I'm confused on what the replacement is. Historically, ChromeOS hasn't been able to print at all unless using Google Cloud Print in some form. To my knowledge there are two existing forms:
* a Google Cloud Print-ready printer, or
* a computer that can run Chrome and bridge non-Google Cloud Print-ready printers to Google Cloud Print.[0]
So the ancient WPS printer in my garage is entirely unsupported without deploying a computer running Windows or macOS, installing Chrome, and registering a "classic printer". To combat this, I made a simple Python script that runs an HTTP server, accepts file uploads, assumes cupsd is running on the same host, and throws jobs at my printer. This has worked nicely, and over time I've added additional features, such as the ability to specify double-sided printing or number of copies.
The wording in this link is the source of my confusion. The first paragraph states (somewhat brusquely) that users should "identify an alternative solution and execute a migration strategy" without giving any suggestions on how this might best be accomplished. What's more, the first link[1] on the page claims "native printing" is getting better, but upon clicking this link I'm directed to a page about Chrome Enterprise.
So... what am I supposed to make of this? I have to pay for an enterprise edition of ChromeOS to use printers now? Google's own infographics[2] seem to suggest so. How is this an improvement? The article goes on to bullet-point several of the specific features that will be available by end-of-year. It's not clear if these apply to everybody, or to only those persons who are paying for Chrome Enterprise.
Why is CUPS gimped so badly on ChromeOS? What is Google angling for by intentionally crippling software and systems that work _perfectly fine_ elsewhere?
I will keep on trucking with my tiny "print proxy" script, while continuing to not give a shit about Google's inane antics regarding printers.
The only saving grace for this article is the very last link[3] which appears to detail a _suspiciously_ simple process for adding a networked printer. I'll have to commandeer my wife's Chromebook the next time I get a chance, and test this process out. I've never seen this particular article before, and to my knowledge adding a printer like this was previously not a supported operation on ChromeOS.
Hang on, though. We're not out of the woods yet. Because of course, the only helpful page I've found so far links[4] to _yet more instructions_ for adding a native printer. The first step is "sign into some Google service" and the steps seem geared towards an "organizational unit". No. Not happening. What the hell is all this? I just want to add a local printer. I'm not sending print jobs to Google first, and I don't want support articles that assume I'm administering an organization.
The article link takes you to the "Google Chrome Enterprise Help" section of their support site, so all the help articles linked in there are going to be geared towards Chrome Enterprise. Maybe you'll have better luck finding answers in the "Chromebook Help" area? https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/7225252?hl=en&r...
> So the ancient WPS printer in my garage is entirely unsupported without deploying a computer running Windows or macOS, installing Chrome, and registering a "classic printer"
I think the support text is wrong—you could do this on Linux as well. It'll be a moot point though when Cloud Print shuts down.
> Why is CUPS gimped so badly on ChromeOS?
Have you tried recently? I don't think it is anymore. Yesterday my Chromebook seemed to just see my printer on my local LAN (via Rendezvous, I assume).
I agree these product/support docs you linked are pretty alarming. But I think the actual situation is (or if not is, will be) much better for basic ChromeOS in simple situations:
* auto-discovered network-connected printer on the same LAN as the Chromebook
* network-connected printer where you know the hostname and it's reachable from the Chromebook
* USB printer connected directly to the Chromebook
Hopefully those docs will improve soon...
Note that while I work for Google, I don't have any inside knowledge of this.
I have not tried recently. The new support articles I've uncovered seem to suggest that the situation has vastly improved. I'm still salty though, and I've put too much work into my Python script to really be concerned about switching to the more "correct" process that was previously denied to me.
The sad fact is that once a consumer realizes the device they've bought is encumbered with artificial limitations, they might not trust it even when (if!) these limitations are lifted later.
Wow, that's a real shame, because Google Cloud Print was one of those nice little services that did ONE THING amazingly. I loved that I could print stuff from anywhere and it would be sitting on my printer when I got home.
