[KLUG Members] printing and Linux

[Bert Bbbink]

Printing in Linux has a different starting point. Printing is done by a
printing server (not a conputer but a proces taking care of all the
connected printers). Also known as spooler.
An user spools a printing job to towards this server which handles all of
the job.
Windows does the formatting of a job, renders the output before it is send
towards the printer-hardware. Spooling in windows is not more than holding
pages in a queue already made up for specific printer-hardware.

In linux it is the spooler how does the make up of the pages after it has
decided to which printer it is send. This means you can hook up different
printers makes to an linux system, each with its own (different)
printer-language. Once the spooler has choosen an printer, it renders the
pages in the right layout and printer-language and sends the job to the
printer-hardware. (unless you use an 'raw' printer).

So many printers of different make can be easily joined to support many
users who do not need to choose a printer, but choose a queue instead.

Drawback is indeed that the user is not informed about the state of
specific printers. Although you can see the state with something like
lpstat.

Bert.