Network Printing: Building Print Services on Heterogeneous Networks (Paperback)

~ (Author), Matthew S Gast (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Paperless office, paperless schmoffice: if you can't get your document to look right on paper, you might as well not waste time creating it at all. For administrators, printing across a local area network (LAN) was hard enough when everyone was running the same operating system. Now, with at least three widespread versions of Windows, several Mac OS flavors, and Linux servers making inroads all the time, printing can be hairier than ever. Network Printing aims to clarify the mechanisms by which various operating systems--particularly Unix variants--speak to one another about printing matters. It also seeks to explain the procedures that administrators need to follow to get Macs and Windows machines printing on Unix and Linux boxes via Samba. Though it would be nice to see a section on getting Macs to print to Windows printers and vice versa, this book meets its goal.

In the section on Unix printing, all the popular print daemons are explained, including lp, lpr, lpd, and LPRng, relying heavily (and helpfully) on command-line listings. The Samba section on how to install Samba 2.0.6 under Unix and Linux and exercise its important commands is more procedural. Later you learn how to hook up Macs, Windows machines, and NetWare servers to Samba-enabled print servers. --David Wall

Topics covered: Printing over a network, with emphasis on Unix, Linux, Samba, and the means by which they connect to computers running Windows, Mac OS, and NetWare. Popular Unix print utilities are documented, plus how to install Samba and open its services to a heterogeneous network.

Review

'This book is a master class in printer management. This is an invaluable book for anyone who is concerned with network printer administration, it is well written and illustrated with plenty of examples.' Ping (HP/Works Newsletter), June 2001 ' Recommended to anyone that needs to administer networked printers, and mix several UNIX and non-UNIX operating systems in the process.- 8/10 - Chris Howells, Linuxformat, May 2001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 285 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (October 16, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596000383
• ISBN-13: 978-0596000387
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #330,585 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Taming the "paperfull office", December 13, 2000

By A Customer

I found "Network Printing" to be a fine example of taking documentation from at least half-a-dozen sources and tying it all together with a coherent theme: providing network print services to customers using (fill-in-the-blank) systems. Six years ago, when I was managing four Unix systems for 100 customers who wanted to print their reports on any of a dozen printers (some Ethernet, some Ethernet-to-serial), this book would have been a godsend. I especially enjoyed the description of the history of printing: it put into context a lot of things I just accepted without further thought. Anyone in the above situation, or even someone who would like to reliably set up print services, from either the client or server perspective, would be wise to get this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two flaws but the rest is decent, June 26, 2001

By A Customer

The BSD type printing systems were discussed head to toe but the System V printing systems were referenced sparingly. Because of this, many Solaris and SGI users will have to read beyond the BSD parts to interpret the concepts. I was also surprised that there was no information on CUPS, while some Linux operating systems use it as their primary printing system. If you look past these two points, the book is a fine reference for all UNIX administrators. There is a definitely a distinct demand for these types of books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two blunders but the rest is decent, June 26, 2001

By A Customer

The BSD type printing systems were discussed head to toe but the System V printing systems were referenced sparingly. Because of this, many Solaris and SGI users will have to read beyond the BSD parts to interpret the concepts. I was also surprised that there was no information on CUPS, while some Linux operating systems use it as their primary printing system. If you look past these two points, the book is a fine reference for all UNIX administrators. There is a definitely a distinct demand for these types of books.