'Re: [ANNOUNCE]: http://printing.kde.org, KDEPrint mailing list'

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List: kde-print
Subject: Re: [ANNOUNCE]: http://printing.kde.org, KDEPrint mailing list
From: Kurt Pfeifle <kpfeifle () danka ! de>
Date: 2001-12-02 21:30:37
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Dies ist eine mehrteilige Nachricht im MIME-Format.

Chris Howells schrieb:

> This is to officially announce the availability of the new KDEPrint web site,
> http://printing.kde.org. There's quite a bit of material on the site,
> including FAQs, documentation, and screenshots of the new KDEPrint framework
> in KDE 3.

Hi, Chris,

here come two files, one re-worked, the other new.

Please add a new entry on http://printing.kde.org/faq/cups.phtml saying
"KDEPrint for non-KDE apps", OK?

Then commit the file "kdeprint-use-in-non-kde-faq.html" there.

The other file "kdeprint-and-cups-faq.html" should replace the present file
(don't remember which name it has...)

That's all for today (and the next 2 weeks, I think)

Have fun.

Cheers,
Kurt

-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|              .--.                                  CUPS + ESP PrintPro:  |
|             |o_o |                                 ********************  |
|     ~       |:_/ |                Unix/Linux Printing made fun and easy  |
|    А А     //   \ \               http://www.danka.de/printpro/faq.html  |
|    /V\    (|     | )  .~.         Kurt Pfeifle,  Danka Deutschland GmbH  |
|   // \\  /'\_   _/`\  /V\                Tel.:   +49-172-715.7017        |
|  /(   )\ \___)=(___ )/( )\               mailto:kpfeifle@danka.de        |
|   ^`~'^              ^^~^^                                               |
| Network Printing Services: Consulting+Training+Workshops+Troubleshooting |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
["kdeprint-and-cups-faq.html" (text/html)]

<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
  <meta name="AUTHOR" content="Kurt Pfeifle" />
  <meta name="COPYRIGHT" content="copyright 2001, All rights reserved, but free to \
use: copy, publish, modify -- give credit to original authors" />  <meta \
name="KEYWORDS" content="KDEPrint, KDEPrint overview, CUPS, print, HOWTO, faq, FAQ" \
/>  <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="KDEPrint rocks!" />
  <meta name="TIME OF CREATION" content="November 2001" />
  <title> Frequently Asked Questions and Answers regarding CUPS  </title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Extracts from KDEPrint Handbook, modified and reworked</h1>
<hr>
<p>
(by Kurt Pfeifle, <a href="mailto:kpfeifle@danka.de">kpfeifle@danka.de</a>,
Author of KDEPrint Handbook)
</p>
<br>
<br>
<br>

<h2>Frequently Asked Questions and Answers regarding CUPS</h2>

Here we will answer some frequently asked questions about CUPS
which might occur to KDEPrint users whose print subsystem is CUPS,
although they are not directly related to KDEPrint. We hope you'll
find this section also useful. Feedback is welcome.

<h4>Why can't I re-start my jobs from the CUPS web interface?</h4>

<p>
To re-start your "completed" jobs from the web interface, you need
an entry of (in the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf)

<pre>
     PreserveJobFiles Yes
</pre>

set (default is "Yes"). To see your completed jobs, you need

<pre>
     PreserveJobHistory Yes
</pre>

set (default is "No"). You can use KDE's "CUPS Server Configuration Tool"
to change the settings. It is available through the KDE Control Center
[ --> System --> Printing Manager --> click on third icon from
right ("Configure server")]

<h4>How does CUPS "page accounting" work?</h4>

CUPS passes nearly every job through the pstops filter; pstops
does, amongst other things, the page counting. Output of this
filter then may be piped into other filters or even a chain of
filters (like "pstoraster --> rastertopcl") or sent to the
printer directly (if it is a PostScript printer).

In any case, this works for network, parallel, serial or
USB printers the same. For pstops to work, it needs DSC,
Document Structuring Convention compliant PostScript (or
near-equivalent) as input. This way it calculates the pages during
filtering on the print server and writes info about every
single page (what time, which user, which job-ID and -name,
which printer, how many copies of which pages of the document,
how many kilo-bytes?) into /var/log/cups/page_log. (By the
way: on my personal "wishlist" is a hack of "webalizer"
to read and analyse the page_log and give a similar output.
Anyone?)

