Linux Desktop Hacks

Print to Unsupported Printers #95

Chapter 11, Hardware

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287

HACK

this problem. It uses a generic printer driver on Linux to send a PostScript

print job to a Windows machine sharing the printer. The Windows machine

interprets the PostScript using a local copy of Ghostscript, which then sends

the information to the Windows printer driver and on to the printer.

How Printing Works

The normal process of printing from Linux to a supported shared Windows

printer is as follows:

1. You print from the application (say, a word processor) on the Linux

box.

2. The print job goes to the print server on the Linux box, which is likely

to be CUPS. CUPS has a printer driver for this model of printer, and it

converts the print job into a set of instructions telling the printer how to

print the job. (These instructions are, to some extent, printer-specific,

which is why a specific driver is required for each printer.)

3. The stream of instructions flows across the network to the print server

on the Windows machine.

4. The instructions are fed by the Windows print server to the printer.

5. The printer prints the job.

This hack changes this process a little by adding a couple of extra steps.

After it has been set up, the process works like this:

1. You print from the application (say, a word processor) on the Linux

box.

2. The print job goes to the print server on the Linux box. CUPS processes

the print job using a generic