DISCUSSION: Setting up a PDF printer in CUPS (in my case in Slackware)

This thread is to discuss the article titled: Setting up a PDF printer in CUPS (in my case in Slackware)

Excellent article.. very useful!

A couple of gotchas though.

• Need more information on the adobe distiller ppd install, the file that I had after the install was adist5.ppd under the \winxx\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86 directory, not distiller.ppd - I copied it to this name.
  
• Before step 4 (adding the printer using lpadmin),I had to restart cups by /etc/rc.d/rc.cups restart. Cups kept complaining about 'client error' until then. Apparently the 'pdf' model was not active to be specified as part of the lpadmin command without a restart.

nice work. I need somethnig like this, but more complicated.

I wonder if it is possible to get IP address from where document was send for printing?

Hi,

The given link to adobe site , http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/325924.html, is broken. I tried search my friend google but not able to find "printer definition file for distiller". Can anyone help me out please? From where and how I can download and install it?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by hemantkr Hi, The given link to adobe site , http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/325924.html, is broken. I tried search my friend google but not able to find "printer definition file for distiller". Can anyone help me out please? From where and how I can download and install it? Thanks.

hemantkr:

Try this link. You need the ADIST5.PPD file, which you can then rename to distiller.ppd when you move it.

Enjoy!

- Tim

I followed the directions (including the adist5.ppd rename).
Checked it twice but it broke.
Everything looked great until I sent a print job.
In CUPS I see the PDF printer and can start it.
It stay 'started' until a job request is issued, then it stops with the error
PDF "/usr/lib/cups/backend/pdf failed"

I verified each step and the cut/paste text.

I am using Fedora Core 6 on a P4 platform.

Any suggestions?

You could also install the cups-pdf package if it's available in your distribution, it will handle the PDF creation for you and drop any PDF's you print in a CUPS folder in your home directory.

Certainly not as much fun as rolling you own PDF printer though..

default@debianetch:~$ aptitude search cups-pdf
i cups-pdf - PDF printer for CUPS


cups-pdf for FedoraCore6

Originally Posted by udstx I followed the directions (including the adist5.ppd rename). Checked it twice but it broke. Everything looked great until I sent a print job. In CUPS I see the PDF printer and can start it. It stay 'started' until a job request is issued, then it stops with the error PDF "/usr/lib/cups/backend/pdf failed" I verified each step and the cut/paste text. I am using Fedora Core 6 on a P4 platform. Any suggestions?

Sorry mate, almost a year late ... the problem is
(might be?) that your device-URI points at a non-
existing directory....


Guess my description with a plain cut&paste wasn't
quite clear enough, and I apologise for that ...