Managing Print Services
Linux has a fairly complicated printing system, compared with the printing services most PCs use. Configuring the printing system is usually either very easy (because the semiautomated tools get it right) or very hard (because the semiautomated tools fail or because your printer is poorly supported under Linux). The next few pages describe the Linux printing system, beginning with an overview of the software and moving on to hardware configuration and testing, configuring the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) to enable its web-based configuration tools and network helpers, defining printers in CUPS, fine-tuning printer definitions, managing printer queues, maintaining LPD compatibility, and troubleshooting printers.
Linux Printing Software
Printing in Linux involves the interactions of several different software packages. The most important of these is the Linux printing daemon, which accepts jobs to be printed, keeps them in one or more queues, and sends the jobs to printers in an orderly manner. Additional software includes Ghostscript, which converts between PostScript and a form the printer can understand; Ghostscript printer definitions; and assorted extra tools that can help you create nicely formatted output. Before you can configure Linux printing, you must install all of these components.
Linux printing daemons
A printing daemon's job is to run in the background, accept print jobs from applications, temporarily store those print jobs, and send them ...
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