[RFE] STR #3935:Dropserial andparallelbackends

roland roland at logikalsolutions.com
Thu Nov 24 06:56:25 PST 2011


> Roland,
>
> Since you obviously did not read my entire original response, let me make this clear:

I read the entire message.

>
> 1. All of the backends and filters that have been removed from CUPS 1.6 are now part of a separate "CUPS Extras" package that will be used by Linux distros to support, among other things, parallel and serial printing on Linux.
>
> 2. This package will be maintained by the Linux Foundation's OpenPrinting project.
>
> 3. NO FUNCTIONALITY IS BEING LOST.  It is just coming from a separate package.
>
A great deal of functionality has already been lost.  Nearly every distro on the market has relied on CUPS to load all needed serial and parallel support.  Now it doesn't load.

> Why are we (Apple) doing this?  First, because we don't make computers (nor do most other companies) with parallel or serial ports.  Second, because we don't have the resources (hardware) to test the software, there is no way for us to do a good job of maintaining these backends.

Well, I have no idea what you mean by "most other companies" since I spent less than 10 minutes at one major computer retailer's Web site and found 30 examples of products SHIPPING TODAY.

This really does explain why Apple never made it as a business desktop.  You were dumb enough to abandon the required interfaces.


>
> So, please don't rant about us "not caring" or being incompetent.  In fact it is quite the opposite and we are making sure that these components will live on as long as there is someone to maintain them.

I'm not ranting, I'm documenting the facts.  You have zero industry knowledge:

http://www.cups.org/str.php?L3935
"Serial printers are extremely rare these days and no computer has shipped with a parallel port in years."

Had you only spent 5 minutes in a real computer store, you wouldn't have made that statement.

Ordinarily, I don't care what Apple does.  I never buy their products because they don't appeal to me.  Now you are hosing up the one thing each and every business user needs, not to mention every published author.

I will post separately about the viciously uninformed decision to switch from Postscript to PDF for input to printers.  NOBODY who had ever worked in or utilized the publishing industry would have made that move.  NOBODY.

PDF is a guideline, not a standard.  I have over 20 years of dealing with this issue.  PDF creates far more problems than it solves.  If you take a raw document and output PDF, then convert that PDF to Postscript, you've already ruined any quality the output COULD have had.






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