>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Nov 28 14:28:13 2003
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:50:30 -0700
From: James Richard Tyrer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: LPRng: Hello.
I would like to introduce myself.
I am the (somewhat unofficial) maintainer for LPRng support in KDE.
I am a professional engineer. And, please note that this is not self aggrandizement,
it
is a WARNING. :-) Engineers are trained to find things that are wrong with something
(find the fault) and come up with ways to fix it. We are sometimes blunt about this
and
we like to argue. In short. We (engineers) can be somewhat irritating people. But,
our
intentions are good -- to improve the product.
I could really use a little help getting my old Epson 24-pin dot Matrix printer to
work
with IFHP. If not, I will have to use FooMatic.
I have added this to: "ihfp.conf":
# PRINTER gs_epson24 - Epson LQ1000
[ gs_epson24 ]
tc=ghostscript
gs_device=epson
gs_options=-r360x180
and the necessary entry in: "printerdb" (which works OK). It appears to configure
correctly with: "lprngtool", the files appear in the 'var' directory, but it does not
print.
So, this is the first "fault" that I find with IHFS. The: "ihfp.conf" file is simply
too
long. I would suggest that it have its own directory containing:
general.conf
pjl.conf
pcl.conf
ps.conf
gs.conf
text.conf
<driver-name>.printer
Where all files with the extension "printer" would be concatenated to make the
"printer.conf" file. To avoid the huge configuration file for printers, I would
suggest
individual printer files for each driver name (e.g. "gs_epson24.printer"). If that
were
the case there is no need for concatenation since the filter could simply read the
file it
needed.
But, in any case, a 5K+ configuration file is simply unmanageable.
And, I didn't figure it out.
I note that this is always a weakness of any print spooler/filter system. They always
rely on a 'magic file' that contains the information needed to make a specific printer
work. Simplifying the configuration file that a user might need to edit is always a
good idea.
--
JRT
Right. I am working on the following:
a) a configuration file for 'communication'
This would be REALLY short.
b) PPD files (yech) for format and option control.
Now you have the problem of relating the PPD file to the format/option
Each printer would have a PPD file a la LinuxPrinting.org.
You would have a smaller set of stuff for 'communication' support,
which is really all that IFHP would need.
You could even be brutal and put the IFHP configuration in a PPD file entry.
This is currently in the works, and I have already done most of the leg
work for the PPD file. See Foomatic-RIP.
But there are only so many hours to work on this.
Patrick
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