OpenPrinting / OpenPrinting/system-config-printer

SImplifying 'Add Printer' for HP printers

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enhancement help wanted
Dominant language
Python
Stars
204
Forks
108
Avg merge
1d 14h
Merged PRs (30d)
9

Description

When detecting a printer, Add Printer presents a 2-option menu:

o HP Scanning & Printing (HPLIP)
o USB printer

which - when an HP printer is detected - is confusing, especially to a newcomer to Linux, who is likely to play safe and select the "USB" option to confurm 'Yes, the USB printer'.
Although that will install the printer, if he then tries to use HPLIP he will find it will not recognise the installed printer!

Proposal:

In the case where system-config-printer knows that the detected printer is HP, just go ahead and install the 'HPLIP' way, thereby cutting out a redundant 'options' menu and avoiding possible confusion, as well as giving a slicker operation.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the Add Printer detection flow and the branch that presents the HPLIP and USB printer choices. Confirm how HP printers are identified and how each installation path is selected; done means detected HP printers use HPLIP automatically without the redundant choice while other printers retain the existing behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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