OT: printer support [was: Re: Should I add this Repo?]

[Mario Vukelic]

On Mon, 2008-10-27 at 08:45 -0700, Leonard Chatagnier wrote: 
> If you really want to know, suggest you ask the Ubuntu Developers
> instead of me, an ordinary home user.

I don't ask, and to be honest I don't really care. I just objected to
the notion that "best linux support" somehow means "drivers that are not
in the repo and cannot be installed cleanly"
 
> In my case it was --force-architecture that was needed.  See below for
> more input. Also, I wasn't trying to refute what you said and was
> replying specifically to Dotan's post about it being so dangerous
> which in my case, I don't think so and I do trust Brother and it's
> linux/Ubuntu support.

I don't want to argue, either. Nevertheless, a well-built package needs
no force, period.

In the case of your printer, --force-architecture probably was harmless,
but for the sake of completeness (and in case someone finds this post in
Google and concludes that --force-architecture is always harmless, which
is wrong):

mario at chronic: ~ $ dpkg --force-help
dpkg forcing options - control behaviour when problems found:
<snip>
  architecture [!]       Process even packages with wrong architecture
<snip>
WARNING - use of options marked [!] can seriously damage your
installation.
<snip>
mario at chronic: ~ $ 

 
> Think not. Visit the links I gave on another post. The links give
> explicit detailed instructions of how to install my specific model and
> it worked first time. 

I don't dispute this. See further up for what I took issue with.

> That's better support than I've seened on any distro or printer
> manufacturer. And that's what I call *Best* support. 

I think that you are being unfair to those printer manufacturers who
provide drivers that are right there in the repos, such as HP.
Last time I set up an HP, I went to System > Administration > Printing
and clicked New. It automatically found the correct model, installed the
driver and I was done.

I don't want to talk bad about Brother, it's nice if they provide
drivers. But we should expect more than having to force badly built
packages before we use the label "best linux support"