If I am working at a coffee shop, or out of town and bought something that needed to print a receipt, or a confirmation, or anything else. I could print it through Google Cloud Print and it would be ready and printed for me when I got home. It was just a nice convenience that worked every time.
Yes there are alternatives... most printers now have an obfusticated email address that you can send to and it will print from. But this is vendor specific and unreliable and required additional steps (had to save to computer, then open an email client, send an email, etc).
But then again, how can I be surprised? We are talking about Google, the company famous for shutting down projects. I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up tomorrow and they shut down google.com search engine. Right now on Hacker News (just a few spots above this post) is a another site [1], which hosts a countdown for when customers expect to shut down the Google Stadia product... a product that only launched a few days ago.
I suppose the workaround is to send all your printables to a Google drive folder, and then have an app on your devices that send those printables to the printer whenever the printer is visible on wifi. Not sure if Android offers sufficient APIs for that though.
Yeah or have that folder synced to a PC running at home, and then have a service running on that machine that prints anything that shows up in that folder.
A much easier to use tool that works using inotify is incron. It's basically like cron except for inotify events. I have a one-liner that OCRs all of my incoming scans, and it's immensely helpful.
Or just a create an e-mail account which is connected to your small server with IMAP with IDLE.
Create a white list, and if mail is coming from a white-listed mail then print the contents, otherwise discard the mail.
This is how my Deskjet 4515 is working besides GCP. It's a pretty neat solution. It even replies with a result e-mail. I hope that HP won't kill its services too. They've already killed the app side, but remote printing is still intact.
Generally, Googles infrastructure is so unlike existing opensource systems that even if you had the sourcecode in-hand, the effort required to get it compiling and running while re-implementing all dependencies would be almost as much as starting from scratch.
The opensourcing of Bazel and absl:: is a big start - but there are a lot of core Java libraries you'd be missing, and all the loadbalancing, identity, config and storage systems would all need shims to slightly-incompatible opensource solutions.
I can see why people will miss it, but cloud print is always on my short list of things I remove/disable when setting up a phone. How many average people still own/need a printer often enough to not just go use one at the library/kinkos?
Of all the free services to kill, this one really hurts. I just got my parents migrated to using Cloud Print with their Chromebooks and iStuff. As I am providing the usual family-plan IT advice from several timezones away, Cloud Print solved the biggest headache of getting their current project printed to their house or office from wherever they are (or me, if I am helping them). Supporting local printers was a time sink, and remote printing is the logical complement to cloud applications. It seems shortsighted to give it up when there is no real competition in this space AFAICT.
Im guessing there are still lots of people that require physical printing that use Chromebooks and the like. Is there a built in printing solution for them now? Because when the Cr48 was out the Chrome team recommended using Cloud Print.
In an industry where 80% of startups disappear, it's inevitable that they have to shut down products at a rate not much smaller than their introduction of new products. And if "Google Cloud Print" is considered significant, then that will result in frequent headlines of "Google is shutting down <x>".
Considering how annoying I find this meme even though I have absolutely no stake in it, people on the inside are probably telling their therapists about it. The better part of a decade has passed since Google Reader was shut down, and it's still the go-to reaction of people who want to seem oh so unique, rebellious, and cynical.
Having helped build a product based on Google cloud print I can only say I'm not sad.
At the time it had a ton of political backing, and so we were kind of compelled to use it despite the fact that 1/ it was a nightmare from an authentication perspective for our use case, 2/ it had "I've forgotten how to count that low" rate limits, and 3/ didn't map cleanly onto anything we were trying to do.
Nevertheless, we wound up shoehorning it in at the insistence of both that team and our management until it predictably failed without support, at which point it became a crisis.
May something better replace it, but I won't be shedding any tears for what I saw.
I think this again points to why google struggles with consumer products. It appears that google's strength in technology sometimes lets them leap frog competitors by bringing a better product to market, they seem to screw up getting the whole of business behind it. Sooner or later the competitors catch up with the technology and do the other things right.
I really don't understand why they didn't keep this announcement under wraps and extend the service for another year, as this is exactly the kind of story they don't need with the lackluster launch of Stadia. Google really can't bring large parts of the business together to focus on a strategic goal which seems to result in this flailing around product to product.
