Actually, I sent an e-mail to them yesterday (which might be why they got around to trying to put an updated HPLIP at least one respository). Also, this is the Mepis forum.

But, yea, I'm probably being a bit harsh and I shouldn't refer to Linux when I'm discussing a specific distribution. After all, I did manage to get it working on two different Linux distributions (and I've only tried to get it working with a a dozen or so different distros in the past two weeks).

Yep Jim, Keep the wife happy and use one of the distros that work for your printer, that'll keep you happy :-).
Another solution, unless your deeply religous about HP is to buy another brand. Epson I use and they are usually easyier to set up plus you can get cheaper refills.
Good Luck.

I still haven't found one that works for her (and this printer).

I installed Mepis 3.4.1 RC1 on my younger brother's PC (he's in another state but we visited there recently), and his HP (Multifunction) works just fine with Mepis.

But, I'll be darned if I can get my new HP to work on any distro I've tried so far, except for Ubunto and Kubunto (Kanotix 2004-04 RC17 "sort of works", since I can print but not fax, but it doesn't like my wife's PCMCIA setup (and I don't have the expertise to get it working).

With the Kubunto and Ubunto distros, the fonts are not quite as nice as I'd like them on her laptop, since the text starts to overlap on some sites if you increase the size enough so it's readable (and I haven't had much luck trying to download and tweak fonts in the past). I'd also have to figure out how to get all of the media to play properly from the sites she visit (something Mepis handles without you worrying about it).

I don't want to become a Linux guru, just get a desktop OS installed for my wife (something that should be a little easier than searching and downloading fonts, codecs for Windows media, etc.).

I think most of the distros take this "we only use free software" stuff too seriously. I'm sure MS is part of the problem, too (their licensing for media, etc.). I did manage to download the packages for mplayer, w32codecs and what not for Suse (not without some headaches trying to follow a "hacking open suze" article I found that didn't quite work right following the steps outlined, so I had to improvise via trial and error).

But, I couldn't get Suse working with this printer, either. LOL

As for Epson, I promised myself I'd never buy another one after the last one (clogged nozzles too often).

When I bought this HP, I almost broke that promise. A local Office Depot had a demo Epson multifunction in the clearance rack that was marked down. I asked about it and the manager agreed to mark it down even more.

Well, I wanted to make sure it worked and he agreed to fire it up. Nope, it wouldn't print a thing when we tried copying something (using it as a stand alone).

We tried new cartridges, and it still wouldn't print a thing (even though it sounded like it was printing, paper feeding through, heads moving back and forth, etc.). We then wondered if only the copy funtion was broken (perhaps it's not copying what we but on it's scanner bed).

So, we tried printing photos from a Memory Stick I had in a little pocket camera (this Epson had built in card readers). It saw the card fine, and we tried the index prints. Nope, still nothing on the paper (even though it behaved like it was printing).

After messing around with it for about 30 minutes, we concluded that the nozzles must be clogged (and he said it was working fine a few days before that).

He was so embarrased he said he'd mark it down again and let me try it to see if I could get it working via cleaning cycles (and if not, I could bring it back for a refund). He was going to let me have for something like $50 (about half of the clearance price which was already a huge markdown since it was a display model) and he had just put a new set of cartridges in it.

I declined and bought the HP (even though it was one heck of a deal, and I may have been able to get it working).

After seeing the store manager unable to get one working, I'm back to making sure I keep my original promise to myself (don't buy another Epson Printer, which is a promise I made to myself because my last one had problems with clogged nozzles). LOL

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. I've got her back on Windows for the moment, and trying other distros for the time being on my desktop to see if I can get one working with everything like media and this printer, before messing with her laptop again. So, far, nothing looks suitable, and I've tried two more distros just today, including Kate OS and PCLinux OS (again for that one).

I may have to try and buy an older model HP and go back to Mepis on her laptop to keep her happy. But, I sure wish Linux distro maintainers had the resources to keep them working properly with newer printers (especially when the manufacturers provide Linux drivers for them).

The average consumer isn't going to go to this much trouble, just to get a basic OS with typical applications installed and working on a desktop with their hardware.

To be frank, I had pretty much decided never to try another Linux distro again (and leave her on Windows whether she liked it or not).

I'll tell you what changed my mind... trying to play media on a web site (under XP). I got a typical Windows Media Player screen that it needed to install something new, and it wanted to change my Internet Security Settings while it was running (giving me a screen asking me permission to let it change these settings while it was running, without giving me a reason).

I didn't agree and decided not to even play the media I was trying to watch from this web site.

MS seems to have so much of that stuff you agree to come up, that it just makes more sense for me to have at least one PC running another OS (IF I can find one that actually works with our hardware, without me needing to learn all of the "nitty gritty" details just to "hack" one enough to run like we need).

It shouldn't be *this* hard to find a working distro for the desktop (and I've got an IT background, too -- just not in Unix or Linux).

I'm now up and running on my wife's laptop and my desktop with SimplyMepis 3.4.2 RC1. Both are setup dual boot (Windows, Linux).

The HP PSC1400 multifunction printer is now working as it should for both printing and scanning, with full support in HPLIP for checking ink levels, aligning heads after swapping cartridges, etc.

All hardware was detected except for a brand new wireless PCI card I just bought for my desktop (a Netgear WG311 v3). I was using a wired connection before and wanted to relocate the router to another room and go wireless.

Unfortunately, The local Staples did not have any of the Netgear WG311 version 2 cards (which are automatically detected in some distros including Mepis from what I understand), so I risked a version 3.

But, it didn't work with the existing driver already installed in ndiswrapper with Mepis (apparently, it was a driver for earlier versions of Marvell chipsets)

So, I removed the old driver recognizing the hardware from ndiswrapper (it found the hardware but wouldn't register it as wlan0 with modprobe), and used the the Windows 2000 (not XP) drivers on the included CD with ndiswrapper which got the card working as wlan0

Media also plays just fine with Mepis (one of it's strengths) on most of the web sites we visit.

Great Job.