README - CUPS v1.1.23 - 01/03/2005 ---------------------------------- Looking for compile instructions? Read the file "INSTALL.txt" instead... **** IF YOU HAVE A NON-POSTSCRIPT PRINTER, YOU WILL ALSO **** **** NEED TO INSTALL ESP GHOSTSCRIPT OR A PATCHED VERSION **** **** OF THE STANDARD GHOSTSCRIPT RELEASES. **** INTRODUCTION CUPS provides a portable printing layer for UNIX(r)-based operating systems. It has been developed by Easy Software Products to promote a standard printing solution for all UNIX vendors and users. CUPS provides the System V and Berkeley command-line interfaces. CUPS uses the Internet Printing Protocol ("IPP") as the basis for managing print jobs and queues. The Line Printer Daemon ("LPD") Server Message Block ("SMB"), and AppSocket (a.k.a. JetDirect) protocols are also supported with reduced functionality. CUPS adds network printer browsing and PostScript Printer Description ("PPD") based printing options to support real-world printing under UNIX. CUPS includes an image file RIP that supports printing of image files to non-PostScript printers. A customized version of GNU Ghostscript 7.05 for CUPS called ESP Ghostscript is available separately to support printing of PostScript files within the CUPS driver framework. Sample drivers for Dymo, EPSON, HP, and OKIDATA printers are included that use these filters. Drivers for thousands of printers are provided with our ESP Print Pro software, available at: http://www.easysw.com/printpro CUPS is licensed under the GNU General Public License and GNU Library General Public License. Please contact Easy Software Products for commercial support and "binary distribution" rights. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Binary distributions require a minimum of 10MB of free disk space. We do not recommend using CUPS on a workstation with less than 32MB of RAM or a PC with less than 16MB of RAM. If you are installing from source you'll need ANSI-compliant C and C++ compilers and optionally one or more image file support libraries. Complete source installation instructions can be found in the file "INSTALL.txt". SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS The following operating system software is required to install one of the binary distributions from Easy Software Products: - AIX 4.3 or higher - HP-UX 11.00 or higher - IRIX 6.5 or higher - Linux 2.4 with glibc 2.2 or higher - Solaris 7 or higher (SPARC or Intel) INSTALLING "PORTABLE" CUPS DISTRIBUTIONS We are currently distributing "portable" CUPS binary distributions in TAR format with installation and removal scripts generated by our ESP Package Manager (EPM) software, which is available from: http://www.easysw.com/epm WARNING: Installing CUPS will overwrite your existing printing system. Backup files are made by the installation script and restored by the removal script, so if you experience problems you should be able to remove the CUPS software to restore your previous configuration. However, Easy Software Products makes no warranty for this and will not be liable for any lost revenues, etc. To install the CUPS software you will need to be logged in as root (doing an "su" is good enough). Once you are the root user, run the installation script with: ./cups.install ENTER After asking you a few yes/no questions the CUPS software will be installed and the scheduler will be started automatically. INSTALLING HOST-SPECIFIC (RPM, DEBIAN, ETC.) DISTRIBUTIONS The host-specific distributions use the operating system software installation tools. To install a host-specific distribution please consult the CUPS Software Administrators Manual or your operating system documentation. READING THE DOCUMENTATION Once you have installed the software you can access the documentation (and a bunch of other stuff) on-line at: http://localhost:631 If you're having trouble getting that far, the documentation is located in the "/usr/share/doc/cups" directory in the binary distributions, and under the "doc" directory in the source archives. Please read the documentation before asking questions. GETTING SUPPORT AND OTHER RESOURCES If you have problems, READ THE DOCUMENTATION FIRST! You can subscribe to the CUPS mailing list by sending a message containing "subscribe cups" to majordomo@cups.org. This list is provided to discuss problems, questions, and improvements to the CUPS software. New releases of CUPS are announced to this list as well. Commercial support (with a guaranteed response time) is available from Easy Software Products. For more information see: http://www.easysw.com/cups See the CUPS web site at "http://www.cups.org" for other site links. SETTING UP PRINTER QUEUES USING YOUR WEB BROWSER CUPS 1.1 includes a new web-based administration tool that allows you to manage printers, classes, and jobs on your server. To access the printer administration tools open the following URL in your browser: http://localhost:631/admin You will be asked for the administration password (root or any other user in the sys/system/root group on your system) and then shown a menu of available functions. DO NOT use the hostname for your machine - it will not work with the default CUPS configuration. To enable administration access on other addresses, consult the CUPS Software Administrators Manual. SETTING UP PRINTER QUEUES FROM THE COMMAND-LINE CUPS works best with PPD (PostScript Printer Description) files. In a pinch you can also use System V style printer interface scripts. Six sample PPD files are provided with this distribution that utilize the PostScript and image file RIPs and the sample EPSON and HP printer drivers. To add the sample DeskJet driver to the system for a printer connected to the parallel port, use one of the following commands: HP-UX: /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/c2t0d0_lp -E IRIX: /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/plp -E Linux: /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/lp0 -E /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/lp1 -E /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/lp2 -E Solaris: /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/bpp0 -E /usr/lib/lpadmin -p DeskJet -m deskjet.ppd -v parallel:/dev/ecpp0 -E Similarly, for the other sample drivers you can use: Driver PPD File ----------------------------- ------------ Dymo Label Printers dymo.ppd EPSON Stylus Color Series stcolor.ppd EPSON Stylus Photo Series stphoto.ppd EPSON Stylus New Color Series stcolor2.ppd EPSON Stylus New Photo Series stphoto2.ppd EPSON 9-pin Series epson9.ppd EPSON 24-pin Series epson24.ppd HP DeskJet Series deskjet.ppd HP New DeskJet Series deskjet2.ppd HP LaserJet Series laserjet.ppd OKIDATA 9-Pin Series okidata9.ppd OKIDATA 24-Pin Series okidat24.ppd These sample drivers provide basic printing capabilities, but generally do not exercise the full potential of the printers or CUPS. For commercial printer drivers check out our ESP Print Pro software at: http://www.easysw.com/printpro PRINTING FILES CUPS provides both the System V "lp" and Berkeley "lpr" commands for printing: lp filename lpr filename Both the "lp" and "lpr" commands support printing options for the driver: lp -omedia=A4 -oresolution=600dpi filename lpr -omedia=A4 -oresolution=600dpi filename CUPS recognizes many types of images files as well as PDF, PostScript, HP-GL/2, and text files, so you can print those files directly rather than through an application. If you have an application that generates output specifically for your printer then you need to use the "-oraw" or "-l" options: lp -oraw filename lpr -l filename This will prevent the filters from misinterpreting your print file. LEGAL STUFF CUPS is Copyright 1993-2005 by Easy Software Products. CUPS, the CUPS logo, and the Common UNIX Printing System are the trademark property of Easy Software Products. The MD5 Digest code is Copyright 1999 Aladdin Enterprises. The PDF filter (pdftops) is based on the Xpdf software, Copyright 1996-2005 by Derek B. Noonburg. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. CUPS is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License and GNU Library General Public License. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the "LICENSE.html", "LICENSE.txt", or "cups.license" files for more information. For commercial licensing information, please contact: Attn: CUPS Licensing Information Easy Software Products 44141 Airport View Drive, Suite 204 Hollywood, Maryland 20636 USA Voice: +1.301.373.9600 Email: cups-info@cups.org WWW: http://www.cups.org Note that commercial licensors may also require a license from Derek B. Noonburg who developed the Xpdf software used to print PDF files.