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Re: Printing in Linux (Redhat)

 
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Mike_Swift
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Printing in Linux (Redhat)

Greetings!

 

I am quite familiar with setting up printing on HP-UX, but on Linux i need some guidance. For example on HP you could use jet-admin etc, how would i configure or use printing on Linux? We have some printers that are currently using HP-UX and they are being transferred to Linux. Is there a easy way to migrate these printers from HP-UX to Linux? Please help...

 

Cheers

 

Mike

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Matti_Kurkela
Honored Contributor
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Re: Printing in Linux (Redhat)

JetAdmin has been obsolete on all architectures for a while.

 

On Linux, the most common print spooler system is CUPS. Its configuration is very different from the configuration of the HP-UX print spooler. You will need to essentially rebuild your printer configuration.

 

Essentially, CUPS needs three things: a name for your printer, a printer URL that describes how to reach the printer, and a PPD file that describes what the printer can do. You can also add a location and a description, but these are optional information for users only.

 

The printer URLs are simple. For a JetDirect-capable printer, a typical printer URL would be:

 

socket://1.2.3.4

 

where 1.2.3.4 is the printer's hostname or IP address. You don't have to specify the port number: the default is the standard JetDirect port 9100.

 

In most Linux distributions, CUPS comes with a large set of PPD files built-in. If you use the CUPS web UI (available via http://localhost:631 on your Linux print server), you can usually choose one of the built-in PPD files (by choosing first a printer manufacturer, then a model) or upload a PPD file of your own.

 

If you have a large number of print queues to configure, the CUPS "lpadmin" command can be used to write a script for adding printers. The basic command to add a printer will be something like:

 

lpadmin -p myprinter -v socket://my.printer.IP.address -P superprinter9000.ppd -L "Room Number" -D "My SuperPrinter 9000"

 

You may want to add some options to set default printing options like paper size. See "man lpadmin" and "man lpoptions" for more information.

 

The documentation for the newest version of CUPS is available at http://www.cups.org/

 

MK