Item — HN Reader

>Perhaps I could set them up a Raspberry Pi as a print server? But that would make it not so cheap. And anyway, I’m not convinced they’d go for the extra plugs and wires.

$35 and it's yours, with tech support and CUPS/SANE development funding included, and all open source: https://printserver.ink

Extra plugs could be eliminated with the help of "IEC320 3 pin C14 TO Male C13+2" cable: https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/S4c8681fb1283499b8...

1 comments

> 1 GiB LPDDR4

Wouldn't this be a huge problem trying to print anything with images or more than a page or two (most PDFs for example)?

print spoolers typically consume space in /var/ for the files being printed and then stream them to the device through the output filters. The amount of data in play to render a page is not typically that big. Yes, there are corner cases analogous to a zip bomb which can make the print model explode. No, in practice this isn't very normal: printing is one of the spaces where compression of the data is entirely normal. "please print another row of black, where black is that thing I told you before, do that 2048 times and then come back"

Most network printers don't have that much right? I remember seeing a few 256MB sticks in those old copiers that served a whole buildings.

Huh? I don't have any PDF files larger than 150 MB (2500+ pages long).

It won't be a problem. 512 MB is more than enough. The previous revision had 256 MB (that's a bit tight), and the newer PCB does not have RAM less than 1 GB.

Printing stack supports streaming, either per-band (part of a single page) or per-page. Even 1200 DPI CMYK color page is less than 50 MB.