Printing for the Impatient using ApsFilter 50
BSD Forums writes "While Unix has roots in document formatting and layout, configuring printers has always required more black-arts arcana. This hasn't been helped by the appearance of low-cost commodity WinPrinters. Fortunately, tools like Ghostscript, gimp-print, and Apsfilter make configuring printers much easier. Michael Lucas demonstrates quick and dirty -- and working -- printer configuration."
That's sad.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The best way to print anything now is using CUPS. Easy to set up and administer. Who WOULDNT want to use it?
Re:That's sad.... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you feel that way, install the CUPS port and be happy. When it works for a given situation (about 85% of the time) CUPS is simple and fast to set up. But when things go wrong, you'll see just how complicated CUPS really is. It's nice to have a simpler (implementation-wise) method available to deal with such situations.
Your post is so typical of what I see on Slashdot these days. Why use BSD when you have Linux? Why use some other processor when you have Intel? Why use another browser when you have Mozilla? It's the high-school herd mentality. It's "geek chic." It's a lazy way to avoid learning in depth and developing your own base of experiences and opinions.
It's depressing.
Re:That's sad.... (Score:2, Interesting)
That's sad.... (Score:5, Interesting)
The best way to print anything now is using
CUPS. Easy to set up and administer. Who
WOULDNT want to use it?
When this is a 4?
Re:That's sad.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Your post is so typical of what I see on
Slashdot these days
The first comment was totally stupid with no
substance or relevance, and should be a -1 or
less. The second comment was very
substantive and intelligent and deserves
a book of
Re:That's sad.... (Score:2)
substance or relevance, and should be a -1 or
less. The second comment was very
substantive and intelligent and deserves
a book of deep thought and commentary.
The second comment had just as much substance as I did.
>>>It exposes a small symptom in the technology
arena that appears to be on the rise
throughout society; the result of turning
spankings into "time-outs", republics
into "democracies", and individualism into
"collectivism".
Let me guess..
Re:That's sad.... (Score:1)
you guess wrong.
>This sure as hell isnt a hacker-type forum. This place is
a "Windows Hater" forum. All people do is monger about how
Linux will rescue us from the evils of properitary software,
while many of us fawn over the same damned lockin of Apple's
OSX. If any category hit this place, it's full of hipocrites.
http://bsd.slashdot.org
1. This is supposed to be a BSD forum.
not a "Windows Hater" forum, nor a Linux forum. BSD's
have never held the ac
Re:That's sad.... (Score:4, Insightful)
CUPS gives you choice (Score:4, Insightful)
Cross platform system for network printing (did you know that CUPS is available for Windows as well as OS X, *BSD and Linux?).
The ability for printers to shared in such a way that a remote machine can automatically discover and print to a remote printer without having expliclty been configured to see it (Windows has been doing this for years. It's good to see this simplicity spreading elsewhere) while still announcing the capabilities of that printer.
Support for many (non postscript) backends that other printing systems may not (including things like samba for printers shared via Windows).
Queueing systems so that you can set documents to be printed to the first available printer on a network.
If your printer is non postscript (which many are), configuring CUPS may be a whole lot easier than trying to set up a magicfilter chain to do the right thing.
Sure, in your case perhaps editing printcap was "better and easier" but that doesn't mean that choice shouldn't be there for those not so fortunate to have a postscript printer, need sophisticated queing or have to set up a dozens of computers to print.
Re:That's sad.... (Score:1)
Re:That's sad.... (Score:3, Insightful)
interesting (Score:1, Interesting)
I was a 'happy user' of LPRng 'till I heard Apple was making CUPS thier print engine of choice.
Then I moved to CUPS, hopin for a 'eaiser' printing future. The comment about having Add a lot of printers, a lot of different ppd files and you really have a nightmare prompts me to ask - what is 'another' option?
Straight BSD lpr is a non-option. AIX had a 'nice' print spooler, if you didn't SMIT and reboots. (and, well, it was
Re:That's sad.... (Score:2)
apsfilter: Old but good (Score:5, Insightful)
CUPS is fine if it works out of the box. If it doesn't do that, you can be stuck without a working printer for a long time while you ramble through woefully inadequate documentation.
Re:apsfilter: Old but good (Score:2)
Re:apsfilter: Old but good (Score:1)
Re:apsfilter: Old but good (Score:2)
There are a wide variety of tools. (Score:1, Interesting)
It's definitely time for an all-in-one one stop solution to the problem. Some sort of program that configures these filters automatically on your dead or dying operating system, and now it looks like there's a bit of hope. Creating and working with Word documents
cups (Score:1)