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Almost every modern printer is supported under CUPS, using one of the print drivers in the foomatic database. To get a printer that will work for you under your particular Linux installation, check the distribution's website to find a list of supported hardware. While most printers from major manufacturers work under most Linux distributions, there are notable exceptions. For example, the widely available Hewlett-Packard entry-level color laser jet printer 1500L does not run under CUPS, since it uses a proprietary Page Description Language, or PDL.
If you can find no information about your printer and the Linux distribution you run, check for a generic driver based on the type of PDL that your printer supports. Here, the information on www.linuxprinting.org may be of great help. Generic drivers may not permit you to use or configure some features specific to your printer, but that is still better than not being able to print at all.
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In general you can't go wrong with a PostScript printer. However, there are generic types of drivers available, which work with many different PCL printers as well. |
In the earliest clays of printers, each printer had its own individual driver, and each application that sent print jobs had its own way of sending that data. Understandably, this was a complex and annoying situation for administrators. To solve this problem, programmers developed Page Description Languages, or PDLs. These languages let printers and applications share a common method of exchanging information, and removed a great deal of the mystery in print management.
Two page description languages dominate the market:
PostScript-Created by Adobe. This was the most common PDL used on UNIX (and now Linux) systems. This may have been true because UNIX tended to run on high-end workstations in environments that supported the more expensive printers.
Print Control Language (PCL)-Created by Hewlett-Packard. Popular versions of PCL are PCL 3, 4, 5, 5c, 5e, and 6.
In cases where there are no specific drivers for your printer, you can select from the list of generic printer drivers available with CUPS in Fedora Core. As long as you know the PDL that your printer uses, you will be able to select an appropriate generic driver. These drivers include the following:
Postscript-The generic Postscript driver that is used with CUPS should work with all PostScript printers, although this driver does not enable features particular to an individual PostScript printer.
PCL-There are a variety of drivers recommended for different PCL versions:
PCL 3 Printer: pcl3 (recommended), also hpdj
PCL 4 Printer: laserjet (recommended), also gimp-print, gimp-print-ijs, ljet2p, and ljetplus drivers
PCL 5 Printer: ljet3 (recommended), also ljet3d
PCL 5c Printer: hpijs (recommended), also cljet5, gimp-print, gimp-print-ijs, ljet4, ljet4d
PCL 5e Printer: hpijs (recommended), also gimp-print, gimp-print-ijs, hpijs-rss, ljet4, ljet4d
PCL 6/PCL XL Printer: pxlmono (recommended), also gimp-print, gimp-print-ijs, hpijs, hpijs-rss, lj5gray, ljet4, ljet4d
Though it is convenient to use generic drivers, it is not always the best idea. When possible, you should use a driver that is specific to your particular printer model. You will have access to the particular features of the printer that way.
If you want to know more about a particular driver or printer, there are a few ways to access additional information:
Check the Printer Configuration window (Figure 14-1). Double-click an existing printer, select the Printer Driver tab, and select Printer/Driver Notes to read more about the printer (Figure 14-2).
If you want to know more about the current driver options set for your printer, select the Driver Options tab from the Edit a Print Queue window (Figure 14-3).
Search the LinuxPrinting.org database at www.linuxprinting.org/printer_list.cgi. Select a printer by manufacturer or manufacturer/model. You'll find interesting notes including a recommended driver and links to further information.
If you haven't bought a printer for your Linux machine yet, you will save a lot of time and headache by doing a bit of homework ahead of time. Consult the Suggested Printers for Free Software Users page at www.linuxprinting.org/suggested.html. Even though most printers are compatible with Linux, it often seems like the one that's on sale at the local big-box office store is never compatible. A quick check before you run out the door may keep you from standing in the return line a few hours later.
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