I wanted to print some documents from my Linux workstation using remote print servers running on Linux/Unix and Windows 2000. So I searched for a lightweight lpd/lpr-spooler. There are three generic systems:
You have to specify at least one printer queue in
/etc/lpdpipe.conf or any other config file given by command line
option -f. A config file consists of key/value pairs seperated by
:, =, tab, space or any combination of these
characters.
At the moment there are 5 keys recognized by lpdpipe. A comment line has to
start with a '#'. Anything else (including empty lines!) yields an error.
| key | description |
|---|---|
| queue | This defines a local printer spooler queue. Such a queue name can be used with the -q command line switch. Note that apsfilter needs to know how to handle files for this queue. |
| remotequeue | This defines the name of the queue on the remote server. If you do not mention it in the config file, it defaults to the name given as local queue name. So you can define several local queues pointing to the same remote queue. |
| host | hostname or IP address of the print server. |
| filter | full path to your raster image processing (RIP) filter |
| args | command line arguments to pass to the RIP filter; spaces separate arguments, unless they are escaped (prefixed by '\') |
usage: lpdpipe V0.3 - prints files on a remote lpd server lpdpipe [-c <#n>] [-f] [-h] [-l] [-q ] [file ...] -c print each file n times (default: 1) -f use configfile as configfile (default: /etc/lpdpipe.conf) -h print this help screen -l do not print anything, display status of the queue -q use queue for printing or displaying status (default: first queue mentioned in configfile) -t timeout (default: 10 seconds) file print these documents; if not specified, read file from stdin
apsfilter gets the name of the queue through a spool directory named after the queue. lpdpipe creates such directories as /tmp/<queue> with mode 1777. I am not an apsfilter expert so I do not know whether apsfilter needs access to those directories. lpdpipe creates that directory by default if you don't specify any arguments in the config file:
queue = fs-1010kx remotequeue = fs-1010kx host = 192.168.33.6 filter = /usr/etc/apsfilter/basedir/bin/apsfilter
Note that you have to configure apsfilter for that, too.
Same as above, but using Foomatic with /etc/foomatic/direct/Kyocera_Mita_FS-1010_de.ppd:
queue = fs-1010kx remotequeue = fs-1010kx host = 192.168.33.6 filter = /usr/bin/foomatic-rip args = -P Kyocera_Mita_FS-1010_de
On my Gentoo box I had to install a2ps to use Foomatic.
Same printer type, same remote queue as above, but piping through psnup to print 2 pages per sheet:
queue = fs-1010kx-2 remotequeue = fs-1010kx host = 192.168.33.6 filter = /bin/sh args = -c a2ps|psnup\ -2|foomatic-rip\ -P\ Kyocera_Mita_FS-1010_de
Latest version: 0.3 (released 2010-03-06)