Printers operating sysytems

Operating Systems

Linux

1. Agustin's Linux Manual
2. System Administration
3. About the Author
4. Contents
5. Administration
6. Terminals
7. Command Basics
8. Root Directory
9. Executing Commands
10. File specs
11. File Permission
12. How permissions are assigned
13. Change ownership chown
14. Running multiple commands
15. Killing Processes
16. Bash configuration files
17. VI Editor
18. Creating path environment
19. Midnight Commander
20. Linuxconf Utility
21. Networking
22. Domain Name Service DNS
23. Router and Gateway
24. Adding Users
25. User Accounts
26. Managing Groups
27. Mounting File System
28. NFS Mounts
29. Disk Quotas
30. Run levels
31. Linuxconf Control
32. Mandrake Control Center
33. Creating a Boot Disk
34. Switching Boot Mode
35. Hardware Configurations
36. Printer Configuration
37. Installing Printers
38. Samba Printer
39. Managing services
40. Managing Users
41. Program Scheduler
42. Software Management

You want to configure your printer. Basic information about this subject is available in the SuSE Linux 8.2 manuals. The following sections provide additional information, drawing attention to the changes and special features in SuSE Linux 8.2 compared to earlier SuSE Linux versions. Also refer to the SDB articles SDB:Printer Configuration from SuSE Linux 8.1 on

CUPS is the recommended print system in SuSE Linux 8.2. Usually the Foomatic version 3.x print filter "foomatic-rip" is used for non-PostScript printers. The respective Foomatic 3.x PPD files are marked with the entry "foomatic-rip". However, the Foomatic version 2.x print filter "cupsomatic" is also enclosed, as this filter is used by the PPD files up to SuSE Linux 8.1. These files are marked with the entry "cupsomatic". Accordingly, an existing CUPS configuration (i.e., existing PPD files in /etc/cups/ppd/) should continue to work after an update to SuSE Linux 8.2.

Foomatic version 3.x and the YaST2 printer configuration in SuSE Linux 8.2 enables printer manufacturers to provide the PPD files for their printers for use with Linux. For PostScript printers, the optimum PPD file is already available, as every manufacturer encloses an exactly suitable PPD file with the PostScript printer. However, printer manufacturers often provide the PPD files in an awkward format for other operating systems (self-extracting EXE archives are very popular) -- despite the fact that PPD files merely contain ASCII text and are not so large that a compression would really be necessary. At the moment, you can use the URLs below to download PostScript printer PPD files suitable for Linux:

URLs for other printer manufacturers where PPD files suitable for Linux are freely accessible would be appreciated, provided we get an official permit to publish those URLs from the printer manufacturer.

Since Foomatic version 3.x, the generation of Foomatic PPD files is quite easy even for non-PostScript printers. Printer manufacturers could enclose such PPD files with their non-PostScript printers or make them available for download. In this way, printer manufacturers could make sure that even printer models not listed in the Foomatic and Linuxprinting.org printer database due to a lack of information about which Ghostscript drivers must be used with which parameters for which kind of printing (black-and-white, grayscale, color, photo printing) can be supported for Linux in the best way possible. In Foomatic version 3.x, the Foomatic PPD files comply with the PPD specification (Adobe PostScript Printer Description File Format Specification version 4.3). Therefore, Foomatic 3.x does not make a fundamental distinction between PPD files for PostScript printers and PPD files for non-PostScript printers.

The LPRng and lpdfilter print system can still be used as an alternative to CUPS. Using the YaST2 printer configuration, you can switch between these two print systems.

If the printer model exists in the SuSE printer database, the queues for CUPS can be set up by means of the SuSE printer database and the PPD files in /usr/share/YaST2/data/printerdb/, just as in SuSE Linux 8.1. CUPS configurations of this kind can automatically be adopted for LPRng and lpdfilter in the event of a change from CUPS to LPRng and lpdfilter