>>if your Linux boxed spools up the
>>print queue then it is a print server, >
>
>This part is still a mystery to me, but I'll check it out.
>
OK, I'll jump on this one cause this is the second person who told me this.
Any Linux Gurus out there please correct me if I get it wrong, I want to be
certain I get this right for my own understanding 8^)
Normally when printing, your application takes the contents of the file you
select (mysterious, magical, methods involved) and creates a file suitable
for the type printer you have selected. This may be a postscript file, a
latex file, an ascii file, or some other format. The print driver sends
the file in chunks in response to the printers requests for data. Generally
this is according to the size of the print buffer, buffer full = hold data,
buffer empty = send more data. Easy. Right so far?
When you use your Linux box as a print server, the file is sent to the
print daemon (lpd? or lp?) which stores the entire file into the proper
folder in the file system. On my box thats /var/spool/lp . The sending
machines print driver is told to send the entire file, once done the
sending machines print driver is turned loose. The print daemon then takes
over the process of feeding the file to the printer. Still got it right?
This leaves your machine free to carry on other processing as the Linux box
handles the printing task. This also means you can schedule printing,
share printers, send multiple files at once, because the print server
handles the task for your desktop machine.
Is this correct?
DAve.
"On the Plains of Hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions who, at
the Dawn of Victory, sat down to wait, and waiting -- died"
