[techtalk] Newbie: my printer.

[Simon Britnell]

Xavier Gutierrez Munoz wrote:

> I would like to know if my printer is supported bay any Linux kernel
> version.

This is actually the wrong question :)  The kernel itself only supports
the ability to talk to printers (via parallel or serial interfaces).
Support for any given printer is usually more a matter of speaking  the
right language than actually talking to it.  Most linux software talks a
printer language called Postscript.  This language is actually spoken
only by a few, rather expensive printers, so there's a translator
program called Ghostscript.  Ghostscript translates Postscript into the
native language of various different printers.  So the real question is:
"Does Ghostscript support my printer?"

> It's a HP DeskJet 850 cxi (non Windows95 printer).

HP support in Postscript is quite good, so your printer is undoubtedly
supported to some degree.  Even if the 850cxi isn't directly supported,
you can probably run it as a 400 or something to pretty much the same
effect.


************
techtalk at linuxchix.org   http://www.linuxchix.org