<p>
However, it is *not* giving correct results in the following
cases:
<ul>
<li> the printer jams and maybe therefor throw away the job (real
  life experience with real-life printers; or maybe throws away
  the job because of problems with the data format)</li>

<li> jobs printed as "raw" are always counted as size of 1 page
  (and maybe multiple copies).</li>
</ul>
</p>

Therefore page accounting of CUPS is "only" an approximation
(in many cases an excellent + good one, in others a quite
poor one). The only *reliable* print count is the one done
by the internal printer counter. (Because this is the one
you pay for, if you are on a "click price" or similar.)
Some, by far not most, printers can be queried remotely
for that information via SNMP (Simple Network Management
Protocol). That means, in a bigger network with many different
printers there *is* just no completely reliable and accurate
page accounting tool!

<h4>Why is CUPS page-accounting not working with Windows clients?</h4>

From Windows clients jobs nearly always need to be sent as
"raw". Why? If CUPS works as a print server for Windows
clients using the original native Windows driver for the
target print device, this guarantees the correct formatting
of the job on the clients already; therefor the server
should not touch it -- this is also called "raw" printing;
no filtering is started by print daemons being asked to handle
a printfile as a "raw" printfile.
(Filtering in most of thos cases is not even possible, as the input from
the clients mostly is not PostScript as the CUPS filter pstops
expects; hence no pagecount occurs other than the default "1"...

<h4>How do I get a list of available options for a given printer
or a PPD file?</h4>

See the man page for the lpoptions command. You may investi=
gate
a CUPS-enabled box about any option of its available printers.
There is no need to have the printer installed locally.
As long as the printer is available locally (through the
CUPS "printer browsing" feature),
it will also work remotely. To query for a printers' option,
type something similar to:

<pre>
   lpoptions -h transmeta -p HitachiDDP70MicroPress -l
</pre>
</p>

This will give a long listing of all available options as read
from the PPD file for the given Hitachi-Printer (in my case
installed on remote server transmeta). Remote server transmeta
and its CUPS daemon as well as the localhost's CUPS daemon
need to be up and running for this to succeed. If you leave out
the "-h" specification to query a remote host, it is assumed
that you want to query localhost for a local printer.

<h4>How do I read the listing retrieved by the lpoptions command?</h4>

You should know, that for PostScript printer manufacturers it
i "legal" to define their own internal names and procedures
even for standard PostScript options. As long as the driver
is able to retrieve the option from the PPD and show it
to the user in a way that he understands it, everything is
OK. But what do *you* do, if you want to use some obscure
printer options on the command line? How do you find out
its exact syntax?

Let's take an example. Looking at Hitachi's DDP70 printer
and how it implements duplex printing is revealing somehow.
How do you tell how to print double sided (duplex or Duplex?).
Here is the CUPS solution (command should be given in one long
line, not using the backslashes "\"):

<pre>
  lpoptions \
     -h transmeta \
       -p Hitachi_DDP70_ClusterPrintingSystem \
         -l | grep uplex
</pre>

This leads to the output

<pre>
   TR-Duplex/Duplex: False *True
</pre>
</p>

<p>
This is to be interpreted like follows:
<ul>

<li> the name of the investigated option is "TR-Duplex";</li>

<li> behind the slash you see the translation of the option,
  as it should be shown in a GUI or Web interface ("Duplex");</li>

<li> the option may take one of the two values " False" or "
  True";</li>

<li> the present setting is "True" (to be recognized by the
  marking with a star/asterisk *).</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>
The "Duplex" option for this printer should therefor take the
following form:

<pre>
   lpr -o TR-Duplex=3DTrue
</pre>
</p>

<p>
To override the present default setting (duplex is true, as shown
by the asterisk in above example) and print a job in simplex, you
need to use the following command:

<pre>
   lpr \
      -P Hitachi_DDP70_ClusterPrintingSystem \
        -o TR-Duplex=3DFalse \
          /path/to/your/printjob
</pre>
</p>

<h4>How do I get a nicely formatted listing of available options
for a given printer or PPD?</h4>

Use the lphelp command which may be installed on your system
locally. There is not yet a man page for lphelp. (lphelp was written by
Till Kamppeter from Mandrakesoft; as it is distributed under the Free
GPL license, you may find it by now on most other Linux distributions.)

