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Whatever happened to good old CUPS? Why did they have to introduce so many layers including Google's servers between the user and the printer?

• pgeorgi 7y ago
  > Whatever happened to good old CUPS? Why did they have to introduce so many layers including Google's servers between the user and the printer? As the support document states, as far as Chrome OS goes, the removal was made possible precisely because its CUPS support became good enough to supplant Cloud Print.
  • oaiey 7y ago
    I am really curious how they will make CUPS printer management on Chrome OS happen. I guess they bet on wide support on printers supporting some protocol native.
    • kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      Are they going to fix the CUPS bug where a printer with a known hostname becomes unusable when its IP changes?
    • jabl 7y ago
      > some protocol native. That being IPP everywhere (also knows as AirPrint, "Driverless Printing", Mopria(?)).
• geofft 7y ago
  CUPS is exactly what Google is switching Chrome OS to, as a replacement for Cloud Print. But the reason to have Google's (or someone's) servers involved is so that you don't need to be on the same network (e.g., you can print to your home printer, behind a firewall/NAT, while you're at a coffeeshop, also behind a firewall/NAT).
  • toomuchtodo 7y ago
    We previously had one of those ol Reliable Brother printers that would last for a decade. When we last moved, we left it behind and on the rare occasions we need to print something we email the doc to a FedEx email address and pick it up from the printer at FedEx office (you enter a unique hex code to retrieve after dipping your card for payment). It seems like the use cases of printing to your home printer from anywhere is few and far between.
  • fyfy18 7y ago
    Does CUPS support securely printing over the network, or can you only do it with a VPN?
    • geofft 7y ago
      CUPS / IPP is just an HTTP server. Apparently HTTPS (IPPS) is reasonably well-supported, and there is also support for IPP authentication, but I still wouldn't feel totally comfortable exposing the CUPS built-in web server directly to the public internet....
  • darkwater 7y ago
    Buuuuut, is that really a valid use case? how many people do actually want to remotely print from another network to a printer, beside print shops without dedicated WiFi networks? How many people do actually want to use it as some sort of fax-machine replacement?
    • CiaranMcNulty 7y ago
      I've definitely worked places with segregated LAN and WANs, where it's a pain in the ass to print if you aren't plugged into the ethernet
      • toomuchtodo 7y ago
        Which likely means the printer isn't allowed to punch a hole outbound to a cloud service.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• EricE 7y ago
  Heh - CUPS primary maintainer is Apple. Chrome - webkit from Apple. What does Google contribute to? Kubernetes! Will be the downfall of humanity...