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Linux HW compatibility list 4 local products




Ok, 

	I have several Olivetti-engine based printers and I did write my
own driver for them (crude, in C), to print PS and graphics from Linux.
This was ok (without manuals and gprof sessions to make 1.1 MB files move
through the printer cable) until a week ago I discovered that the driver
for DEVICE=/deskjet works great with the printer.

	Since this kind of @#$%% keeps happening I want to start a list of
devices that can be relied upon as aliases of other devices in Linux
setups. A file containing this should be placed on the ftp server of
linux.org.il with a link wedged into the linux.org.il web page
(somewhere).

	Anyone having solid information about devices that operate well
with Linux programs when those programs are set in a certain way should
post an entry to the list. Someone would simply cat >> it to the list from
time to time.

	The entrys should only apply to devices which are NOT covered by
manual pages, howtos or the Linux Hardware compat. list.

	I propose the following LSM-style template for each entry (which
is easy to parse using grep awk etc):

begin:
date: <Entry date in format DDMMYYY>, days and moths numeric, pad with '0'.
manuf: <Name of the maker, with NO decimal dots, as known inter-
	nationally, i.e. IBM not I.B.M., use name printed on packages>
class: <one of PRINTER DISK ADAPTER MODEM KEYBOARD MONITOR OTHER>
device: <Name of the product, commercial name>
model: <Number of the product, catalog number, if available>
like: <Name of the product, commercial name>
like-model: <Number of the product, catalog number, if available>
app: <Name of application or program as appears on a command line>
app-ver: <version of app, optional>
sd: <Setup description: max 10 lines of text describing the command line
sd: arguments required to make the device: work with the app: whilst
sd: emulating the device known as like:>
URL: <optional URL of a document describing this further, one URL per
URL: line>
who: <name and email address of the uploader, email address in <>'s)
end:

	All the fields excepting the who and date fields should accept
multiple lines (with the same header for each one). In the case of makes
and models, a list and/or a range is acceptable.

	For example in my case the entry would look like this:

BEGIN
date:	050897
class:	PRINTER
manuf:	Olivetti
model:	JP150 JP170
manuf:	CITIZEN
model:	ProJet 2
app:	gs
sd:	gs -dDEVICE=/deskjet
sd:	These printers should be set up as HP deskjets under Ghostscript
URL:	man gs
URL:	Printing-HOWTO
who:	Peter Lorand Peres <plp@actcom.co.il>
END	

	I believe that this is the kind of effort that will cost very
little and bring very much. There are at least 3 different makers who make
binary compatible printers (Citizen HP Olivetti and DEC) and no Linux user
knows that because you can't find that kind of information anywhere. With
this system, one could.

	If the posters would be disciplined then the list would be
searcheable by anyone looking forward to buy a Yoyodyne XYYS frobnicator.
The discipline could be ensured by an entry proofreader such as the lsm
robot. I'd volunteer to write one.

	If this catches on then a copy of Majordomo could be hacked into
running the robot when someone is posting and adding the entry to a
ftp-able file instead of mailing it out (replace the list adder
with another script and the command interpreter (subscribe/unsubscribe)
with a checker that would mail the entry back if it does not pass
linting. imho a registry number issued by Majordomo could be added to
each entry to allow by-reference searches.).

	Please send comments to the mailing list.

Peter Lorand Peres 
------------------
plp@actcom.co.il 100310.2360 on CIS (please use Internet address for mail)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/plp

"The creed of Inland Revenue is simple: 'If we can bring one litle smile to one 
little face today - then somebody's screwed up somewhere' - David Frost

(Note: The above stands valid in all countries until proven wrong)


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