<pre>
   lphelp infotecP450
</pre>
</p>

This lists the available options for the named printer. It
is nicely formatted and does explain every available option
and how to use it. You can query different printers' options
at once:

<pre>
   lphelp infotec7410color DANKA_fullcolor_D2000 HP_ColorLaserJet8550
</pre>
</p>

It also works for PPD files. Just specify the path to the
PPD:

<pre>
   lphelp /home/kurt/PPDs/HP-ColorLaserJet8550.ppd
</pre>

This is quite handy if you want to inspect a PPD file for the abilities
of a printer you plan to install.

<p>
Here is an example output (cut short after a few lines):
</p>

<pre>
kurt@transmeta:~> lphelp /etc/cups/ppd/mopier320.ppd
==================================================================

HP LaserJet 8100 Series

==================================================================

   Black & white printer

   Printer-specific options
   ------------------------

   Besides the options described in the CUPS software users manual
   (http://localhost:631/sum.html)  you can use also the following
   options, when you print on this printer with the  "lp" or "lpr"
   command.  --  A choice with the  "default" mark  represents the
   behaviour of  the printer when the  appropriate option is *not*
   given on the command line):

   Duplex:  -o Duplex=[choice]

      &lt;choice> can be one of the following:

      DuplexNoTumble  (Flip on Long Edge (Standard), default)
      DuplexTumble  (Flip on Short Edge)
      None  (Off (1-Sided))

   Medien-Grіпe :  -o PageSize=[choice]

      [choice] can be one of the following:

      A3  (A3, size: 11.69x16.54in)
      A4  (A4, size: 8.26x11.69in, default)
      A5  (A5, size: 5.83x8.26in)
   [....cut here....]

</pre>

<h4>Support in KDE3</h4>

Support for inspecting PPD files is already built into the current KDEPrint versions
in so far as it shows all the options on the "Advanced" tab of the "Properties"
dialog that is part of the "kprinter" dialog. What you won't get in this GUI
is the "&lt;choice&gt;" options for the commandline specified... We just ask
you: if you need a commandline option -- use a commandline ("lpoptions" or
"lphelp") to ask for it...

</body>
</html>

["kdeprint-use-in-nonkde-faq.html" (text/html)]

<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
  <meta name="AUTHOR" content="Kurt Pfeifle" />
  <meta name="COPYRIGHT" content="copyright 2001, All rights reserved, but free to \
use: copy, publish, modify -- give credit to original authors" />  <meta \
name="KEYWORDS" content="KDEPrint, KDEPrint overview, CUPS, print, HOWTO, faq, FAQ" \
/>  <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="KDEPrint rocks!" />
  <meta name="TIME OF CREATION" content="November 2001" />
  <title> FAQ: KDEPrint Usage in non-KDE Applications </title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Extracts from the upcoming KDEPrint Handbook (released with KDE-3)</h1>
<hr>
<p>
(by Kurt Pfeifle, <a href="mailto:kpfeifle@danka.de">kpfeifle@danka.de</a>,
Author of KDEPrint Handbook)
</p>
<br>
<br>
<br>

<h2>Frequently Asked Questions and Answers regarding KDEPrint Usage in non-KDE \
Applications</h2>

Here you will learn how to use KDEPrint from non-KDE application to get
the best results from your printer. We hope you'll
find this section also useful. Feedback is welcome.

<h4>Is KDEPrint for KDE usage only?</h4>

No. You may use it in any non-KDE program that allows you to specify
a "print command".

<h4>Can I use KDEPrint together with GNOME?</h4>

Yes. We even know some GNOME developers who use the "kprinter" utility
on a day-to-day basis for their printing needs...
 &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; :-)

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in Netscape?</h4>

Click on the "Print" icon (or select File... --> Print... from the menue
bar -- or hit the [Alt]+[P] shortcut.) In the opened print dialog you'll
see the presently active print command.

