Viktor Haag wrote:
> Kurt Pfeifle writes:
>
> > What sort of PPD files?
>
> PPD files for HP81xx printers.
>
> > What was the source for those? Did they ship with the Linux
> > distro? Which distro? Were they downloaded manually?
>
> I think they were provided with the distro; Mandrake. I started
> using Mandrake with 6 and stopped with 8.1.
>
> > Were they PPDs as provided by http://www.linuxprinting.org/?
> > Were they CUPS-O-Matic- or PPD-O-Matic-generated ones?
> > [PPD-O-Matic ones in general are "better".] Were they
> > PPD-files for PostScript- or for non-PostScript printers?
>
> For PS printers -- specifically, HP81xx printers.
>
> > In general, you should never need to "hand-edit" a CUPS-PPD
> > file (unless you really know what you do and you want to tune
> > things like page-margins etc., for applications that read the
> > margins from the PPD, etc.) -- and I personally never needed
> > to do this, neither for PostScript printers nor for
> > non-PostScript printers...
>
> I had to, because the CUPS drivers weren't connecting to the
> printer directly;
Normally, any CUPS box (with the full, original package of CUPS installed
-- some distro's may have their reasons to rip it apart into different
parcels like "server", "client", "drivers", "devel" etc.) will be able
to connect to any HP81xx printer (with its own JetDirect card/controller)
via a "device-URI" of
"socket://<ip-address-of-printer>:9100"
If you can't do that, you might only have the client part of CUPS software
installed.
> they were connecting to a remote queue only,
> which told them nothing about the available printer features.
Even from a client you should be able to query a remote CUPS server
"danka-server" for the device-specific options of the printer "infotec"
thru a commandline like
"lpoptions -h danka-server -p infotec -l"
This will prompt the server to send an extract of the available
PPD-options for the printer (as installed on the server). This
mechanism is also used by different GUIs to provide user-selections
for printjob-options without the need to install a driver locally.
This means normally "plug'n'play" for all clients (once the server
is in place, which is hardly more work...)
Here is an example for the lpoptions command:
kde4@kde-bitshop:~/> lpoptions -h transmeta -p IS2027 -l
OutputBin/Ausgabe: BinShift *Default UpperTray
Duplex/Duplex: *None DuplexTumble DuplexNoTumble
PageSize/Medien-Gr��e : FanFoldGermanLegal Folio 8Kai F 11x17
16Kai A3 *A4 A5 A6 B4 B5 Custom EnvC5
EnvC6 Env10 DLEnv Executive HalfLetter
Legal Letter EnvMonarch
InputSlot/Medien-Quelle : Auto BypassTray *1Tray 2Tray 3Tray
4Tray
PageRegion/PageRegion: FanFoldGermanLegal Folio 8Kai F 11x17
16Kai A3 A4 A5 A6 B4 B5 EnvC5 EnvC6
Env10 DLEnv Executive HalfLetter Legal
Letter EnvMonarch
MediaType/Papierart: *Plain Recycled Special
Collate/Sortieren: *False True
Option1/Bypass: True *False
Option2/Duplexeinheit: True *False
Option3/Finisher: True *False
InstalledMemory/Gesamter Druckerspeicher: *None 48Meg 80Meg
Option9/Interne Ablage: True *False
Option8/Magazin: *None 1Cassette 2Cassette
Resolution/Aufl�sung: 300dpi *600dpi
RICImagingMode/Druckmodus: None *Smoothing 4rhit
RIStaple/Heften: *None UpperLeft UpperRight LowerLeft LowerRight
Every available option is on a line of its own.
Bevor the colon is the name of the Option, once as the computer-interal
representation, and once as would appear in a GUI (or the web-interface),
separated by a slash. After the colon, the available option-values appear,
with * (the asterisk) marking the current default setting.
> The
> CUPS configuration utils I was using refused to let me set the
> features (specifically that there was a duplexer available, and
> that it should be on by default, and that there was a tray 4
> large bin available).
If you wanted to set up the printer "Mopier" (as root) with an IP-address
of 10.11.12.13 from the commandline, using the hp8100.ppd you would enter
a command like
"lpadmin -p Mopier -v socket://10.11.12.13:9100 -E -P /path/to/hp8100.ppd"
and this would enable your printer from the start. A copy of the hp8100.ppd
would appear in the /etc/cups/ppd/ directory under the new name of "Mopier.ppd"
and that's it....
To enable CUPS to work as a server for clients (for "plug'n'play" printing),
you need to enable the directive "Browsing On" (default) and "BrowseAddress
255.255.255.255" (disabled by default). The BrowseAddress directive makes CUPS
publish the printernames and their URIs to the clients. The "Browsing On"
makes the clients listen to the printer publications and show the printers in
the GUIs for selection.
>
> > > for our print devices so that the local CUPS config utils
> > > would know about all the options available to them
> > > (i.e. duplexing).
The web cups config util only works for root on localhost initially (the default
access setting). Open access from remote boxen by using "AllowFrom..." directives
and the like. The web interface writes directly into the PPD as saved in
/etc/cups/ppd/
The "lpoptions" command (used by root) writes into the /etc/cups/lpoptions file
and sets a deviation from the PPD for all local users (also on clients where
there is no PPD installed locally).
The "lpoptions" command (used by nromal users) writes into the ~/.lpoptions file
in the $HOME dir and sets a personal print option preference for that local user.
The various GUIs do by and large the same. The best and most complete GUI at the
present time is KDE-3.0.2. It is very reliable and very powerfull. (See screenshots
and detailled descriptions at http://printing.kde.org/)
(All this is talking from Linux/UNIX experience).
> >
> > This may only mean you had the wrong PPD installed for your
> > printer...
>
> Nope. It was the right PPD.
>
> > > Not pretty.
> > >
> >
> > If you were right, lots more Linux CUPS users would be
> > dissappointed too. But this is hardly an occurance heard off,
> > fortunately....
>
> <shrug> I was unable to find any assistance for my issue at the
> time, but once I figured out what was required, it wasn't (for
> me) a huge trial to fix. By 'not pretty' I meant that it wasn't a
> terribly pretty solution for most people to have to do.
>
It is the first time I hear from a CUPS/Linux-experience like this.
> On the whole, I found CUPS to be quite useful, but it certainly
> wasn't 'plug and play' for me.
>
So hopefully it will change for the better after Apple releases the Jaguar ;-)
Cheers,
Kurt
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