PDQ/LPD/LPR/LPRng/PPR/CUPS...What to use?

rodda · 05-16-2002, 10:32 PM

OK I'm a bit confused over this whole printing system thing. Why should I prefer one of the above printing methods over another? Is CUPS the be-all and end-all of Linux printing? And what the hell is 'Foomatic'.

I looked at linuxprinting.org, but it does not mention much history concerning these things. I kinda want the '10,000 foot view'...Thanks.

Lindy · 05-17-2002, 11:01 PM

From what I understand CUPS is cool if you want to spool to a printer 1/2 a world away, but for the other 99.9% of your printing needs LPR fills the bill.
Ya got me on Foomatic, sounds like something Tux might use to chop up herring with.

Tinkster · 05-23-2002, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rodda
And what the hell is 'Foomatic'.

I'm kinda lost with cups, but what I understand about foomatic is that it's a XML-based printer database that will allow you to use higher quality printer definitions (ppd files) with Cups to get around the limitations of Cups' default printer settings (which force my 1200DPI Laser down to 300 ;}) ... Cups is the free off-spring of a commercial Unix printing solution, and only the FULL version will support most printers in a decent manner ;)

Cheers,
Tink