Printing to a network printer?

Every so often I see someone or more than one someone struggling with
CUPS and I have to ask myself "Why?". Why can't you use LPD? It's
pathetically simple: so simple that even I have a networked printer
working nicely. I remember going through months of pain with CUPS.
And that was with a local printer! Maybe thirty minutes with LPD (ten
if you don't count my initial, uninformed choice of an any-to-PS filter
which gave unexpected output) and I have a perfectly functional
networked printer. The LPD documentation in /usr/share/doc/smm/07.lpd/
is extremely helpful, as is the Handbook,
# , and of course the manpages. I actually
printed "4.3BSD Line Printer Spooler Manual" (the doc in smm/07.lpd/)
when I setup my printer, and I'm very glad that I did.

If it's a licensing issue, then you're using the wrong OS.

--
I abhor a system designed for the "user", if that word is a coded
pejorative meaning "stupid and unsophisticated". -- Ken Thompson
-
Unix is user friendly. However, it isn't idiot friendly.
-
Please CC me in all replies, even if I'm on the relevant list(s).

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1K

Are you sure this is needed? I don't think I have ever done this, though
my CUPS installation is happy and running fine.

But for those who also rebuild world every now and then, they better add
this to /etc/make.conf:

CUPS_OVERWRITE_BASE=yes
NO_LPR=yes

before building world and installing CUPS.

Urgh, a 'reboot' is the very last resort to get this up and running.
./cups.sh {reload|restart|start|status|stop} should be advertised here!

Good work to start a CUPS tutorial for newcomers to the OS.

Cheers,
Rob.

Dear Gerard,

I too have struggled with making CUPS work for network printing. It took me
awhile, but I think I've finally got it. The FreeBSD Handbook has nothing useful
to say about CUPS (it just says visit #), so I've been writing up
a HOW-TO which I'll submit to the Handbook folks soon. It's not quite finished,
but here's what I have so far - hope it helps.

regards,
Robert

STEP 1: Installing CUPS from PORTS
You've got to install four packages from ports. You can find them here:

root@sonic:# ls -d1 /usr/ports/print/cups*
/usr/ports/print/cups
/usr/ports/print/cups-base
/usr/ports/print/cups-lpr
/usr/ports/print/cups-pstoraster

The first port - /usr/ports/print/cups - is a meta-port, so installing it should
install the others.

STEP 2: Creating a Log Directory
Create a directory for the CUPS log files:

root@sonic:# mkdir /var/log/cups

STEP 3: FreeBSD-specific Issue
On FreeBSD, CUPS stores its executable files in /usr/local/bin/ whereas the
traditional lp executables are in /usr/bin/. Because /usr/bin/ is in the command
path before /usr/local/bin/, your CUPS files will not be able to execute. For
example:

root@sonic:# which lpr
/usr/bin/lpr

This problem is handily solved by making file /usr/bin/lp* non-executable, like
this:

root@sonic:~
Now, let's try the previous command again:

root@sonic:# which lpr
/usr/local/bin/lpr

Success! This is what we want.

STEP 4: Starting the CUPS Daemon
You need to set up a script that starts the CUPS daemon on bootup. There is a
sample startup script which you can just copy and make executable, like this:

cd /usr/local/etc/rc.d cp cups.sh.sample cups.sh
chmod 755 cups.sh

You could reboot now to start the daemon, but since you're in this directory
anyway, you could start it manually:

./cups.sh start

STEP 5: Configuring the Printer
This part is just like Linux. Open up a browser (Mozilla or Konqueror will do)
and type this url:

#

This will bring you to the CUPS configuration menu. You'll be asked to login
(login as root and use the root password), then it's simple point-and-click
stuff that you should be able to figure out yourself.

STEP 6: Configuring a CUPS Server and Client
If you want to enable network printing on your LAN, you've got a little more
work to do. Assuing that the FreeBSD box is the print server, edit file
/usr/local/etc/cups/cupsd.conf and make two changes. The two changes vary
according to how your network is configured, but for a typical Class C network,
this should work:

# broadcast address
BrowseAddress @LOCAL

<Location / Allow From 192.168.0.0/24

Instead of @LOCAL, we could have specified a broadcast address, such as
192.168.0.255 (again, that's for a Class C network). And rather than
192.168.0.0/24 (the whole network), we could have specified just a single client
machine (such as 192.168.0.3).

Once you have made the above changes, restart the CUPS daemon:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/cups.sh restart

Now go to the client machine, open your browser, type #, and
click the button "Print test page" - it should work. Now try printing a regular
html file with the same browser. It will probably NOT work unless you remember
to specify the CUPS server as the printer (your browser should give you an
option to select a printer in the "File-Print" menu).

STEP 7: Configure a CUPS Server to Work with LPD Clients
If the client machine is not running CUPS, or you are using an application (on
the client machine) which depends on lpr, you must configure CUPS to accept
print jobs from LPD clients. You accomplish this with a CUPS helper server
called "cups-lpd" (see "man cups-lpd").