Datasheet

“main” (Installation and Administration) — 2004/6/25 — 13:29 — page 301 — #327
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
13
Printer Operation
13.3 Methods and Protocols for
Connecting Printers
There are various possibilities for connecting a printer to the system. The
configuration of the CUPS print system does not distinguish between a lo-
cal printer and a printer connected to the system over the network.
In Linux, local printers must be connected as described in the manual of
the printer manufacturer. CUPS supports serial, USB, parallel, and SCSI
connections. The respective back-end must also be selected for the commu-
nication. The cabling of network printers should be installed as described
by the printer manufacturer.
I S/390, zSeries
Printers and similar devices provided by the z/VM that you can connect
locally with the S/390 and zSeries mainframes are not supported by CUPS
or LPRng. On these platforms, printing is only possible over the network.
J
Caution
Cable Connection to the Machine
When connecting the printer to the machine, do not forget that
only USB devices can be plugged in or unplugged during oper-
ation. The system should be shut down before changing other
kinds of connections.
Caution
13.4 Installing the Software
PPD (PostScript printer description) is the computer language that de-
scribes the properties (e.g., resolution) and options (e.g., duplex unit) of
PostScript printers. These descriptions are necessary to make use of the
various printer options in CUPS. Without a PPD file, the print data would
be forwarded to the printer in a “raw” state, which is usually not desired.
During the installation of SUSE LINUX, a lot of PPD files are preinstalled.
In this way, even printers that do not have built-in PostScript support can
be used.
To configure a PostScript printer, the best approach is to get a suitable PPD
file. If this is too difficult or if no such file exists, the system can also be
301SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server