[Desktop_architects] Presentation slides - with attached templates

[Kurt Pfeifle]

On Tuesday 06 December 2005 00:30, Michael Sweet wrote:
> >     -->
> >      Use of GhostScript for PostScript printers is not standard with
> >      linuxprinting.org. It is an exception, only being done if the
> >      printers is of a lower PostScript level than the PostScript input
> >      coming from the applications. It must be manually activated
> >      (usually GhostScript is not called) and is only needed for very old
> >      printers. The strategy applied by foomatic-configure and
> >      foomatic-ppdfile (current CVS) is to use manufacturer-supplied
> >      PPDs as they make all functionality and options of the printer
> >      available to the user. Only if there is no manufacturer-supplied
> >      PPD a generic PPD generated by Foomatic is used (so that at least
> >      printing works). With a manufacturer-supplied PPD GhostScript is
> >      never used with a generic PPD GhostScript is only used if the user
> >      explicitly tells that he wants it to be used.
> 
> OK, that sounds different than the experiences a lot of users are having
> on the CUPS forums.

And so it happened again this morning....

2 hours ago a customer phoned in asking for support because his new Linux 
print server did not work as expected. He was testing an Infotec printer,
Level 3 PostScript enabled, with all bells and whistles built in. He said
he could not use stapling, and not a lot of other fancy options.

I asked which PPD he had in use, and he said "the Danka recommended one".
Well, it took a while, and various phone-calls, and me convincing him to
let me ssh into his system before I could identify the problem:

   He was using a "Foomatic/Postscript" PPD for an Infotec ISC1032
   printer (this is a Level 3 PS model, and there are perfectly working
   vendor-supplied PPDs available for it)

Why did this happen? He used a GUI tool to install the printer (dunno 
which) and of course was happy that his Debian system offered all these
PPDs to him, with one seemingly the perfect match to his model and 
being even the "recommended" one.

Look yourself:

root at printserv:~# lpinfo -m|grep foomatic-ppds|grep recommended|grep Infotec|grep Postscript
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-IP_280-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec IP 280 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-IPC_2525-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec IPC 2525 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-IPC_2525e-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec IPC 2525e Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-IPC_3535-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec IPC 3535 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-IPC1036-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec IPC1036 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-IPC2838-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec IPC2838 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_1024c-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 1024c Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_1032c-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 1032c Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_2028-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 2028 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_2428-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 2428 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_2432-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 2432 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_2835-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 2835 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_2838-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 2838 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_3545-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 3545 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_4560-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 4560 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC_5560-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC 5560 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC824-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC824 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)
foomatic-ppds/Infotec/Infotec-ISC1032-Postscript.ppd.gz Infotec ISC1032 Foomatic/Postscript (recommended)

All these files do only differ in (Nick)Name entries and provide
exactly the same sparse amount of print options for each model. 

It is deceiving users when we offer those. (Note, I a not sure now 
how these ended up on that system -- wether there is a Debian package 
out there in the wild which spreads them, or if it was the result of 
a local "foomatic-compile-db" run, or whatever....)

I suggest to remove all these "Foomatic/Postscript" PPDs (also the 
ones for other vendors), and replace them with exactly 1 generic 
Foomatic/Postscript PPD. This one should not be "recommended", but
carry the tag "bandaid: use only if vendor PPD unavailable".

Cheers,
Kurt