Re: [tlug] Printer Not Responding

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Dave" == Dave M G <Dave> writes:

    Dave> Not sure which site you found, but this is the one I've been using:
    Dave> ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/

That's the same site.

    Dave> So something has changed between then and now. I
    Dave> guess. Maybe.

I suspect glibc made a backward-incompatible change in memory
allocation strategy.  I have several apps (including XEmacs) which now
throw that error occasionally.

    >> It's generally a good idea to find out what hardware has open
    >> source drivers before you buy.

    Dave> The printer was purchased long before the decision to switch
    Dave> to Linux, so that was not an option. In any case, had I
    Dave> learned that Canon provided Linux drivers, I don't think it
    Dave> would have been an insane decision to assume the printer
    Dave> would work.

Yeah, I figured that.  That's why I'm telling you -- it is a risky
decision to depend on closed source drivers.  If you want that
hardware sufficiently badly, it may be worth the risk.  But if
something similar which has open source drivers is available, you
should go with that ... it's more likely to work *now* and more likely
to continue working as you upgrade hardware and software around it.

    Dave> I can't imagine a reason why the drivers would now suddenly
    Dave> be to blame.

*shrug*  Just goes to show your imagination needs more training.  :-)

Software is like ice dancing: if you don't make the connection just
right, somebody is going to get hurt on those throw triple axels.  But
sometimes you need to change library, even kernel, interfaces.  For
example, using UTF-8 in your mail instead of Shift JIS.  Or you add an
extra parameter to the function to suppress dangerous behavior or
enable a new feature.  Such changes are not backwards compatible,
although responsible developers try quite hard to maintain backwards
compatibility.  In open source, it's harder to maintain backward
compatibility, and there's also somewhat less incentive---because most
of the software that uses the interface is also open source, so the
user can fix it.  Any little thing can make the driver just stop
working, and it's quite possible that in your case, it did.  (But
don't give up yet. :-)


-- 
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