On printer setup issues (post from non-member of list)

[Theodore Kilgore]

As one of the "service" aspects of my job as a mathematics professor, I
have taken it upon myself to help out about our perennial budget shortage
by obtaining obsolescent computers from other, richer parts of Auburn
University for use by our mathematics graduate teaching assistants.
I get many of these machines with the hard drive reformatted, and after
passing through my hands these computers somehow all end up running Linux.

In setting up lots of machines which get used by the inexperienced, I have
noticed that

the default paper size for Konqueror is A4, and the printer's default size
is US
Letter size. As a result of this the print jobs sent form Konqueror
can simply "get lost" with no error messages whatsoever, or else if they
come out then the result is what might be expected, that the printed text
runs off the end of the paper.


One problem here is that the configuration difficulties do not stick
themselves in the face of the user, but they are too invisible. There are
no visible warnings, and so it is all a big mystery.

Another problem is that it is unreasonable to expect someone to have to
set up the printer for every individual application. It causes a big
headache for people like me who are doing installations, and it creates a
negative impression about Linux being user-unfriendly among the users,
some of whom are admittedly forced to use it, or bring their own machines
to the workplace.

Konqueror is not by any means the only GUI application which causes a
headache about printer setup, so please don't feel picked on. But it would
be a really nice thing if problems like this could be solved once and for
all, by having for example

exactly one printer setup routine which comes up automatically when X is
fired up (no matter whether the default window manager is KDE or Gnome;
old geezers like me who use fvwm on their personal machines can take their
chances, I suppose), until the little box is un-ticked which says this
screen should come up every time.

and/or

at least the choice menu should come up in various applications, which
says something like "You have not yet configured your printer. Please
choose default paper size, etc." and give a choice menu.

and

In all applications, the choice of "Print to file" or "Print to Printer"
both choices should come up every time the printer is summoned (you have a
moving window which always leaves the non-chosen choice is invisible,
thereby keeping the ignorant in the dark) and whatever choice is made
should be saved as the default for the next time (Konqueror is OK about
this, but other apps are guilty).

So I hope that you will be able to take these comments as constructively
meant. I also hope that you will help me by passing this message on to
other projects where it needs to be considered. The particular problem
about printer setup affects lots of applications and causes real
annoyance.


Thank you very much,

Theodore Kilgore,
Professor,
Mathematics,
Auburn University

contributor of SQ905 camera driver for libgphoto2.