivers,
so I may be forced to install the non-free drivers as a last resort
(lesser evil and all).
I'd very, -very-, *very* much like to avoid doing that.
So, is there anything I missed?
Or, failing that, any effort I can contribute to, or anything I do (as
an intermediate-level C programmer or otherwise) to (help) create a free
port of the drivers?
Thanks!
- Finn
Offer an HP printer for birthday (whichever is closer).
Being broke takes that out of the equation =/
Thanks though =)
Why are most of you broke or broke students?
I am a member!
The first thing that comes to my mind is a commonly yelled phrase among a certain political persuasion and age bracket: "get a job”. No, I'm not of that persuasion. However I think having a job would give you a vivid understanding of why there are so many more financially insecure young individuals here.
Essentially what it boils down to is young people have been disenfranchised by economic conditions and recently passed laws in some countries that make it difficult for employers to hire young candidates. When you have a larger younger educated populous with nothing to do they have the time to post on such forums.
For those here without jobs who don't understand this I'll say this: People with jobs don't have time to post on internet forums in most cases. It's just that simple.
Yes- there are some exceptions to this. I know some relatively young bright 25-30 year olds who were lucky and made it rich-or are otherwise doing well on these very forums. However they are people who created opportunities for themselves. They didn't necessarily seek out employment. They quite literally started projects, companies, or similar out of university to fill some niche, and that propelled them forward.
If the jobs don't exist you have to “make them”. It's harder said than done of course. Particularly for those in situations where there is significant educational debts (of which can't be absolved via bankruptcy, etc), no housing / food security, etc.
"People with jobs don't have time to post on internet forums in most
cases. It's just that simple."
I'd expect you to say that Chris, you work for yourself. The
experience of myself and friends is U.S. megacorp offices are often
much like the UK. There's an awful lot of facetime B/S. Everybody
saying how they've been there since 06:00 when the security guard
disarmed the alarm for you at 07:00 and yours was the only car in the
car park at 08:00. Leaving five minutes after the boss's car leaves
the lot and claiming they were there until after midnight. Working
for yourself eh :-)
I do mailing lists for relaxation when my concentration fades during
the day, ten minute break - sometimes I get carried away. A digital
native will have written twice as much on their smartphone while
going to the water cooler.
Leny
Gutenprint 5.2.10 has experimental support for that printer.
Ah! Thanks! I'll try that out! :)
I am a member!
It looks like Gutenprint is in the repository (and thus free software, hopefully).
That said though the best thing to do is pay attention to the hardware your looking to buy before you buy it. That way you don't end up (as its extremely easy to do) with hostile hardware.
While HP (in the printer arena) has one of the best selections of clearly free software friendly printers even they aren't perfect. There are many many HP printers dependent on non-free code. HP does have some pretty good documentation though which can be very useful in narrowing down what is and is not free software friendly. There are some other issues related to the drivers actually bundled with Trisquel not yet having support for whats currently being sold, and the HP drivers having some non-free pieces which can also make it difficult to distinguish whats good and whats not of the current models readily available....