Table of Contents

Introduction

Features and Benefits

Overview

Basic CUPS Support Configuration

Linking smbd with libcups.so

Simple smb.conf Settings for CUPS

More Complex CUPS smb.conf Settings

Advanced Configuration

Central Spooling vs. “Peer-to-Peer” Printing

Raw Print Serving: Vendor Drivers on Windows Clients

Installation of Windows Client Drivers

Explicitly Enable “raw” Printing for application/octet-stream

Driver Upload Methods

Advanced Intelligent Printing with PostScript Driver Download

GDI on Windows, PostScript on UNIX

Windows Drivers, GDI, and EMF

UNIX Printfile Conversion and GUI Basics

PostScript and Ghostscript

Ghostscript: The Software RIP for Non-PostScript Printers

PostScript Printer Description (PPD) Specification

Using Windows-Formatted Vendor PPDs

CUPS Also Uses PPDs for Non-PostScript Printers

The CUPS Filtering Architecture

MIME Types and CUPS Filters

MIME Type Conversion Rules

Filtering Overview

Prefilters

pstops

pstoraster

imagetops and imagetoraster

rasterto [printers specific]

CUPS Backends

The Role of cupsomatic/foomatic

The Complete Picture

mime.convs

“Raw” Printing

application/octet-stream Printing

PostScript Printer Descriptions for Non-PostScript Printers

cupsomatic/foomatic-rip Versus Native CUPS Printing

Examples for Filtering Chains

Sources of CUPS Drivers/PPDs

Printing with Interface Scripts

Network Printing (Purely Windows)

From Windows Clients to an NT Print Server

Driver Execution on the Client

Driver Execution on the Server

Network Printing (Windows Clients and UNIX/Samba Print Servers)

From Windows Clients to a CUPS/Samba Print Server

Samba Receiving Job-Files and Passing Them to CUPS

Network PostScript RIP

PPDs for Non-PS Printers on UNIX

PPDs for Non-PS Printers on Windows

Windows Terminal Servers (WTS) as CUPS Clients

Printer Drivers Running in “Kernel Mode” Cause Many Problems

Workarounds Impose Heavy Limitations

CUPS: A “Magical Stone”?

PostScript Drivers with No Major Problems, Even in Kernel Mode

Configuring CUPS for Driver Download

cupsaddsmb : The Unknown Utility

Prepare Your smb.conf for cupsaddsmb

CUPS “PostScript Driver for Windows NT/200x/XP”

Recognizing Different Driver Files

Acquiring the Adobe Driver Files

ESP Print Pro PostScript Driver for Windows NT/200x/XP

Caveats to Be Considered

Windows CUPS PostScript Driver Versus Adobe Driver

Run cupsaddsmb (Quiet Mode)

Run cupsaddsmb with Verbose Output

Understanding cupsaddsmb

How to Recognize If cupsaddsmb Completed Successfully

cupsaddsmb with a Samba PDC

cupsaddsmb Flowchart

Installing the PostScript Driver on a Client

Avoiding Critical PostScript Driver Settings on the Client

Installing PostScript Driver Files Manually Using rpcclient

A Check of the rpcclient man Page

Understanding the rpcclient man Page

Producing an Example by Querying a Windows Box

Requirements for adddriver and setdriver to Succeed

Manual Driver Installation in 15 Steps

Troubleshooting Revisited

The Printing *.tdb Files

Trivial Database Files

Binary Format

Losing *.tdb Files

Using tdbbackup

CUPS Print Drivers from Linuxprinting.org

foomatic-rip and Foomatic Explained

foomatic-rip and Foomatic PPD Download and Installation

Page Accounting with CUPS

Setting Up Quotas

Correct and Incorrect Accounting

Adobe and CUPS PostScript Drivers for Windows Clients

The page_log File Syntax

Possible Shortcomings

Future Developments

Other Accounting Tools

Additional Material

Autodeletion or Preservation of CUPS Spool Files

CUPS Configuration Settings Explained

Preconditions

Manual Configuration

Printing from CUPS to Windows-Attached Printers

More CUPS Filtering Chains

Common Errors

Windows 9x/Me Client Can't Install Driver

“cupsaddsmb” Keeps Asking for Root Password in Never-ending Loop

“cupsaddsmb” or “rpcclient addriver” Emit Error

“cupsaddsmb” Errors

Client Can't Connect to Samba Printer

New Account Reconnection from Windows 200x/XP Troubles

Avoid Being Connected to the Samba Server as the Wrong User

Upgrading to CUPS Drivers from Adobe Drivers

Can't Use “cupsaddsmb” on Samba Server, Which Is a PDC

Deleted Windows 200x Printer Driver Is Still Shown

Windows 200x/XP Local Security Policies

Administrator Cannot Install Printers for All Local Users

Print Change, Notify Functions on NT Clients

Win XP-SP1

Print Options for All Users Can't Be Set on Windows 200x/XP

Most Common Blunders in Driver Settings on Windows Clients

cupsaddsmb Does Not Work with Newly Installed Printer

Permissions on /var/spool/samba/ Get Reset After Each Reboot

Print Queue Called “lp” Mishandles Print Jobs

Location of Adobe PostScript Driver Files for “cupsaddsmb”

Overview of the CUPS Printing Processes