Tell me about printer protocols o3o
off the top of my head....lesgoooooo
Bonjour isn't a printing protocol but it is a service protocol...idk if it does all device discovery or just printers. apple thing. anyway, uh pretty sure apple also use CUPS, or parts of it. which again, service protocol. that's that good Common UNIX Printing System. okay.
so we got a CUPS an we got a printer. an they gotta talk. idk how it used to work, but since at least the mid 00s printers typically use something called PostScript. or maybe GhostScript. which could jus be PS but a funnye FOSS version ???? special language that the microcontroller in a printer can convert into what colours it gotta mix and put where. i gotta start looking all this up bc it's been a hot min.
assuming the printer is physically plugged to the computer this is all done as a serial connection. since USB is serial. we don't talk about the parallel port. idk how network stuff affects this but presumably it's just wrapped in IP packets ?
printers are brats. and this is fine. this was fine. until companies started making them dystopian as fuck. i can handle a printer being a bit of a dick sometimes, selectively working. i can't handle ink-subscription-based DRM. or cloud print only. or any of that shit.
tbh i would be happy saving to a usb drive, walking to the printer room and plugging that drive in. no fuckery required. if you want stuff to print out remotely that's what fax is for. we should bring back fax.
you might be able to tell i've watched a lotta CRD
this got a bit off topic lmao but if u want me to re-inform myself on how printer talk then i can do