Hi. I'm relatively new to Slackware (since Sept 2019), was looking for another non-systemd alternative in addition to Devuan (non-systemd fork of Debian). To be very clear I'm not posting here to address the systemd debate. Rather to speak about one of two issues encountered with Slackware (the second I'll post separately).
I very much enjoy Slackware in general, as it has a truly hands-on feel and seems true to the original spirit of Linux (for those of us who remember using it in the 90s). It seems very solid and despite the lack of package dependency resolution I've had few issues installing all my favourite software using the SlackBuild scripts.
However there was an issue with my printer configuration as follows:
When adding my default printer using the CUPS web-based interface (
http://localhost:631/admin), my printer (11-yr old HP Photosmart C4480) was found and the driver installed successfully, BUT printing fails with the error message "filter failed". I could not get this version of the driver (/usr/share/cups/drv/HP/hpijs.drv, filesize = 1278149) to work, and eventually solved the problem by substituting the driver file from my Devuan installation since it was known to be good with this printer. This is version: hpijs 3.16.11, filesize = 1303998, 1.3M c-source. Simply renamed the original file hpijs.drv.orig and copied the good version to /usr/share/cups/drv/HP/hpijs.drv. Whereupon all was well. On the Devuan system this driver file can be found at /usr/share/cups/drv/hpijs.drv.
If anyone else has this printer and is having difficulty getting it to work with Slackware, perhaps this will help. If you don't have access to a Devuan/Debian system I suspect the driver could be obtained from the HP website.
Cheers.