Townsville Linux Users Group

You know, if there's one thing that Linux needs way above anything else, it needs to have better printing. The problem is that Linux works best with Postscript-style printing, and that unfortunately means that printer manufacturers must pay a tax to Adobe for the licensing of the latest version of that protocol, right? That brings the cost up, and thus you don't see so many Postscript-ready printers in the low-end of the market. It also takes a pretty darn sophisticated printer chip to be able to print that. So, they come up with a cheap, proprietary protocol that gets the job done, minus some features that Postscript gives people. But then the problem is that the Linux guys have to jump through hoops to "clean room" this logic (of sorts) and get a working driver that won't land them in jail.Therefore, I'd like to propose two initiatives to the Linux community:   1. Create a new printing protocol not even remotely based on Postscript so there's no chance of copyright or software patent infringement. Work with the Linux-friendly guys at IBM to make this happen and to get widespread support for it. IBM can then lean on their relationship with Lexmark to get those guys to support it too.   2. Figure out how to reprogram the circuitry on many of the popular printer brands so that they run the other half of this new printing protocol (the other half being on your PC). Share the plans with people on the web so that they can reprogram their own printers. Because you can purchase a cheap inkjet printer for like $35 USD these days, it seems like an easy thing to experiment with and yet not be an expensive bit of experimentation as well.It seems inevitable that this would be a natural direction for the Linux community. I mean, if IBM is really serious about promoting Linux, it seems to me that this would be an obvious change. 
Daniel Saltman