Fwd: Printer drivers ?

[Kurt Pfeifle]

Chris Howells wrote:
> 
> 
> ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
> 
> Subject: Printer drivers ?
> Date: Friday 28 March 2003 17:22
> From: Rdvrey <rdvrey@solcon.nl>
> To: webmaster@printing.kde.org
> 
> Dear ?
> 
> I have a questions concerning printer drivers in Linux, Is it possible
> to make your own printer driver ?

Hello, Mr. de Vrey!

The driver *is* important  --  but not sufficient to solve all tasks.
For the print management, adminstration and spooling system we now
trust in "CUPS" (http://www.cups.org/), which we regard to be even
more powerful than the Windows printing system. It is based on IPP,
the new industry and IETF network printing standard protocol (which
also offers security through SSL/TLS encryption of print data.

> I am thinking abot draw selection, stapling and secure printing.
> 
> The reason behind my question is that I am working for Xerox Netherlands
> and we are getting questions about our printers and Linux.

For PostScript models: we support each and every printer-specific feature
     that is supported in, say, Windows NT too -- simply because we are
     utilizing the same PPD ("PostScript Printer Description") as supplied
     by vendors for Win NT (or Apple Mac OS).

For non-PS printers: it depends. There are some very hi quality drivers
    there already. You need to understand, that the whole printing process
    for most apps in Linux and Unix passes through a PostScript stage. From
    that format (which is generated by most programs which are asked to print)
    we convert to other formats. Ghostscript here is a "PostScript RIP in
    software", running on the printing client (or a print server) and pre-digesting
    the PostScript to become PCL, ESC/P, etc. to be consumed by the printing
    device. Ghostscript can even convert many otherwise non-printable formats
    *to* PostScript. The process of format conversion we often call "filtering",
    and the programs which do it, we tend to name "filters."

    Since we have PostScript as the "hub" format, we also use PPDs to
    describe the capabilities of the non-PS printer. *These* PPDs are not
    supplied by vendors (yet), "we" write them ourselves (see the website
    http://www.linuxprinting.org/ for a large collection of these PPDs --
    they are generated online from an XML database containing printer and
    driver info...).

    This enables us to even offer print services to Windows clients, which
    can standardize and consolidate on a single PostScript driver (to be
    installed via "Point and Print" from CUPS servers) with the various PPDs.
    The clients send PostScript -- the CUPS server converts as needed and
    sends the result to the printer...

    PPDs may have embedded various commandsets to steer the printer
    features, depending on the model(s) it applies to: PJL (Print Job
    Language), PCL Escape Sequences, proprietary commands (if we know
    them).

You should have a look at the http://www.linuxprinting.org/vendors.html to
see how various printer vendors are currently rated within the Linux and
Free Software community.

We welcome any support by the vendors and manufacturers who want to help
get their product better supported in Linux (and, by this, automatically
also on other Unix-like Operating Systems, such as Apple Mac OS X or
Solaris, HP-UX....).

The best place to get in touch with Free printer driver developers is
probably the "general" newsgroup on Linuxprinting.org as available thru

    http://www.linuxprinting.org/newsportal/thread.php3?name=linuxprinting.general

If you do have any concrete plans already, this is the right place to
discuss them and seek further advice. If you have detail info about the
models you are seeking to create drivers for (such as the printer languages
and protocols they support), please tell it.

Another alternative may be to buy printer driver development time
commercially, from people who know all the ins and outs of Linux and
Unix printing over years. The prime address for this is Easy Software
Products (http://www.easysw.com/). I know they are contracted by more
than one vendor to write drivers and filters for their products. The
huge advantage is that this effort will be required just once -- but
the resulting "driver/filter" may not just be used on Linux, but on
Mac OS X, *BSD, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, IRIX, Tru64 and other Unix systems
too! -- One of the vendors even asked explicitely to supply the driver
for their printer models under a Free license and as Open Source. I
can tell you that this kind of approach is most highly valued in our
community.

> regards
> 
> Robert de Vrey


Peace,

Kurt