[Samba] pdf printer

Kurt Pfeifle
Sat, 31 May 2003 09:50:40 -0000

> Norman Zhang nzhang at arkon-group.com
> Fri May 30 16:34:25 GMT 2003
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Thank you for your reply.
>
>> Please use this little HOWTO:
>>
>>     http://lists.samba.org/pipermail/samba/2003-March/093504.html
>>
>> The "color" all depends on the PPD you are using. If you use
a B/W Laerprinter
>> PPD for this, your PDF will be B/W too. The suggested distiller.ppd
should
>> be alright. Do you get B/W or Color PDFs from Linux/UNIX/CUPS?
>
> I followed the exact procedure as per above URL, except I grabbed the
> adist5.ppd from the Adobe Universal PostScript Installer 1.0.6. Is that
> okay?

Yes.

But this only covers the "Install-PDF-Printer-on-CUPS" part.

The other part is the "Install-PDF-Printer-on-Windows". Here you have
several options. My recommendation is the "Use-the-CUPS-PostScript-Drivers-
for-Windows-NT/2K/XP"-and-export-with-the-help-of-cupsaddsmb" one.

> CUPS seems to able to read it. I got color PDF when I installed an
> arbitrary color laser printer (HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS.

You mean if you install that printer on a Windows client and connect it to
the PDF printer?

That's OK if it works. "The proof of the pudding lies in the
eating.".

But it won't work with *aribitrary" color laser printers:

  * the driver *must* be a PostScript driver (won't work with PCL). This
    is probably obvious to most readers

  * even some PostScript drivers won't work. (If they rely heavily on PJL
    and write a native PJL header to the PostScript file they generate,
    CUPS won't be able to filter the file properly as intended. The
"CUPS
    PS Driver for Windows NT/2K/XP" works around this.)

> I thought I can
> get different paper size with this model)

This should work with any PPD containing descriptions for different paper
sizes.

> and B/W with a B/W laser printer
> (HP LaserJet 2200 PS). Do you have a recommendation for a particular model?
>
>> > I have another question, do I need to add a Color Laser Printer
Driver
>> > in W2K to the PDF share to generate color PDF in Windows?
>>
>> If you read the suggested HOWTO, you'll see that the driver
installation
>> first takes place on CUPS. Then you have a CUPS PDF printer (also
>> accessible to native CUPS clients).
>
> I have setup CUPS to use PDF printing.

Ah, I see.

> I guess I just need to add printer
> drivers to the queue?

Yes.

> I was adding the drivers from W2K using HP's printer
> drivers. I know it is better to use CUPS drivers, but I don't know
which
> model is good

The one which works on CUPS (determined by the PPD) is good for Win clients
too. cupsaddsmb installs exactly that PPD, plus the Windows PostScript
driver you choose (the Adobe or the CUPS version).

> and it seems to be difficult to use cupsaddsmb.

cupsaddsmb is extremely simple to use. (It is more difficult to understand
how it works. How it works is discussed in the new HOWTO.) If it doesn't
work, it is mostly because of an error in the "preparation" of the
command.
See "man cupsaddsmb" for that preparation. Common errors are discussed
in
the new HOWTO.

>> To install it on W2K, simply download the CUPS driver. Before you
download
>> it, you need to run cupsaddsmb. Before you run cupsaddsmb, you should
read
>> "man cupsaddsmb". Even more info about it is here:
>>
>>    http://www.linuxprinting.org/kpfeifle/SambaPrintHOWTO/
>
> I have been reading your document for the last 2 days (excellent document
> BTW). I guess I will read it again 8)
>
> Regards,
> Norman
>

Cheers,
Kurt