Edit it to read "kprinter" (maybe
you need to use the full path, f.e. /opt/kde2/bin/kprinter). Click \
[Print]. This will pipe the Netscape-generated PostScript-output into \
"kprinter", which will then open its dialog box. Choose your settings. Then print. \

Netscape will remember this. Next time "kprinter" will automatically be called.
If you have many printers (like I do, not at home, but at my employer's place :),
you can pre-select the "Netscape default printer" by adding the "-d"-option
to the kprinter print command. (F.e. entering as the print command
f.e. "/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter -d infotec4700MF" will bring up my infotec4700MF \
printer preselected in the kprinter dialog for every print from Netscape. I could \
still easily select another model from there if I need to...)

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in Galeon?</h4>

Click on the "Print" icon (or select File... --> Print... from the menu
bar -- or hit the [Ctrl]+[P] shortcut.) In the opened print dialog you'll
see a line with the presently active Printer:.

Edit it to read "kprinter" (maybe you need to use the full path, f.e.
/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter). Compіlete your other necessary settings (like
your paper size, etc.). Click [Print].
This will pipe the Galeon-generated PostScript-output into "kprinter", which will
then open its dialog box. Choose you settings. Then print.

Galeon will remember this. Next time "kprinter" will automatically be called,
if you want to print from Galeon.
If you have many printers (like I do, not at home, but at my employer's place :),
you can pre-select the "Galeon default printer" by entering the print command
with the "-d"-option; f.e. "/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter -d digimaster9110".

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in Mozilla?</h4>

Click on the "Print" icon (or select File... --> Print... from the menu
bar -- or hit the [Ctrl]+[P] shortcut.) In the opened print dialog you'll
see the presently active print command.

Edit it to read "kprinter" (maybe
you need to use the full path, f.e. /opt/kde2/bin/kprinter). Click \
[Print]. This will pipe the Mozilla-generated PostScript-output into \
"kprinter", which will then open its dialog box. Choose you settings. Then print. \

Mozilla will remember this. Next time "kprinter" will automatically be called.
If you have many printers (like I do, not at home, but at my employer's place :),
you can pre-select the "Mozilla default printer" by entering the print command
with the "-d"-option; f.e. "/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter -d danka5000color".

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in StarOffice 5.2?</h4>

Start StarOffice's Printer Administration Tool spadmin as root. (On my system
it is located at /opt/office52/program/spadmin.) This opens the dialog box
for printer administration.

Click on [Connect...].Edit the dialog box to achieve a resulting command line of

<pre>
  default_queue=/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter
</pre>

Maybe you need to select the "Generic Printer" first from the list of "Installed
Printer Drivers" in the lower half of the dialog window. This printer is generating
PostScript.

At the end of your clicks and keyboard hits, there should be visible a
Generic Printer on Queue default_queue=/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter
amongst the list of "Configured Printers". Click on [Default Printer] to make \
it your default.

Click on the "Print" icon (or select File... --> Print... from the menu
bar -- or hit the [Alt]+[P] shortcut.) In the opened print dialog you'll
see the presently active print command.

Edit it to read "kprinter" (maybe
you need to use the full path, f.e. /opt/kde2/bin/kprinter). Click \
[OK]. This will pipe the StarOffice-5.2-generated PostScript-output into \
"kprinter", which will then open its dialog box. Choose you settings. Then print. \

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in the Gimp?</h4>

First off: We do not recommend to sidestep the Gimp-Print drivers! (But \
sometimes you might have no other choice. Read on.)

If you print from the latest
Gimp-Print plugin (Version 4.2 has just been released (Nov. 2001) and might not yet
be part of your Gimp installation), this plugin has direct support for more than 130
printers (and nearly 300 through emulations, see <A
HREF="http://www.linuxprinting.org/driver_list.cgi?driver=gimp-print">the list of
gimp-print-driven models on www.linuxprinting.org</A>). Read the Gimp-Print User
Manual for the exact settings and how to proceed if you want to use the \
Gimp-Print drivers from within the print-plugin.

Inside the plugin, all data
are prepared in a "final" format so they can be digested directly by the printer:
They therefor need to be sent as "raw". Sending this to the kprinter command
would simply not result in pages printed...