Anybody have any good recommendations for alternatives? We use Cloud Print as a printing solution to allow users in our app to authorize us to send print jobs programmatically to their printers.
I've seen QZ Tray used for this sort of thing to great effect. It entails installing both Java and QZ Tray itself, though.
Most companies just roll their own "print client" programs, in my observation. Not that difficult to do (the hardest part is actually sending the document to the printer, which is relatively trivial for macOS/Linux/anything-else-with-CUPS and not-trivial but reasonably-documented to do with Windows; those two should cover your bases).
I think they should opensource it in a non-compiling, non-working state, as a gesture of openness.
I bet someone would go to the effort of patching it up and getting it to run.
Only disadvantage is probably that "cloudprint.google.com" is probably hardcoded into millions of printers worldwide, so even if you could run it on your own server, your printer will never work with it.
It’s unfortunate that Cloud Print will be shutting down. It was a convenient and useful utility. It couldn’t have cost that much to run.
Perhaps the shutdown has something to do with the product possibly being based on Google Talk? The port requirements for the print server include: “5222 TCP (XMPP, using STARTTLS), with a persistent connection to: talk.google.com.” [1]
It’s unfortunate that Cloud Print will be shutting down. It was a convenient and useful utility. It couldn’t have cost that much to run.
Perhaps the shutdown has something to do with the product possibly being based on Google Talk? The port requirements for the print server include: “5222 TCP (XMPP, using STARTTLS), with a persistent connection to: talk.google.com.” [1]
And Google wonders why their products don't gain momentum? Should I trust them when I buy a Chromecast, Stadia, or anything else? I mean even their probably most successful product, the Chromecast, doesn't get many updates and sometimes I wonder if they put much effort into it. It seems like they are very good at the initial launch but slowly and surely they remove resources from that product and things go downhill.
To your own printer? Bluetooth or Wifi. I've got a Canon TS9150 printer and I can connect to it from my phone via wifi, either directly - phone to printer - or if the printer is on your wifi network, that way. Canon have an app for android phones that help you connect to your printer which works quite well.
On a Mac or any iOS device you just connect to a network and all of the printers just show up. You don’t need an app. I have a newer iPad but even my old first generation iPad that hasn’t seen an operating system update since 2011 will print to any of my three AirPrint printers.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time I had an Android device in my house (my son’s) don’t you still have to install separate printer drivers for printers if they don’t support Google Cloud Print?
I have an Android and have never, as far as I can remember, tried to print from it. For you, I opened a random web page and chose "print" and it somehow detected the HP printer on my home WiFi. No required apps, nothing special. It's just there.
Search the App Store for "Print Service Plugin". These are the printer drivers put out by all printer makers. They seem to install themselves automatically on your device when Android detects a manufacturer's printer.
I have an HP LaserJet and a Canon photo printer, and both vendor's Service Plugins magically showed up on my phone.
Chrome OS now has basically full-featured support for CUPS like a normal Linux machine, so you no longer need Cloud Print to print to local printers, and they're adding features to let you use a remote CUPS server.
Since the post says they're gonna finish things by the end of this year and there are already plenty of Chromebooks that they stopped updating... my big unanswered question is, of the Chromebooks they stopped updating, how many of them have a usable enough version of CUPS to still be able to print.
Ignoring, of course, those users that were using Cloud Print to network enable their printer.
566 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 343 ms ] threadBad news: you'll have to buy a new printer if it doesn't play nicely with CUPS.
Google really is the land of the walking-dead projects.
Nobody's gonna pay you to do it tho...
* a Google Cloud Print-ready printer, or
* a computer that can run Chrome and bridge non-Google Cloud Print-ready printers to Google Cloud Print.[0]
So the ancient WPS printer in my garage is entirely unsupported without deploying a computer running Windows or macOS, installing Chrome, and registering a "classic printer". To combat this, I made a simple Python script that runs an HTTP server, accepts file uploads, assumes cupsd is running on the same host, and throws jobs at my printer. This has worked nicely, and over time I've added additional features, such as the ability to specify double-sided printing or number of copies.
