Unrelated to topic:

I lost quite a bit of messages downloading them from Altern to Thunderbird and not being able to upload afterwards* but I would like to thank Todd Zullinger for reminding me that welcome messages are not just a way for forums owner to be polite :) But somethimes, you have many things to read...

* ping smtp.altern.org ping: unknown host smtp.altern.org

This used to work, but not anymore, according to lantre.org.

So, I'll have to set up a Gmail account. Later.

----------------------------- Setting up HP laserjets (1012) to work

I discovered a bug with the setting of my printer, an HP 1012. The configuration seemed really easy as it was identified correctly on a USB Port. A few clicks, and I was done. I didn't even check to see if it worked: I never had a problem setting this printer for years. Then, I tried to print and I had a message saying that the printer wasn't connected.

Weird: CUPS was installed, the wire was OK. I went back to configuration and I saw there's an option for using HAL, the Hardware Abstraction Layer. I do believe HAL has always been part of setting my printer. So, I selected it but received the message that the HPIJS driver was not available. (Note that I tried the Gutenprint driver when the printer wasn't set to use HAL: it didn't work.)

I installed hpijs, now everything is fine.

I don't remember ever being asked to use HAL with another distro: it was always put to contribution, I suppose. So, there must be a way around this. Most newbies will never consider an option that isn't selected by default for a printer.

Most probably other printers that use HPIJS have the same problem. Those that use ppd files, probably not.