[IrishEyes]

Allrighty folks, I need some help here.

My wonderful husband recently transformed my HP Pavillion a220n from a Windows XP machine into a beautiful buterfly... I mean a Linux machine. I am running Fedora Core 2 now, and really enjoying most things. However, a few issues have come up that Mr. Irish doesn't have a lot of time to deal with, so I'm turning to my extra support-geeks for help. Please don't let me down guys!

I can't use my printer anymore. I have a Lexmark x75 all-in-one, and it just won't work now. Mr. Irish got his lil' hp deskjet 3520 to print things for me, but I really need the capabilities of that all-in-one. I need to scan and make copies. He's tried all sorts of stuff, but I'm looking for any new ideas from you guys. He's convinced that Lexmark is in league with the EvilEmpire, and that my all-in-1 will NOT work with Fedora...something to do with windrivers not being made to industry standards (followed by long-winded rants about how Bill Gates is a bloodsucking monster blah blah...!???!). Anyhow, at this point I need to know if there is something anyone can suggest, or if I need to find a new all-in-1. Suggestions?? And please don't ask what he's tried, I have no idea. I just want to know what you guys would try, or if anyone else has had similar problems and what their solutions were.

Also, most of our educational kids games use DirectX. For the gaming people, is there an open-source version of this, so I can get "Finding Nemo" to work with Fedora, or is my baby out of luck?

And before you tell me to Google for this info FreeT, I have. But most of the sites I have found are way beyond what I understand. I haven't found a place yet where I can ask a question in plain language and not get back some form of 0s and 1s. Sorry for not understanding that language, but French, Spanish, Italian and German are my limits, I'm afraid.

TIA for all of your help!!

[Freethinker]

OK. so start by Googleing Lexmark. :-)

The 2nd link is to

LEXMARK Drivers and Downloads
Click here to go to the Drivers & Downloads page.
www.lexmark.com/US/support/drivers/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

It will eventually take you to

Lexmark Linux Printer Driver Developer's Kit

http://www.lexmark.com/US/products/info/linux/


It takes you thru building a driver.

Another way would be newsgroups. Look for one that discusses either Lexmark drivers or linux.

Does this help?

[IrishEyes]

Thanks, FreeT, I appreciate it. However, after spending about 10 minutes looking through that site, I discovered that it won't work with either my Linux distribution, nor my printer. And after I spent the time to read through it, Mr. Irish let me know that he already checked there.

Evidently, there is someone out there that has done the work to build the driver for my distrib and printer, but the code is very immature. So now I guess the man wants me to get back into the swing of things and fix it myself. Sheesh! He had to remind me that I used to do that sort of thing while in the Navy, right after I said that I had no idea HOW to do it. What a pain that man is when he actually remembers things. I think he is missing the point that I might be missing the whole "point and click" thing a bit. Ah well, if this will keep his ranting to a minimum, I guess I'll figure this stuff out eventually. Or maybe I'll just find a new printer that will work and put it on the Visa!!

[Freethinker]

But the fun of linux is that you can personally build anything you need. Especially drivers.

Go back to that site, get the code and compile it for your kernel! :-)

[IrishEyes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah... you sound like Mr. Irish now. Geez, FreeT, if you're not sounding like the old husband, you're sounding like the new one. What's up with that already??!?
Maybe I'll just have Unc invent a perpetual motion time machine so that I can freeze time for a few days while I build drivers to get my printer to work, huh? Yeah, that sounds so much easier thanjust buying a new one. Or maybe YOU will volunteer to watch my children so I can have a few hours to actually check the site out, huh?

[Freethinker]

Originally posted by: IrishEyes
Yeah, yeah, yeah... you sound like Mr. Irish now. Geez, FreeT, if you're not sounding like the old husband, you're sounding like the new one. What's up with that already??!?

Maybe the two (us three?) are more similar than you think!

Or maybe YOU will volunteer to watch my children so I can have a few hours to actually check the site out, huh?

Sure, I'd love to "Home School" them for a few days! :-)

[Tormod]

Originally posted by: Freethinker

Sure, I'd love to "Home School" them for a few days! :-)

I volunteer for the "STD 101".

[IrishEyes]

Silly Toe Dancing???
I had NO IDEA you knew how...

[Tormod]

On second though...er..."Varieties of religious thought 404"? "Church music 302 (with emphasis on Italian and Spanish organs of the baroque era"? "Schenkerian analysis 999"? Hm. Maybe I'm not such a good teacher after all...

Or maybe "Web design with Fireworks and Photoshop for dummies"

[IrishEyes]

Actually, your list seems very varied. They'd probably LOVE to have you as a sub for a day or two. I know the oldest one would enjoy hearing all about where you live. And my son is convinced he should be a Viking. Of course, when I suggested he go to Minnesota... anyhow, I'm just gonna wait for Unc to make a Time Machine, and freeze things for a bit so I can get a few more things done. For instance, I need to complete an FAFSA so I can finish up the degree I'm working on right now. Yuck! I can't believe I'm doing school again. And mostly just to show the kids that I can. How silly is that?
Thanks for the LINUX suggestion though, FreeT. We're going to turn it into a CP project, and the final exam will be if the printer works or not. How is THAT for teaching methods?