8. How to set things up

For common configurations, you can probably ignore this section entirely - instead, you should jump straight to Section 9 below, or better yet, your vendor's documentation. Most GNU/Linux distributions supply one or more "idiot-proof" tools to do everything described here for common printers.

If your vendor's tool doesn't work out for you, or you'd like the ability to interactively control printing options when you print, then you should use some other system. APS Filter is another good system; it configures LPD queues and filters very easily on most any sort of Unix system.

You can also use the printing system interfaces from the linuxprinting.org website to connect many free drivers into several spooling systems. Once this project is complete, these interfaces will offer the best functionality: all styles of free software drivers are supported, user-settable options are available, and most common spooling systems are supported. Currently the foomatic print system is used in most modern distributions anyway. However, your distro may include a slightly outdated version of foomatic.