SAMBA Project Documentation

Printing with Samba 3.0
(Traditional Printing Systems & CUPS)

Kurt Pfeifle, Danka Deutschland Holding GmbH

 







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ask you to provide feedback on this documentation. It is intended for inclusion into the Samba 3.0 HOWTO Collection, due to be released around May/June this year. I also want to kindly ask you for a donation into the Samba Team Fund if you appreciate the effort. -- Samba Team Fund Donations are used to cover travel expenses of Samba Team members visiting CIFS conferences etc. You can make donations by check. Thanks in advance! Please make checks payable to the 'Samba Team' and send them to:

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Version 0.81beta4 (Last Update: Sat May 3ndt 13:57:36 UTC 2003)
originally prepared for SambaXP in Goettingen (07th-08th of April, 2003)

supplemented afterwards

Freely distributable via digital media --- keep reference to original author --- commercial reprint requires written permission
 




About the author:

Kurt is working as a System Specialist for Danka Deutschland Holding GmbH. His employer is part of the world wide Danka organisation, one of the biggest manufacturer-independent vendors for software and hardware solutions in the digital and office printing business. Back in winter 1998/99, when he started to take an interest in Linux, one of the things he was appalled was the poor support for professional printing requirements, compared to what he was used to from his Windows and MacOS work experiences. Even if he used the most modern printing machines at his company (which do a lot of inline finishing automatically like booklet-making, stapling, edge-trimming, folding and saddle-stitching), he didn't succeed to produce other things than what he called "a collection of loose paper sheets, but no real printout". Soon he discovered that the home Linux user had no more comfort in configuring his (smaller) printer. Kurt discovers CUPS everywhere...   ;-)

Fascinated by Linux' other features nevertheless, he started to search the Internet for some alternative printing solutions working on Linux. As this was the time when CUPS saw its first announcement to the world (still in Alpha or Beta stage, and hardly anyone took notice then), he gave it a spin and became addicted very quickly.

With CUPS it worked. His claim to fame now is to have been the first person on the planet ;-) to print a professional A4 booklet, 88 pages on 22 A3-sheets, finished with folding, edge-trimming and saddle-stitched stapling on a 250.000 EURO Heidelberg-Digimaster 110ppm-printer -- all under the complete control of a native Linux client printing system!

Slightly dissappointed at the lame reception CUPS had harvested initially, he started to peddle at different Linux distributions to try make them include it in their bundles. As he had no quick success he soon extended his activities to different Unix and Linux print publications to get them writing a feature on this new promising printing thingy. However, most journalists he talked to on the phone seemed to be too busy with other occupations than to seriously lend an ear to this "Linux rookie" who seemed to talk them into some new software they had not heared of... "You can not really print with Linux? Gosh, what a nonsense this bloke is talking..."

Only one of the editors was receptive for the request and promised to look for an author... But Kurt's initiative heavily backfired on him soon after: he got the editor's phone-call who told him he couldn't find a competent author and: "Write it yourself or you won't see anything like it!"

That's how the story started of a Linux newbie (with some general knowledge about network printing) to become known as the "CUPS evangelist" who quickly found himself writing a series of articles for different print publications (Linux-Magazin, Linux-User, LinuxEnterprise, iX) as well as the web; later he authored the "KDE Print Handbook" and the CUPS-FAQ, gave talks and highly successfull tutorials and workshops on "CUPS Printing" at different big and small Linux events.

His latest project now includes organising and leading professional seminars and trainings on behalf of his employer on "IPP, CUPS and Printing in hetergeneous environments".

(taken from the "UKUUG Linux Developers Conference" website)

Current work.

At the present time, Kurt is working on a book about "CUPS and Network Printing". It will be published in spring 2004, in English as well as in German. A very small part of its content is now condensed into this first draft for the CUPS Printing chapter of the "Samba HOWTO Collection, Version 3.0".