Datasheet

“main” (Installation and Administration) — 2004/6/25 — 13:29 — page 299 — #325
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13
Printer Operation
In the case of SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9, YaST and other configura-
tion tool (e.g., the CUPS web front-end) are synchronized. There is no more
“private” YaST configuration data. This change makes it impossible to offer
configuration conversion in SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9.
13.2 Preparation and Other
Considerations
CUPS is the standard print system in SUSE LINUX. CUPS is highly user-
oriented. In many cases, it is compatible with LPRng or can be adapted
with relatively little effort. LPRng is only included in SUSE LINUX Enter-
prise Server for reasons of compatibility (see Section 13.1 on page 296).
Printers can be distinguished in terms of the interfaces (USB, network) and
the printer languages. When buying a printer, make sure the printer has an
interface that is supported by the hardware and a suitable printer language.
Printers can be roughly categorized based on language into the following
three classes:
PostScript Printers PostScript is the printer language in which most print
jobs in Linux and Unix are generated and processed by the internal
print system. This language is already quite old and very efficient.
If PostScript documents can be processed directly by the printer and
do not need to be converted in additional stages in the print system,
the number of potential error sources is reduced. As PostScript print-
ers are subject to substantial license costs, these printers usually cost
more than printers without a PostScript interpreter.
Standard Printer (languages like PCL and ESC/P)
Although these printer languages are quite old, they are still under-
going expansion to address new features in printers. In the case of
known printer languages, the print system can convert PostScript
jobs to the respective printer language with the help of Ghostscript.
This processing stage is referred to as interpreting. The best-known
languages are PCL, which is mostly used by HP printers and their
clones, and ESC/P, which is used by Epson printers. These printer
languages are usually supported by Linux and produce a decent print
result. Linux may not be able to address some functions of extremely
new and fancy printers, as the Open Source developers may still be
working on these features. Except for the hpijs drivers developed
299SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server