6. Spooling software

Until recently, the choice for free software users was simple - everyone ran the same old lpd lifted mostly verbatim out of BSD's Net-2 code. Even today, some vendors ship this software. But this is beginning to change. SVR4-like systems including Sun's Solaris come with a completely different print spooling package, centered around lpsched.

Today, there are a number of good systems to chose from. They are all described below; read the descriptions and make your own choice. CUPS is a good option and recommended for most users; it has excellent Postscript printer support, offers IPP support, a web interface, and a number of other features. For business environments with mainly networked Postscript printers, a front-end program like GPR with LPRng is another option; it handles PPD options directly and has a nice interface.