- Overview of the Common UNIX Printing System
- The User's Perspective
- The Developer's Perspective
- Resources
The User's Perspective
CUPS users notice one thing immediately: They can print just about any file to any printer using a simple command such as
lpr filename
Even better, they can control how the document is printed. For example, to print a double-sided document on legal-size paper, the user would use the following command for every printer:
lpr -o sides=two-sided-long-edge -o media=legal filename
With the automatic printer-discovery functionality, users can access all shared printers on the LAN immediately, for example:
lpr -P DeptLaserJet -o sides=two-sided-long-edge filename
If a user wants to be really lazy (or really smart), he or she can define printer instances that contain saved options, for example:
lpoptions -d DeptLaserJet/Duplex -o sides=two-sided-long-edge ... lpr -P DeptLaserJet/Duplex filename
Users can, of course, define the default options for the printer itself, for example:
lpoptions -d DeptLaserJet -o sides=two-sided-long-edge ... lpr -P DeptLaserJet filename
Finally, users can monitor their print jobs from the comfort of their Web browser simply by pointing their browser at the print server:
http://servername:631