[vox] Windows really DOES suck! (Or maybe it's HP...)

[Richard Crawford]

I recently decided that I wanted to get one of those spiffy all-in-one 
printer/scanner/copier/fax machine devices.  After much research (and thanks 
to those who recommended hpoj.sourceforge.net) I settled on an HP OfficeJet 
4215.  I connected it to my FC3 server, downloaded the HP-developed hplip 
drivers from Sourceforge and complied them into CUPS.  I need to install the 
latest release of the sane backends in order to get the scanner to work, but 
that's a project for a different day.

So, my server talks to the printer just fine, as does my Kubuntu desktop and 
my Kubuntu laptop.  No additional configuration is necessary on any of these 
machines.

On Windows, though, it's an entirely different story.  Even though I have the 
printer shared out via Samba and Windows can see the printer through Network 
Neighborhood, I cannot get the driver loaded.  The "Add Printer" function 
doesn't have this printer in its default driver list, and refuses to see it 
on the CD.  After hours of pain, I discovered that the driver that ships with 
the printer is NOT network-ready!  Another couple hours later, I discovered 
that I could use the driver for an entirely different printer to make the 
4215 print over the network, but it's painfully slow.  I've set up our old HP 
712C again, which is a reliable inkjet printer, but I'm hoping it's only a 
temporary solution.

I'm pondering returning the machine at this point.  Anyone aware of any 
solutions to my dilemma?
  
-- 
Richard S. Crawford (http://www.mossroot.com)
"That which does not kill me makes me stranger."
    -Llewellyn, from Ozy & Millie
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