[Desktop_printing] Usability: Printing roles, tasks and environments

Till Kamppeter till.kamppeter at gmx.net
Wed Mar 8 06:00:06 PST 2006


Ellen Reitmayr wrote:
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> 
> 
> Michael Sweet wrote:
> 
> 
>>CUPS 1.2's web interface is, IMHO, a step in the right direction
>>(but hey, I'm biased ;) in that administration and printer
>>installation/configuration happen in one place for the user.
> 
> 
> Does there happen to be a demo online? and if so: could you give us a
> demo account where we can play a bit? :)
> 

Download the current development state (not a weekly snapshot, the
current one is hopelessly obsolete) of CUPS 1.2 from the subversion
repository on www.cups.org and install it. Then go to
http://localhost:631/ and enjoy the new web interface (with
comprehensive help system). If you go to https://localhost:631/ you get
automatically an encrypted connection.

If you have set up an Epson inkjet with Gutenprint 5.0.x, you can even
trigger nozzle checking and nozzle cleaning with this interface.

> 
> 
>>All printers have some common configuration information:
>>
>>    Name (queue name, sometimes human-readable, e.g. "LJ4000")
>>    Description (human-readable text, e.g. "HP LaserJet 4000")
>>    Location (human-readable text, e.g. "Building 4 Room 301")
>>    Device URI (geek-readable, e.g. "ipp://11.22.33.44/ipp")
>>    Printer Driver (PPD filename, e.g. "hp4000_6.ppd")
>>    Page Size (e.g. "Letter", "A4", etc.)
>>
>>Most of this can be auto-assigned via device discovery, and this is
>>how CUPS 1.2 does things...
> 
> that means CUPS also knows about the proper ppd file when a printer is
> connected to a computer (plug-and-play)?
> 

In the PPD files the entries "Manufacturer" and "Product" should
correspond to manufacturer ("MFG:") and model ("MDL:") in the IEEE-1284
device ID string. More items of the device ID string can be in the
"1284DeviceID" entry of the PPD file.

> 
> is there a special reason why they have to be selected manually?
> and how many optional accessors may that be (max number in a high-end user)?
>

It seems that the accessories cannot be auto-detected by the computer
with some standard method. The available choices of these options are
selected by the printer manufacturer depending on which accessories are
really supported by the printer.

   Till



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