There is, however, a case to leave this above re-commended method to
print from within the Gimp print-plugin: that is...
<ul>
 <li>...if your printer is not directly supported by the print-plugin, or</li>
 <li>...if you are using another driver/filter package for this printer (f.e. the \
Shareware "TurboPrint" driver package or the proprietary Lexmark filters for some of \
their "Z-xyz" series). </li>
</ul>

<p>
In this case, proceed as described below. In the print-plugin dialog (right-click on \
your file opened in the Gimp, select <i>File... --> Print...</i>), you need to follow \
these steps:
<ul>
<li>select the tab "Printer Settings" </li>
<li>choose the target printer in the drop down menue "Printer Name:" </li>
<li>click on "Setup Printer..." </li>
<li>choose as the "Printer Model:" from the drop-down menue the "PostScript Level 2" \
model </li> <li>type in the field "Command:" the <i>"kprinter"</i> command (probably \
a full path like <i>"/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter</i>" is needed)</li>
<li>delete any "PPD File:" that might be selected in the fileld underneath the \
"Command:"  </li> <li>click [OK] </li>
<li>go to the tab called "Image / Output Settings" </li>
<li>select your needed options (those depend on the printer) </li>
<li>save your printer settings by clicking on [Save Settings]</li>
<li>selecting [Print] will pipe the Gimp-generated PostScript into the "kprinter" \
dialog,  where you can now choose another one of your printers and also select some
    settings, specific to your printer or to the KDEPrint framework... </li>
</ul>
<i>(Note: this is the description for the Plugin-version 4.2 which everybody is
recommended to use, because it has great drivers that produce photographic
qulaity on many inkjet models... Older plugins will vary, but still you'd need
to select the "PostScript Level 2" printer and then edit the print command as
indicated above.)</i>

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in Acrobat Reader?</h4>

Click on the "Print" icon (or select File... --> Print... from the menu
bar -- or hit the [Ctrl]+[P] shortcut.) In the opened print dialog you'll
see the presently active Printer Command.

Edit it to read "kprinter" (maybe
you need to use the full path, f.e. /opt/kde2/bin/kprinter).
Check or choose the other settings offered in this dialog. They will determine the
PostScript generated by Acrobat Reader. Then click [OK].
This will pipe the Acrobat Reader-generated PostScript-output into "kprinter", which \
will then open its dialog box. Choose your printer-specific settings there (like
duplex, staples etc.). Then print.

Acrobat Reader will not remember this. After your next re-start of
Acrobat Reader your newly set print command "kprinter" for this application
will be lost.

<p>
<b><i>[QUESTION: Is there anybody who can tell me how you can make this setting
permanent?]</i></b> </p>
</p>

<p>
<pre>
[To BE COMPLETED]
</pre>

</p>

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in gv?</h4>

Start gv (for those of you who don't know: it is a PostScript- and PDF-Viewer that
also allows you to print...). Click on State --> Setup Options.... A window
opens with a big range of configurable gv settings. Lokk fokr the field named "Print
Command". Edit it to read "kprinter" (possibly you might need to use the full path,
f.e. /opt/kde2/bin/kprinter). Then click [Apply], [Save] and finally [Dismiss]
to close this dialog box.

<pre>
[To BE DONE]
</pre>

</p>

<h4>How do I use KDEPrint in GNOME?</h4>

I am not yet a very experienced GNOME user. (I started to play with it only recently, \
and I must say, I like a lot of its features very much. I think KDE can learn from it \
in quite a few fields... but this distrcts from what I wanted to tell you here... \
;-)

All GNOME applications I have used so far let you edit the print command they use.
So you can always insert "kprinter" there (maybe you need to use the full path, f.e.
/opt/kde2/bin/kprinter). Check or choose the other settings offered in the
original GNOME dialog. For example, choose the margins and the papersize there, as
it is determining the PostScript file that is generated by the GNOME app and then
handed over to "kprinter" for the other settings.

<pre>
[TO BE COMPLETED]
</pre>

</p>

<h4>I am currently a GNOME-only user, but now I want to use KDEPrint, without
    having to do a full KDE-2 installation: What are the minimum installation
    requirements if I want to take advantage of your new utilities?</h4>

Install the two packages kdelibs and kdebase. This should be all. --
Be prepared, due to the nature of KDE and KDEPrint, that quite
a few KDE Libraries need to be loaded in order for "kprinter" to run and work.
But we are sure you will enjoy its features...

<pre>
[TO BE VERIFIED]
</pre>

</p>

</body>
</html>

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