How to contact the HP Linux printer / scanner driver developers?

[fedoriger]

As problems of the kind described below frequently occur with HP Linux drivers in conjunction with Fedora Linux, I would like to contact HP developers to foster improvements.

Does anyone have a hint for me how to contact whom?

After upgrade from Fedora 35 to Fedora 36 xsane is not able to detect the multi-function printer/fax/scanner HP LaserJet M2727nf any more.

Running

hp-plugin

or

hp-setup

does not fix the problem. This is independent of whether I connect the scanner via LAN or via USB.
Typically it is connected via LAN with a fix local IP 192.168.xx.yy. USB connection was for test only.
The printer part is working, i.e. I can print on that device.
Re-installation of printer + fax via hp-setup and hp-plugin did not help.
Another computer in the same network still running Fedora 35 is detecting the identical M2727nf scanner and scanning works from there.
Another scanner, a Fujitsu fi-7240 connected via USB is detected by xsane, before and after migration to Fedora 36.
Same situation with Fedroa 36 but a differnt HP scanner in another location connected via VPN.

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.22.2)
Plugin Download and Install Utility ver. 2.1
[...]
Do you accept the license terms for the plug-in (y=yes*, n=no, q=quit) ? 
Done.
Done.

But still:

hp-scan

results in

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.22.2)
Scan Utility ver. 2.2
Copyright (c) [...]
error: No device selected/specified or that supports this functionality.

[Dragon-Fur]

@fedoriger 

Welcome to the HP User Community.

Read the top section here:

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/gethplip

Then go here >> Help for HPLip 

https://launchpad.net/hplip

and

“More Information” 

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/downloads?language=de

Reference

HP Linux Imaging and Printing 

Thank you for participating in the HP Community.

Our Community is comprised of volunteers - people who own and use HP devices.

Click Helpful = Yes to say Thank You

Question / Concern Answered, Click "Accept as Solution"

[fedoriger]

Thanks for the hint, Dragon-Fur!

Do you expect that 3.22.4 (vs 3.22.2 which I already tried) makes the difference?

I would expect to see a comment like this

HPLIP 3.21.12- This release has the following changes:
Added support for following new Distro's:

MX Linux 21
Elementary OS 6
Fedora 35

 but for Fedora 36 !

[Dragon-Fur · Accepted solution]

@fedoriger 

You are welcome.

Answer - Short version

I do not know.

Hunting and Pecking at a possible answer...

Reference "More Information"

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/downloads?language=de

Partial Excerpt

The Automatic Installer is known to work on the following Linux Distributions:

• SUSE Linux (13.2, 42.1, 42.2, 42.3,15.0,15.1,15.2,15.3)
• Fedora (22, 23, 24, 25, 26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35)
• Linux Mint (117, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 18, 18.1, 18.2, 18.3, 19, 19.1,19.2,19.3,20,20.2,20.3)

Automatic installation is not supported in Fedora 36.

Relevant?

Unknown.

Perhaps the document is outdated.

Add this question when you ask the developers for help, I think...

hp-scan not working?

If supported in your situation - try "simple-scan"

Check whether hpsane is installed with your hplip.

This dependency might be missing if hplip was installed manually.

Thank you for participating in the HP Community.

Our Community is comprised of volunteers - people who own and use HP devices.

Click Helpful = Yes to say Thank You

Question / Concern Answered, Click "Accept as Solution"

[Repairatrooper]

The M2727 is far beyond end of life so do not expect any future development by HP. You may find someone in the Linux community that might be doing something.

[fedoriger]

HP does a good job in supporting even older hardware, which is robust, still printing well and with low current cost.

Now that I know the solution I can confirm that "far beyond end of life" - lucky me - has no influence on the printer support.

https://ask.fedoraproject.org/t/f36-xsane-does-not-find-hp-scanner-s/22691/5 

has the solution details.

[fedoriger]

Hello Dragon-Fur

https://ask.fedoraproject.org/t/f36-xsane-does-not-find-hp-scanner-s/22691/5 

now holds the solution.

Thanks for your support, the links above also helped me to get on the right track.

Answer - Short version

3.22.2 is sufficient for Fedora 36 - if completely installed 😉

[Dragon-Fur]

@fedoriger 

Excellent.

Thanks for posting the details.

Thank you for participating in the HP Community.

Our Community is comprised of volunteers - people who own and use HP devices.

Click Helpful = Yes to say Thank You

Question / Concern Answered, Click "Accept as Solution"

[fedoriger]

I would have a message to the HP developers, as already pointed to in the title of the post. I case you are a developer or can forward the message, feel free to continue reading:

As you anyhow support Fedora and mention it in your release notes:

Would it be possible to go the final small steps that give a lot of benefit to your users/clients:

• by updating hplip etc. in parallel to the Fedora (beta) release timing and do testing
• such that with the release of Fedora the hplip is working stable and robust
• Update the compatibility list to Fedora releases early. In the analysis of the topic of the post it would have helped a lot to know that 3.22.2 already supports F36.
• Maybe join forces with Fedora people to automize all hplip related steps necessary roughly every 1-2 months, when new updates of Fedora are released that affect hplip. In roughly those time steps I have to manually re-run hp-plugin to get printers / scanners to work again.

Would be great, if some of my suggestions became reality, especially for those hobby computerists like me.

[Dragon-Fur]

@fedoriger 

This Community is far removed from the HPLIP developers teams.

Smiling.

Were it me, I'd send my comments to the developers using the launchpad for hplip.

Help for HPLip - Read and submit near the bottom of the web page...

https://launchpad.net/hplip

I will forward your comments to our moderators. 

We do not have a way to know whether those you intend to read the message will see it using this method - it is "something", at least.

I appreciate your persistence and we value your input.

Thank you for participating in the HP Community.

Our Community is comprised of volunteers - people who own and use HP devices.