Printer Configuration

Printer Configuration

This chapter provides information on configuring, testing, and modifying a local printer with printconf. For information on configuring other types of printers, creating printer aliases, and more, refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide or click on the Help button once you open the printconf application.

 

Red Hat Linux comes with two different printing systems: LPRng and CUPS. LPRng is the default printing system. It is recommended that new users use the default printing system as described in this chapter. For information on the CUPS printing system, refer to the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide.

 

To use Printer Configuration Tool, you must have root privileges.

 

To start Printer Configuration Tool, use one of the following methods:

 

Ø      In a graphical desktop environment, click Main Menu => System Settings => Printing.

 

Ø      Type the command redhat-config-printer at a shell prompt (for example, in a command-line terminal window) to start the graphical version.

 

Ø      You can also run Printer Configuration Tool as a text-based application if you do not have the X

 

Window System installed, or if you just prefer the text-based interface. Type the command redhatconfig-printer-tui from a shell prompt, which will prompt your for the root password before it continues.

 

Important

Do not edit the /etc/printcap file. Each time the printer daemon (lpd) is started or restarted, a new /etc/printcap file is dynamically created.

 

If you want to add a printer without using the Printer Configuration Tool, edit the /etc/printcap.local file.

 

The entries in /etc/printcap.local are not displayed in the Printer Configuration Tool but are read by the printer daemon. If you upgrade your system from a previous version of Red Hat Linux, your existing configuration file is converted to the new format used by the Printer Configuration Tool. Each time a new configuration file is generated by the Printer Configuration Tool, the old file is saved as /etc/printcap.old.

 

Figure 7-1. Printer Configuration Tool

 

This chapter explains local printer configuration only, but five types of print queues can be configured with the Printer Configuration Tool:

 

Ø      Local Printer  -- a printer attached directly to your computer through a parallel or USB port. In the main printer list as shown in Figure 7-1, the Queue Type for a local printer is set to LOCAL.

 

Ø      Unix Printer (lpd Spool)  -- a printer attached to a different UNIX system that can be accessed over a TCP/IP network (or example, a printer attached to another Red Hat Linux system on your network). In the main printer list as shown in Figure 7-1, the Queue Type for a remote UNIX printer is set to LPD.

 

Ø      Windows Printer (SMB) --a printer attached to a different system which is sharing a printer over a SMB network (for example, a printer attached to a Microsoft Windows machine). In the main printer list as shown in Figure 7-1, the Queue Type for a remote Windows printer is set to SMB.

 

Ø      Novell Printer (NCP Queue)  -- a printer attached to a different system which uses Novell's Net-Ware network technology. In the main printer list as shown in Figure 7-1, the Queue Type for a remote Novell printer is set to NCP.

 

Ø      JetDirect Printer  -- a printer connected directly to the network instead of to a computer. In the main printer list as shown in Figure 7-1, the Queue Type for a JetDirect printer is set to JETDIRECT.

 

See the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide or click on the Printer Configuration Tool Help button for information on configuring printers other than local.

 

Important

If you add a new print queue or modify an existing one, you need to restart the printer daemon (lpd) for the changes to take effect.

 

Clicking the Apply button saves any changes that you have made and restarts the printer daemon. The changes are not written to the  /etc/printcap configuration file until the printer daemon (lpd) is restarted. Alternatively, you can choose File => Save Changes and then choose File => Restart lpd to save your changes and then restart the printer daemon.

 

If a printer appears in the main printer list with the Queue Type set to INVALID, the printer configuration is missing options that are required for the printer to function properly. To remove this printer from the list, select it from the list and click the Delete button.