Discussion:
Is there a way to print from Windows 98 using CUPS?
Karl Scheel
2005-11-17 02:24:35 UTC
Permalink
Greetings CUPS enthusiasts! :-)

I recently trashed my Epson Color Stylus 640 and am currently in the market for both a colour laser printer. My computer is a dual-booting stand-alone and configured as follows:

-hda with SuSE Linux Professional 9.0,
-hdb with Windows 98 (First Edition).

The laser printer that I am interested in (i.e., Lexmark C524dn) supports SuSE Linux Professional 9.0, 9.1, and 9.2 and understands both PostScript and PCL. However, only the second edition of Windows 98 is supported. Although an XP driver is available, I absolutely refuse to purchase Windows XP in order to resolve this problem--especially since I now find myself using Windows applications less and less.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that if I were to use CUPS + SAMBA for print jobs originating within Windows, it could only be accomplished using two separate boxes networked together (i.e., one configured as a Linux print server, and the other as a Windows client). This is because in this scenario, both operating systems would likely need to run simultaneously in order to send and accept print jobs. If possible, I would like to avoid having to set-up separate boxes for Linux and Windows--at least for the time being.

In the meantime, I could theoretically do the following:

1. manually install and set as default any PostScript colour inkjet printer driver in Windows (i.e., to yield a dummy PostScript printer),
2. print a document from any Windows application to file exclusively,
4. reboot in Linux,
5. mount the Windows partition,
6. search for the PostScript file just printed,
7. click on the file to launch it within Ghostview,
8. print the file from within Ghostview.

However, this approach would waste a great deal of my time--especially if I find myself having to go back to the Windows application to make changes to the document just printed! :-(

I am wondering if it would be possible to configure my system to print to my future colour laser printer from within Windows 98 using CUPS (i.e., with or without SAMBA). If there is a version of CUPS available for Windows 98 that could run independently (i.e., does not need Linux), that would be great. If not, is there a way to configure CUPS + SAMBA on a single computer so that Linux doesn't need to be running to print from a Windows 95/98 application?

Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much, and have a nice day! ;-)

Karl
Johannes Meixner
2005-11-17 08:14:52 UTC
Permalink
Hello,
Lexmark C524dn ... understands both PostScript and PCL.
However, only the second edition of Windows 98 is supported.
...
1. manually install and set as default any PostScript colour inkjet
printer driver in Windows (i.e., to yield a dummy PostScript printer),
As the printer understands PostScript it may print o.k. by using
a not exactly matching PostScript printer driver in Windows.

As far as I remember you will find in a Windows system
directory a *.SPP file which is in fact a PPD file for the
PostScript printer driver in Windows.

If it doesn't print by using a not exactly matching PostScript
printer driver in Windows, it may help to edit the Windows PPD file
and remove all unwanted PostScript invocation values and JCL settings
so that the Windows PostScript printer driver should produce generic
PostScript (i.e. without printer specific PostScript and/or JCL stuff).

It may also work when you simply replace the Windows PPD file with
the original Lexmark PPD file.

Finally there is the generic "Adobe PostScript printer driver"
for Windows - see
http://www.adobe.com/products/printerdrivers/main.html

You may also have a look at the "longer explanations" in
http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-linux-e/2004-Nov/1186.html

Kind Regards,
Johannes Meixner
--
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstrasse 5 Mail: jsmeix-***@public.gmane.org
90409 Nuernberg, Germany WWW: http://www.suse.de/
Karl Scheel
2005-11-26 17:15:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Johannes Meixner
Hello,
As the printer understands PostScript it may print o.k. by using
a not exactly matching PostScript printer driver in Windows.
As far as I remember you will find in a Windows system
directory a *.SPP file which is in fact a PPD file for the
PostScript printer driver in Windows.
If it doesn't print by using a not exactly matching PostScript
printer driver in Windows, it may help to edit the Windows PPD file
and remove all unwanted PostScript invocation values and JCL settings
so that the Windows PostScript printer driver should produce generic
PostScript (i.e. without printer specific PostScript and/or JCL stuff).
What is the purpose of the PPD file other than to list the paper sizes/types
that the printer supports, the maximum printable area (i.e., margins) on the
page, the built-in fonts of the printer, and the colours that the printer
supports? And how would I determine which of these settings to remove? What
are the JCL settings responsible for?
Post by Johannes Meixner
It may also work when you simply replace the Windows PPD file with
the original Lexmark PPD file.
However, a Windows driver for a PostScript printer contains more than just the
PPD file; there are other OS-specific files that enable two-way communication
between the printer and Windows (e.g., to display printer status messages,
invoke special printer functions, etc.). If I were to print to a PS file only
in Windows (i.e., switch to Linux to do the actual printing on paper), these
files would not be used at all; however, because I would be printing to an
actual printer in Windows, the OS-specific files may crash my system (or even
damage my printer!) because they would have been written for a different
printer. That said, at least the paper sizes/types, margins, colours, and
available built-in fonts would be listed accurately.
Post by Johannes Meixner
Finally there is the generic "Adobe PostScript printer driver"
for Windows - see
http://www.adobe.com/products/printerdrivers/main.html
Given that this driver exists for the first edition of Windows 98, all that
should be required would be to insert the original Lexmark PPD file. However,
as with most generic drivers, it is likely that some functionality would be
lost. It would mean that I would have somewhat less control over my printer
in Windows than I would in SuSE Pro 9.0. Hopefully, I will not lose too much!
Post by Johannes Meixner
You may also have a look at the "longer explanations" in
http://lists.suse.com/archive/suse-linux-e/2004-Nov/1186.html
This information would help a lot should I decide to set-up a heterogenous
network in the future. However, I think I would set-up Windows applications
to run in Wine before I would go that route.

Thank you very much, Johannes! I will try the generic Adobe PostScript
printer driver route. :-)

Karl
Ambrose Li
2005-11-26 18:48:35 UTC
Permalink
Hi

The "Generic" Adobe PostScript driver can accept any PPD, so you can
actually configure it to work with your printer. I almost never use
this driver with the "generic" PPD.

I find this driver sometimes better than the driver provided by the
manufacturer. For example, in my office we have a Toshiba e-Studio
photocopier and the manufacturer's driver causes many crashes (even on
Windows 2000, which is supposed to be supported), whereas the Adobe
driver has never given us any problems. In terms of functionality, the
Adobe driver on Windows 9x (which is a different driver from the one
on Win2000) seems to be not able to handle some of the complex
UIConstraints, so there might be some loss of functionality.
Post by Karl Scheel
Post by Johannes Meixner
If it doesn't print by using a not exactly matching PostScript
printer driver in Windows, it may help to edit the Windows PPD file
and remove all unwanted PostScript invocation values and JCL settings
so that the Windows PostScript printer driver should produce generic
PostScript (i.e. without printer specific PostScript and/or JCL stuff).
[stuff deleted]
Post by Karl Scheel
Thank you very much, Johannes! I will try the generic Adobe PostScript
printer driver route. :-)
Regards,
Ambrose

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