[oclug] [OT] ease of use

[Brad Barnett]

On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 08:36:41 -0500
"Michael P. Soulier" <msoulier at storm.ca> wrote:

> On 27/11/02 Brad Barnett did speaketh:
> 
> > 1) go to linuxprinting.org, and make sure the printer is compatable
> > 2) buy the printer, come home, plug the printer in
> > 3) run "printtool", select the printer driver
> > 4) do a test print if I want
> > 
> > What's the problem?  Is it really such a big deal, because the dialog
> > pops
> 
>     There are still many things missing from the printing world for
>     Linux. 
> 
> 1. I'd like to change the paper size quickly without hacking a text file
> as root.
> 2. I'd like to switch easily between vduplex, hduplex and simplex. 
> 3. I want my application to know what mode the user wants and print in
> that mode. 
> 4. I want my application to know a lot more than what's in the printcap
> file, and take over the printer for a complex operation. 
> 
>     Linux printing has a way to go. 
> 
>     As far as I know, you can do #1 and #2 by setting up multiple
>     printers in
> the printcap file for different sizes and modes, and print to the
> appropriate printer (even though they're all the same physical printer).

Yes, you can.  There is even an application that would do just that for
you, I think it was aspfilter.  It would ask a multitude of questions, and
you would end up with about 6 or 8 different print modes.


> I haven't seen an application set this up for you though. On the subject
> of arcane, check/etc/printcap some time. ;-)
> 
>     Mike
> 

Yes, printcap could certainly use a rewrite, so that it had something
along the lines of:

Thing=thing

in a multiline file.  Of course, we're mixing monkeys here.  Printcap is
what lpd or lprng uses to decide what printer driver to use.