Please give a thorough review [LWN.net]

Please give a thorough review

Posted Jan 11, 2007 14:36 UTC (Thu) by jreiser (subscriber, #11027)
Parent article: Hardware that Just Works

I am glad that you are happy with LWN's new hardware. Please share your joy more effectively by conducting and presenting a thorough review.

Which model are you using? Which interfaces are present, and which did you test (serial, infrared, parallel, SCSI, USB 1.1, USB 2.0, 10/100 ethernet, WiFi)? Can they be used simultaneously or one-at-a-time with auto switching? How well does the USB 2.0 interface work when driven by a USB 1.1 port? What is the USB current draw [grep MxPwr /proc/bus/usb/devices]? What is the external power draw (operating and sleep mode)?

Which functions are supported (pc to print, pc to fax, scan to pc, scan to fax, scan to print, fax to print, fax to pc)? Which are supported simultaneously? Which wakeups are supported (fax to pc, pc to fax, pc to print)? Does the device have internal memory to store images, and how does that work and interoperate?

Is there complete read+write interoperation of status and control settings between the pc and the physical device (knobs, buttons, dials, LEDs, displays, ink remaining, paper remaining)? Which Desktop(s) did you use on Linux? Describe the integration with CUPS, drag-and-drop, shell command line.

Describe the POTS integration. Is there a handset? Dialpad? Speaker? DTMF dialing via sound through the microphone? Seamless interoperation with a telephone answering machine (auto switching among voice/fax/pc)? Voice handoff to fax without redialing? Wait for dialtone? Describe the interference (audio and logical) if the pc requests an outgoing fax while a voice call is already in progress.

Which PSTN standard was used? Local carrier? What is the peformance impact (both ways) on a line that also carries DSL? Does the device have an internal DSL filter? If the power fails, which settings persist on the device (clock, mode preferences, speed dial fax numbers, broadcast fax lists, ...)?

Do the device dimensions adequately describe the required physical environment for operations, or does stacking of output pages require more space? Which sides of the device require additional space for cords or hands during normal operation, and during maintenance?

Price. PCI card data/voice/fax full hardware modems retail for about $40 and are supported by several FOSS software packages. External full hardware modems with USB interface are available for about twice that price. Some less-than-full-hardware modems can be made to work for less. Why did you choose a more-expensive device?

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Please give a thorough review

Posted Jan 11, 2007 15:05 UTC (Thu) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (4 responses)

The article wasn't really meant to be a hardware review piece - LWN doesn't do a whole lot of that.

As for why: we've had a fax-capable modem for years. It's the scanning side that was missing.

Please give a thorough review

Posted Jan 11, 2007 16:54 UTC (Thu) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link] (2 responses)

I respect your decision to avoid hardware reviews (LWN is excellent as it is), but I wish there were someone who would take on that task. "Which hardware should I buy that works effectively with Linux?" has always been a difficult question, and what databases there are on the net are mostly full of devices you can no longer buy.

Please give a thorough review

Posted Jan 12, 2007 1:21 UTC (Fri) by dark (guest, #8483) [Link] (1 responses)

The databases I found on the net also seem to silently assume that I'm willing to install non-free drivers and whatnot :(

Please give a thorough review

Posted Jan 12, 2007 16:05 UTC (Fri) by gtaylor6 (guest, #19812) [Link]

This may be true for some databases, but Linuxprinting.org most certainly does not do so. We have always* been a listing of DFSG-free drivers. It says so on the page describing our ranking criteria - a printer that comes with a gloriously functional binary driver but which does not work with free software is listed as a Paperweight, with a little "no penguins" icon just to make it clear.

People stuck with such printers do of course help each other out with the unsupportable drivers in the forums and wiki, but I'm certainly not going to do anything to promote the purchase of such a device for use with free software. If the drivers aren't free to include in a working state in the distribution, the device is almost a nonstarter from a usability perspective.

* With the one historical exception of a "probationary" period where we listed HP's HPLIP drivers back when they had a non- free "use this code only with HP printers" clause but I had been given informal assurance that a freer license was forthcoming. This worked out in an ends justifies the means sort of way, but I probably wouldn't do it again. (Not that it's up to me anymore, but I do hope Till and the FSG will continue this policy for however long the database survives).

Please give a thorough review

Posted Jan 11, 2007 17:55 UTC (Thu) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link]

You might want to edit the article to explain that you have pieces of paper with writing on them that you want to fax to people, because that isn't actually clear at present. The first thing that comes to mind for me is actually that you've got files that people want to receive by fax instead of email.