1. Introduction
1.1. About lpr and lprng
This document is describes cups, not lpr. If you wish to use lpr, read the document describing how to configure printing using lpr at http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/peripherals/printer-magicfilter.html.
1.2. About cups
Each cups printer has a Postscript Printer Description (.ppd) file (see the Linux Dictionary at www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Dictionary/html/index.html).
You can find .ppd files for many printers using the Foomatic database (Debian packages foomatic-bin and foomatic-db).If you cannot find your printer there, you can download many .ppd files from http://www.linuxprinting.org/. A few manufacturers, such as Samsung, provide their own .ppd files. Visit your printer manufacturer's web site.
cups has an HTML front end. There are alternative front ends for cups available in the Debian 3.0 distribution such as gtklp (Gnome), qtcups (KDE) and xpp. This document describes the use of the HTML front end only.
1.3. Outline of the installation
 | Use of # for remarks |
|---|---|
The # character normally represents a command prompt. Here it indicates a comment line. |
# Check for parallel port or USB support in the Linux kernel dmesg | grep parport dmesg | grep usb # Install cups apt-get install cupsys cupsys-bsd cupsys-client cupsys-driver-gimpprint cupsys-pstoraster libcupsys2 # Install foomatic apt-get install foomatic-bin foomatic-db # Use a browser to visit the local cups Admin web page http://localhost:631/admin # Log in to the cups Admin web page as root User Name: Password: OK # Install your printer in cups Printers Add printer # Configure your printer in cups Printers Configure Printer # Test your printer from cups Printers Print Test Page # Optional: install an alternative front end for managing cups # gtklp (Gnome) apt-get install gtklp # or qtcups (KDE) apt-get install qtcups # or xpp apt-get install xpp |