[opensource] Some Linux/CUPS Printing Tips

[Sean Carrick]

Has anyone found a good way to print to the CSE department printers
from a linux machine elsewhere?  At the moment, I'm using a script
that sends a file (ps or txt) using scp to stdsun then remotely runs
lpr, so I just type:

printinbolz paper.ps

But this is still a little clunky if there is some way to further
automate the printing.

Sean Carrick

On 5/15/07, James Dinan <dinan at cse.ohio-state.edu> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> The other day I ended up printing something from a flash applet (yeck!)
> and flash doesn't give you a print dialog so there is no way to select
> "print to file."  So, I did a little digging and found that there is a
> pdfwriter printer available with CUPS.
>
> Here's how you set it up in Ubuntu:
>
> 1.) Install the cups-pdf package.
> 2.) Click System->Administration->Printers then add new printer.
> 3.) It should show you "PDF Printer" in the detected list.  Select it.
> 4.) For the driver choose:
>      Manufacturer: generic
>      Model: postscript color
>      Driver: standard
> 5.) Done!
>
> Now whenever you print something to this printer you will get a pdf in
> the PDF directory off of your home directory.  If you set it as the
> default, flash will print there (since it always just spews into the
> default printer).
>
> Another printing tip: Try using "gtklp" as a substitute printing program
> instead of lpr (kprinter is pretty good too if you are of the kde
> persuasion).  This will give you access to lots of features like n-up,
> double-sided printing, etc.  From gtklp you can also select your
> cups-pdf printer to send the output to a file rather than paper.
>
> For example: To use gtklp in acrobat reader you can select the "custom"
> printer in the print dialog and type in "gtklp" as the print command.
>
> Feel free to add your own printing tips too!  :)
>
>  ~Jim.
>
> --
> James Dinan <dinan at cse.ohio-state.edu>
>
> Dept Computer Science and Engineering
>       The Ohio State University
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