The wording in this link is the source of my confusion. The first paragraph states (somewhat brusquely) that users should "identify an alternative solution and execute a migration strategy" without giving any suggestions on how this might best be accomplished. What's more, the first link[1] on the page claims "native printing" is getting better, but upon clicking this link I'm directed to a page about Chrome Enterprise.
So... what am I supposed to make of this? I have to pay for an enterprise edition of ChromeOS to use printers now? Google's own infographics[2] seem to suggest so. How is this an improvement? The article goes on to bullet-point several of the specific features that will be available by end-of-year. It's not clear if these apply to everybody, or to only those persons who are paying for Chrome Enterprise.
Why is CUPS gimped so badly on ChromeOS? What is Google angling for by intentionally crippling software and systems that work _perfectly fine_ elsewhere?
I will keep on trucking with my tiny "print proxy" script, while continuing to not give a shit about Google's inane antics regarding printers.
The only saving grace for this article is the very last link[3] which appears to detail a _suspiciously_ simple process for adding a networked printer. I'll have to commandeer my wife's Chromebook the next time I get a chance, and test this process out. I've never seen this particular article before, and to my knowledge adding a printer like this was previously not a supported operation on ChromeOS.
Hang on, though. We're not out of the woods yet. Because of course, the only helpful page I've found so far links[4] to _yet more instructions_ for adding a native printer. The first step is "sign into some Google service" and the steps seem geared towards an "organizational unit". No. Not happening. What the hell is all this? I just want to add a local printer. I'm not sending print jobs to Google first, and I don't want support articles that assume I'm administering an organization.
[0] https://support.google.com/cloudprint/answer/1686197 (see also the header "Connect a printer that’s not cloud-ready")
[1] https://www.blog.google/products/chrome-enterprise/chrome-en...
[2] https://www.blog.google/topics/connected-workspaces/introduc... (image a bit of the way down. IDKWTF "printer management" is supposed to mean but it seems like something I'd want)
[3] https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7225252<...
There isn't one (assuming you don't use ChromeOS).
Google is saying: "We're killing this. Find something else."
I think the support text is wrong—you could do this on Linux as well. It'll be a moot point though when Cloud Print shuts down.
> Why is CUPS gimped so badly on ChromeOS?
Have you tried recently? I don't think it is anymore. Yesterday my Chromebook seemed to just see my printer on my local LAN (via Rendezvous, I assume).
I agree these product/support docs you linked are pretty alarming. But I think the actual situation is (or if not is, will be) much better for basic ChromeOS in simple situations:
* auto-discovered network-connected printer on the same LAN as the Chromebook
* network-connected printer where you know the hostname and it's reachable from the Chromebook
* USB printer connected directly to the Chromebook
Hopefully those docs will improve soon...
Note that while I work for Google, I don't have any inside knowledge of this.
The sad fact is that once a consumer realizes the device they've bought is encumbered with artificial limitations, they might not trust it even when (if!) these limitations are lifted later.
If I am working at a coffee shop, or out of town and bought something that needed to print a receipt, or a confirmation, or anything else. I could print it through Google Cloud Print and it would be ready and printed for me when I got home. It was just a nice convenience that worked every time.
Yes there are alternatives... most printers now have an obfusticated email address that you can send to and it will print from. But this is vendor specific and unreliable and required additional steps (had to save to computer, then open an email client, send an email, etc).
But then again, how can I be surprised? We are talking about Google, the company famous for shutting down projects. I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up tomorrow and they shut down google.com search engine. Right now on Hacker News (just a few spots above this post) is a another site [1], which hosts a countdown for when customers expect to shut down the Google Stadia product... a product that only launched a few days ago.
[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21596003
Google services always find a great niche. The problem is google wants MAJOR hits or bust.
From Google's perspective the flypaper is just bigger; its contents are no less needle-moving.
And to be completely honest, CloudPrint won’t do anything in a year.....
