CUPS: Common UNIX Printing System (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the problems with Unix is its spotty support for printers. Before the advent of the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), a particular printer needed a driver for, say, System V Unix, and a separate driver for FreeBSD. The problem has become particularly pronounced now that Linux is becoming more popular as a desktop operating system, where it competes with Windows and other operating systems under which printer installation is pretty easy. CUPS installs on all major Unix and Linux flavors, and handles the interface between printer and operating system. Driver writers can, therefore, write for CUPS and not worry about what's underneath. CUPS: Common Unix Printing System is first on the scene with CUPS documentation for installers, administrators, users, and programmers. It represents good work and is a worthwhile guide and reference that goes beyond freely available online documentation.

Some readers may be disappointed that certain procedural parts of this book--notably that which has to do with compiling CUPS into the Unix kernel from source code--are exclusively Linux based. You can extrapolate other Unix flavors' procedures from the Unix instructions, but explicit how-to information would be nice. However, explanatory information on the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP, on which CUPS is based) is nicely written, and the CUPS documentation itself--particularly the instructions for developing printer drivers (in C) is excellent. Read this if you want to develop printer drivers for what's likely to become a standard on consumer Linux distributions. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) and the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) that underlies it. Though CUPS installation and its user interface are covered, the real value of this book is in the author's picking apart of IPP transactions and the CUPS API for programmers writing printer drivers. The drivers section devotes special attention to HP PCL and PostScript document handling.

Product Description

The Common UNIX Printing System is quickly becoming the standard printing solution for Linux. This book provides you with detailed instructions on using, administering, and programming for the Common UNIX Printing System. In addition to the CUPS software, this book includes information and online downloads of many popular add-ons to CUPS that provide enhanced graphical interfaces and printer drivers.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Sams (September 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672321963
• ISBN-13: 978-0672321962
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #551,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very in-depth look into CUPS, September 5, 2001

By A Customer

This is an excellent book on what seems to be the most advanced printing system for UNIX these days. It covers a vast number of topics including building and installation, printer setups, server and client configurations, and several chapters on programming CUPS with an API. The best part that I got out of the book was the numerous examples, including code examples.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Written for developers of CUPS print configuration files., July 21, 2006

By	Book Reader "JRR" (Irvine, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This book is targeted for writers of printer configurations files, and not for System Administrators.

As a UNIX and Linux system administrator of 5 years I find that setting up network printing was and is one of the most surprising challenges. And perhaps one the most challenging issues to explain to my users and management. After all Windows printing is virtually plug and play. Whereas configuring printing on UNIX and Linux is virtually without standards and is unique to each printer. Thus I am very excited to see any move towards a standardized printing configuration for UNIX and Linux.

Also a lack of printing configuration standards on UNIX and Linux meant that the selection of printers that would work was extremely small. That is until CUPS came along. However, I still find CUPS very confusing. So I broke down, bought this book and studied it.

This book is more like a reference book. And it is mostly oriented towards programming with CUPS and writing PPD (Postscrip Printer Description) files.

I was disappointed that it didn't cover more on installing new printer configurations and steps for debugging them. I was also disappointed that it left out an important step of how to install new PPD files.

CUPS requires a PPD file to describe the capabilities of each printer, and how it will interface with the printer and driver (if any). The book lists several web sites for retrieving PPD files. However, the book does not explain how add in a new PPD file in the "Adding Your First Printer" section or anywhere else for that matter.

By visiting other web sites I did find these instructions for adding in a new PPD file:

Put the PPD file in /usr/share/cpus/model
Then restart CUPS: /etc/init.d/cups restart, or
/etc/software/init.d/cups restart

However, there are other places and methods depending on your set up. So this is very confusing.

I was very frustrated that this book would leave out something so simple and necessary.

For programming and writing PPD files, this book has a lot of material, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still trying to configure an HP DesignJet 5000 plotter to plot from my Linux machine.

Also the author deserves considerable credit for tacking on the challenge about writing about Linux and UNIX printing. Very few people are able to write about Linux and UNIX printing in detail. For taking on such a challenging subject and the rarity of this kind of book I gave the book the coveted 4 star rating.

I hope to see more books on Linux printing setup, print drivers and related material.