GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide by Graham Williams
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CUPS - Common Unix Printing System

Debian Packages: cupsys cupsys-client cupsys-bsd cupsys-driver-gimpprint cupsomatic-ppd a2ps hp-ppd foomatic-db gsfonts-other cups-pdf

CUPS is a newer printing system and is the preferred printing system for Unix and GNU/Linux. It uses PPD (PostScript Printer Description) files to identify the features of a printer. This allows printer configurations to be maintained and provides access to the printer options through the command line. It also has client side filters to convert, for example, pdf to PostScript to avoid the dreaded pages of raw output of pdf. You can also have a virtual pdf printer to generate pdf instead of printing documents, by installing cups-pdf.

After installing cupsys visit http://localhost:631/ to add a printer to your host Bartok (104.8).

Subsections

• Installing a USB Printer
• Installing a JetDirect Printer
• Enabling a Printer
• CUPS Command Line Interfaces
• Setting up LPD with CUPS
• Add Printing to New Host