VVDQ : Is there hope for Lexmark??

[beartooth]

In my innocence (That's polite for cluelessness, which is polite for plain
stupidity.), when last a printer bit the dust, and I asked locally about
replacements, I failed to specify linux. No, I don't need the lashes with
the wet noodle: been there had those, and more.

I finally gave up on the Lexmark X1185 I had gotten, despite my sources'
assurance of reliability, cheapness to run, etc. -- and condemned it to
life with XP only. (It deserved it, imnsho.)

Today, wanting to know something, I connected my good hp1315v (which
had finally replaced the lexmark for all serious purposes) temporarily to
the XP machine (dedicated to GPS/topo-map/satellite pix use). And then, of
course, back to linux. Hey, I'm not *that* stupid.

While I was at it, I tried the lexmark again, with my newly installed FC4,
instead of whatever fedora I had despaired of before.

Marginal note: with good hardware, if the lexmark is, that's worth trying.
The then new BenQ FP767 flat panel monitor was beyond me to use with early
FC1; three months later, there was an entry for it in FC1's list of canned
display choices -- and it worked happily.

But I've just tried comp.linux.hardware, linuxprinting.org's lexmark
forum, and one or two other places -- with, of course, no joy -- yet.

Given that lexmark & co are unlikely to see the light soon, is anyone
known to be working on a driver for such as the X1185, which might yet one
day get incorporated into Fedora? 

(Garmin, making a very different sort of hardware, did see the light a
while back -- while I wasn't looking, because I had given up in disgust.
Maybe lexmark will yet -- especially if, as somebody said on this list the
day before yesterday, Wall Street is embracing linux. They might have to
start explaining to their bankers and directors why they weren't doing
what was right ...)

-- 
Beartooth Neo-Redneck, Linux Evangelist
FC4, YDL 4; Pine 4.63, Pan 0.14.2.91; Privoxy 3.0.3; 
Dillo 0.8.5, Opera 8.01, Firefox 1.0.6, Epiphany 1.6.1
Remember that I have little idea what I am talking about.