(I wish Linux had an equivalent to Folder Actions. They’re really nifty.)
1:https://linux.die.net/man/7/inotify
2:https://github.com/rvoicilas/inotify-tools/wiki
Create a white list, and if mail is coming from a white-listed mail then print the contents, otherwise discard the mail.
This is how my Deskjet 4515 is working besides GCP. It's a pretty neat solution. It even replies with a result e-mail. I hope that HP won't kill its services too. They've already killed the app side, but remote printing is still intact.
Google Print was a great way to get around these issues, but not anymore. Crazy how out-of-the-blue Google will kill off certain products.
https://gcemetery.co/google-product-lifespan/
Open Source moves quick. :)
"I am Dalek of Borg. These are not the 'Droids you're looking for. You never existed."
The opensourcing of Bazel and absl:: is a big start - but there are a lot of core Java libraries you'd be missing, and all the loadbalancing, identity, config and storage systems would all need shims to slightly-incompatible opensource solutions.
And does Chromebook support that?
You'd have to be a fool to trust any google service for anything.
https://chromeunboxed.com/chromebooks-make-big-strides-in-sa...
the linked article and the original source from google both cover this.
Considering how annoying I find this meme even though I have absolutely no stake in it, people on the inside are probably telling their therapists about it. The better part of a decade has passed since Google Reader was shut down, and it's still the go-to reaction of people who want to seem oh so unique, rebellious, and cynical.
At the time it had a ton of political backing, and so we were kind of compelled to use it despite the fact that 1/ it was a nightmare from an authentication perspective for our use case, 2/ it had "I've forgotten how to count that low" rate limits, and 3/ didn't map cleanly onto anything we were trying to do.
Nevertheless, we wound up shoehorning it in at the insistence of both that team and our management until it predictably failed without support, at which point it became a crisis.
May something better replace it, but I won't be shedding any tears for what I saw.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
I really don't understand why they didn't keep this announcement under wraps and extend the service for another year, as this is exactly the kind of story they don't need with the lackluster launch of Stadia. Google really can't bring large parts of the business together to focus on a strategic goal which seems to result in this flailing around product to product.
Most companies just roll their own "print client" programs, in my observation. Not that difficult to do (the hardest part is actually sending the document to the printer, which is relatively trivial for macOS/Linux/anything-else-with-CUPS and not-trivial but reasonably-documented to do with Windows; those two should cover your bases).
https://killedbygoogle.com/
https://gcemetery.co/
I bet someone would go to the effort of patching it up and getting it to run.
Only disadvantage is probably that "cloudprint.google.com" is probably hardcoded into millions of printers worldwide, so even if you could run it on your own server, your printer will never work with it.
Perhaps the shutdown has something to do with the product possibly being based on Google Talk? The port requirements for the print server include: “5222 TCP (XMPP, using STARTTLS), with a persistent connection to: talk.google.com.” [1]
[1]: https://support.google.com/a/answer/3179170
Perhaps the shutdown has something to do with the product possibly being based on Google Talk? The port requirements for the print server include: “5222 TCP (XMPP, using STARTTLS), with a persistent connection to: talk.google.com.” [1]
[1]: https://support.google.com/a/answer/3179
(Note: I also posted this comment on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21600206)
What an amazing company. Guess I should be happy that I'm now officially done with Google.
On a Mac or any iOS device you just connect to a network and all of the printers just show up. You don’t need an app. I have a newer iPad but even my old first generation iPad that hasn’t seen an operating system update since 2011 will print to any of my three AirPrint printers.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time I had an Android device in my house (my son’s) don’t you still have to install separate printer drivers for printers if they don’t support Google Cloud Print?
I have an HP LaserJet and a Canon photo printer, and both vendor's Service Plugins magically showed up on my phone.
Chrome OS now has basically full-featured support for CUPS like a normal Linux machine, so you no longer need Cloud Print to print to local printers, and they're adding features to let you use a remote CUPS server.
Ignoring, of course, those users that were using Cloud Print to network enable their printer.