Month: August 2020

Network printer with CUPS: problem (Solved)

I don’t like CUPS but it’s a necessary evil on OpenBSD, at least if you want to be able to print from Firefox. It’s OK when it works but I’ve found that printing sometimes stops working for no apparent reason, and CUPS is so complex that you can chase the solution for hours or days.

On this occasion I was still able to put the data to be printed into the queue but CUPS wouldn’t print it. The solution I found was to reinstall the printer (Brother HL-5030DN) and to use the Backend resource to set the printer’s local IP address as backend:

http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

I could then print from the command line but printing from Firefox still didn’t work. To fjx that I needed to modify about:config.

Method: Type about:config into the address bar of the browser. Accept the warning and promise to be careful. Once you are in about:config, type ‘printer’ in the search panel at the top of the screen. This brings up an entry where you can type the same IP address that you used in CUPS. This shoud give you printing in Firefox.

Book review: Greek Buddha, by Christopher Beckwith

I first reviewed this book in December 2018. I don’t normally revise my reviews after publication but in this case I’ve done so because I don’t think I brought out its importance sufficiently clearly the first time.

This is a scholarly but still readable examination of early Buddhism that presents a pretty radical but well-substantiated revision of how Buddhism originated. It also argues that the Greek philosopher Pyrrho, who founded the school known as Pyrrhonism, was influenced by early Buddhism. I think the book is important reading for anyone with a serious interest in Buddhism.

Read the review.

NICE to approve acupuncture for chronic pain

NICE has published a draft guideline on the treatment of chronic pain. This finds that long-term prescription of analgesics such as paracetamol, non-steroidals, and opioids is ineffective and has important unwanted effects. However, acuuncture iks one of the recommended alternatives.  They find 27 studies showig that acupuncture reduces pain and improves quality of life for up to 3 months compared with usual care or sham acupuncture, although they acknowledge the difficulty of blnding in trials involving sham.

They acknowledge