Special Edition Using Linux®, Sixth Edition

Setting Up Printers

When you set up a printer configuration in an lpr/lpd-based print system, what you are actually setting up is a print queue. This print queue acts as a first-in/first-out holding cell for incoming print jobs (see Figure 31.2). When a job comes in, it enters at the back of the line, and as the jobs in front of it are processed and consequently dropped from the queue, the new job moves up in the line. The order of incoming print jobs is maintained until all jobs in the queue are printed and erased, or until a system administrator intervenes and moves the order of jobs around (more information on that can be found in the "Managing Print Queues" section later in this chapter).

Figure 31.2. Print spooling.

This process is known ...