1. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e1 Chapter 12 Printing in Linux

2. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e2 Objectives In this chapter, you will: Configure and use the traditional Linux printing architecture Understand the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) Print files from different applications Locate and relieve system bottlenecks Manage networked printing resources

3. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e3 Using Traditional Linux Printing The traditional Linux printing architecture is called LPRng and is based on the system developed for BSD UNIX LPRng printing allows multiple users to print files at the same time to either local or networked printers

4. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e4 The Printing Process Printer definitions, or print queues describe the type of printer and the features to be used when something is printed on it The file submitted for printing is called a print job The print job is processed by a print filter After sending the print job through a print filter, the printing utility stores the print job in a print spool directory The print server program, lpd, keeps track of all the print jobs in all the print queues on the system

5. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e5 A Single Print Queue Can Refer to Multiple Physical Printers

6. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e6 Many Print Queues Can Refer to a Single Physical Printer

7. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e7 Understanding Print Filters and Drivers Linux uses special programs called print filters A Linux print filter converts documents or images into a format that the printer can use

8. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e8 Printer Languages A page description language is a special set of codes that determine the graphics elements, text font, and everything else about what appears on a printed page The most widely used page description languages are PostScript and Printer Control Language (PCL)

9. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e9 The Magic Filter Most Linux distributions use a “magic filter” that can convert documents into formats for many different printers The “magic filter” doesn’t generally allow Linux to use the specialized features of each printer

10. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e10 Configuring Local Printer Definitions A local printer is a printer directly attached to your computer Define one or more printers before you can print documents

11. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e11 Reviewing printcap Each LPRng printer definition is created as a print queue entry in the /etc/printcap configuration file To use a local printer, you must provide the appropriate Linux device name when you configure the printer The format of a printcap entry consists of a print queue name, followed by a series of two- character option codes that apply to that printer

12. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e12 Configuring printcap Graphically Several graphical tools can create basic printcap entries: –Printer Configuration Tool printconf-gui in Red Hat Linux –YAST utility in SuSE Linux –Webmin in Caldera OpenLinux

13. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e13 Defining the Printer Name and Type in the printconf-gui Utility

14. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e14 Selecting a Printer Driver in printconf-gui

15. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e15 The Main Window of printconf-gui

16. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e16 Selecting the Print System to Configure within the KDE Control Center

17. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e17 Selecting a Printer in the KDE Printer Manager Wizard

18. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e18 Reviewing Printer Driver Settings in KDE

19. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e19 Managing Printers in the KDE Control Center

20. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e20 Printing Remotely Using lpd Define a printer on your system that refers to the remote computer and a print queue on the remote system The lpd daemon on your computer communicates with the lpd program on the remote computer, transferring the print job

21. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e21 Printing to a Remote Printer Using lpd

22. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e22 Defining a Remote lpd-based Printer in printconf-gui

23. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e23 Defining a Remote lpd-based Printer in KDE

24. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e24 Understanding the Common Unix Printing System The Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) provides a new architecture for Linux and UNIX printing CUPS lets users and system administrators browse the network to find and print to networked printers and other devices CUPS lets system administrators manage printer definitions and print jobs across the network

25. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e25 Configuring Printers within CUPS The cupsd print server daemon uses HTTP protocol and accepts requests and processes print jobs sent over the network The cupsd print server daemon manages printers using a Web browser interface The CUPS architecture uses network port 631 to communicate between CUPS-enabled print servers

26. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e26 The Main Page of the CUPS Browser- Based Interface

27. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e27 The Printers Page in the CUPS Web Interface

28. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e28 Configuring an Existing Printer in CUPS

29. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e29 Setting up CUPS Classes CUPS class is a group of printers to which a user can submit a print job Whichever printer within the class is first available will be used to print the job

30. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e30 The Classes Page within the CUPS Configuration

31. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e31 Printing Files You can print files –from a command line –from a specialized graphical tool –from any graphical application

32. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e32 Printing from a Command Line The basic printing command is lpr The lpr command is used for printing to both LPRng and CUPS-based printers Command options for lpr apply to a specific print job, not to all print jobs sent to the printer

33. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e33 Command Options for lpr

34. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e34 lpr Options Supported by CUPS

35. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e35 lpr Options Supported by CUPS

36. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e36 Printing from Graphical Applications You typically print from a graphical application by choosing Print from the File menu Graphical applications rely on the lpr utility You can print to a file Gnome and KDE applications build upon a standard dialog box

37. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e37 The Print Dialog Box in Gnumeric

38. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e38 The Print Dialog Box in KWord

39. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e39 The Print Dialog Box in Netscape Communicator

40. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e40 Managing the Printing Environment A system administrator manages printing The system administrator takes care about printer supplies and solves printer-related problems

41. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e41 Deciding on Printing Policies A printing policy is a brief statement of rules describing how printing resources can be used and how printers will be managed A printing policy is a helpful document for any organization with more than two or three users who rely on the same printer

42. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e42 Using the lpc Utility The lpc utility is the printer control utility The lpc command-line utility lets you control LPRng or CUPS printing, specifying how print jobs are accepted and processed You must be root to use lpc You can include an lpc command as a parameter on the command line

43. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e43 lpc Commands

44. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e44 Using lpc to Control the Printing Process

45. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e45 Tracking Print Jobs To view the print jobs in the default print queue, the lpq command is used The lprm command deletes a print job from a queue

46. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e46 Using Graphical Print Management Utilities You can use two KDE graphical utilities to manage printing: –KDE Print Job Viewer –KLpq program

47. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e47 The KDE Print Job Viewer

48. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e48 The KLpq Printing Manager

49. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e49 Managing CUPS Print Jobs in a Browser

50. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e50 Summary The traditional Linux printing architecture is called LPRng and is based on the system developed for BSD UNIX Printers are typically connected locally to either a parallel or serial port A system administrator creates printer definitions, which act as print queues Printer definitions are stored in /etc/printcap and can be created using printconf-gui or other text- mode or graphical tools Users submit print jobs to a named print queue using either the lpr command or a graphical dialog box

51. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration, 2e51 Summary The data that a user submits as a print job is processed using a print filter, which converts raw document data into a format a printer can understand, such as PCL or PostScript A printing policy informs users of how they can use printing resources and what they can expect from the system administrator who manages the printers The Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) provides a new architecture for Linux and UNIX printing Print jobs waiting to be printed on a system using CUPS can be managed using the CUPS browser- based interface