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2.5 Setting Up a Printer
YaST can be used to configure a local printer that is directly connected
to your machine (normally with USB or parallel port) and to set up
printing with network printers. It is also possible to share printers over
the network and to add 3rd party drivers (PostScript
Printer Description (PPD) files). Further information about printing
(concepts, technical details, and troubleshooting) is available in
Section 9.0, Printer Operation, (↑ Reference ).
In YaST, click to start the printer module. By
default it opens in the view,
displaying a list of all printers available and configured. This is
especially useful when having access to a lot of printers via the network.
From here you can also on the
selected printer and configure local printers.
2.5.1 Configuring Local Printers
If an unconfigured local printer is detected, YaST starts automatically
to configure it. YaST can configure the printer automatically if the
parallel or USB port can be set up automatically and the connected
printer can be detected. The printer model must also be listed in the
database used during the automatic hardware detection.
If the printer model is unknown or cannot be automatically detected,
configure it manually. There are two possible reasons why a printer is
not automatically detected:
-
The printer does not identify itself correctly. This may apply to very
old devices. Try to configure your printer as described in
Configuring Manually.
-
If the manual configuration does not work, communication between
printer and computer is not possible. Check the cable and the plugs to
make sure that the printer is properly connected. If this is the case,
the problem may not be printer-related, but rather a USB or parallel
port–related problem.
Configuring Manually
To manually configure the printer, select in the
view. YaST will load a list
of printer drivers—this may take some time. Use the
to specify how the printer is
connected to the machine. Then choose a suitable driver and specify a
unique name for the printer queue in the
field.
A printer is never used directly, but always through a printer queue.
This ensures that simultaneous jobs can be queued and processed one
after the other. Each printer queue is assigned to a specific driver,
and a printer can have multiple queues. This makes it possible to set up
a second queue on a color printer, that prints black only, for example.
Refer to Section 9.1, The Workflow of the Printing System, (↑ Reference ) for more information
about print queues.
For many printer models, several drivers are available. When configuring
the printer, YaST defaults to the one marked
recommended as a general rule. Normally it is be
necessary to change the driver—the recommended
one should produce the best results. However, if you want a color
printer to print only in black and white, it is most convenient to use a
driver that does not support color printing, for example. If you
experience performance problems with a PostScript printer when printing
graphics, it may help to switch from a PostScript driver to a PCL driver
(provided your printer understands PCL).
If no driver for your printer is listed, you can try to select a generic
driver with an appropriate standard language from the list. Refer to
your printer's documentation to find out which language (the set of
commands controlling the printer) your printer understands. If this does
not work, refer to Adding Drivers with YaST
for another possible solution.
The printer is now configured with the default settings and ready to
use. Click
to return to the view. The newly configured printer is now
visible in the printers list.
Adding Drivers with YaST
If your printer does not appear in the
dialog when adding a new printer, the PPD (PostScript Printer
Description) file for your model is not available. For more information
about PPD files, refer to Section 9.3, Installing the Software, (↑ Reference ). To manually
add a PPD file from the local file system or an FTP or HTTP server,
choose .
Get PPD files directly from your printer vendor or from the driver CD of
the printer. For details, see
Section 9.8.2, No Suitable PPD File Available for a PostScript Printer, (↑ Reference ). Alternatively, you can also
find PPD files at
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/, the
OpenPrinting.org printer database . When downloading PPD
files from OpenPrinting.org, keep in mind that it always shows the
latest Linux support status, which is not necessarily met by
openSUSE.
Fine-tuning a Local Printer Configuration
In order to adjust the default settings for paper size, resolution,
media source and others, choose a printer from the list in the
view and click
. In the window for modifying the respective
printer queue, you can make detailed adjustments by opening . If you have access to more
than one printer queue, you can specify whether this should be the
. You may also alter the generic
printer and the
description here.
For many printer models, several drivers are available. When configuring
the printer, YaST defaults to the one marked
recommended as a general rule. See the
section in the dialog for all drivers
available. The one that is currently chosen is marked as
.
Normally it is not necessary to change the driver—the one chosen
by YaST should produce the best results. However, if you want a color
printer to print only in black and white, it is most convenient to use a
driver that does not support color printing, for example. If you
experience performance problems with a PostScript printer when printing
graphics, it may help to switch from a PostScript driver to a PCL driver
(provided your printer understands PCL).
2.5.2 Configuring Printing via the Network with YaST
Network printers are not detected automatically. They must be configured
manually using the YaST printer module. Depending on your network
setup, you can print to a print server (CUPS, LPD, SMB, or IPX) or
directly to a network printer (preferably via TCP). Access the
configuration view for network printing by choosing from the left pane in the YaST printer module.
Using CUPS
In a Linux environment CUPS is usually used to print via the network.
The simplest setup is to only print via a single CUPS server which can
directly be accessed by all clients. Check and specify the name or IP
address of the server. Click to make
sure you have chosen the correct name/IP address. Leave with
.
If you print via more than one CUPS server, check . Specify, whether
you want to listen to servers in all networks available, to servers in
your local network, or to specific IP addresses. This setup needs a
running local CUPS daemon that communicates with the remote CUPS
servers. Therefore answer when asked to start a
local CUPS daemon.
Using Print Servers other than CUPS
If your network offers print services via print servers other than CUPS,
start the and choose the
appropriate type. Ask your network
administrator for details on configuring a network printer in your
environment.
2.5.3 Sharing Printers Over the Network
Printers managed by a local CUPS daemon can be shared over the network
and so turn your machine into a CUPS server. Usually you share a printer
by enabling CUPS' so called browsing mode . If browsing is
enabled, the local printer queues are made available on the network for
listening remote CUPS daemons. It is also possible to set up a dedicated
CUPS server, that manages all printing queues and can directly be
accessed by remote clients. In this case it is not necessary to enable
browsing.
To share your printer, open the view in
the YaST printer module. Select
and configure your CUPS daemon to be accessible . To enable the browsing mode, also
check . Then specify the network interface(s) that should be
used by the CUPS server. If you enable more than one interface, you can
also enable or disable the browsing mode on a per interface base. Apply
the settings with and allow to restart the CUPS
server.
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