[H-GEN] Print services to Windows from Unix

[Greg Black]

On 2006-08-07, andrew laidlaw wrote:

> Sorry to go (a little bit) off topic here, but I'm in the
> process of understanding what goes on in unix printing and had
> formed the impression that CUPS was the default?

On all the Unix variants I use (which is several, but by no
means all), CUPS is an optional add-on.  It's clear that the
goal of the CUPS people is to evolve to the point where it can
become the default solution, but that has not happened yet, for
which I am indeed grateful.

> If that isn't the case, then what is the most common unix
> printing system?

On System V and derived systems, the userland print utility is
lp.  On BSD systems, it is lpr.  I don't know which camp Linux
is in, or whether there are different answers for different
Linux distros.

There are also two well-known alternative print spoolers that
can be retro-fitted to all Unix and Unix-like systems:  LPRng
and CUPS.  I have experience with all these systems and have
been perfectly happy with both the standard System V and BSD
spoolers over many years.  I have tried LPRng on and off over
the past 10 years, but it has never successfully solved any of
the problems I would have liked it to address and offers no
benefits over the BSD spooler in my environments.  I have
installed several versions of CUPS and rather like it, except
for a show-stopper bug -- none of the currently-available
versions is capable of printing to a parallel printer on any of
my BSD systems.  Since I still run a collection of LaserJet
printers that are in fine condition, I must use a system that
can talk to them.  For this reason, I consider CUPS to be an
experimental system that is not suitable for deployment in the
real world.

> As a related question, I wonder if there are any
> recommendations one might follow in selecting printers to
> purchase for linux, ideally multi-function scanner/printer
> packages?

Buy the cheapest thing that seems to do what you need.  These
gadgets are so cheap that they are a pretty safe bet on any
modern system -- I've bought lots of cheap printers and had no
problems printing to them on a variety of Unix systems.  I'd
expect Linux to manage at least as well.

> Is postscript a must?

It is for me for serious printers (which is why I have the
LaserJets, all of which are PostScript models).  But the
freely-available drivers for the current bunch of printers seem
to manage to convert PS into printer control languages pretty
well and without any real dramas.

> There are, on the net, long
> lists of printers that are held to be routinely useable under
> linux, but with all the OS flavours and printing options
> available, how should one check in advance if a given  printer
> will work with a given linux release without further ado?

I don't use Linux, so this is a WAG, but I can't imagine that
any Linux would be worse than any modern Unix, so it should be
reasonable:  If a printer is supposed to work properly with any
modern Linux, it should work with all of them.  Just don't
insist on using some ancient distro and expecting it to work.

Cheers, Greg