[KLUG Members] printing and Linux

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> Printing subsystem always baffles me. Printing in windows is very
> intuitive and easy. 

You've got to be kidding?  Windows printing is a wreck perched atop a
pile floating in a sea of sludge.  Windows printing in a network of any
size is a nightmare fit to be made into it's own series of eight feature
length movies.

> If I fire print job and if print cord is not
> connected to printer or printer is offline print spooler flashes
> warning within few seconds. 

Or else the printer goes "offline", the icon turns grey in the
control-panel/printers dialog, and while it offers an "online" context
menu you can pretty much just forget about it and reboot.

> But in Linux once print job is fired it is lost in black hole. 

Never.  I haven't "lost" a print job on LINUX in years and years.  I can
go into the printer server via a nice web interface and reprint a job
that I successfully printed 24 hours ago.  Or I can hold a printer and
jobs will nicely accumulate for weeks.

> Even if printer is offline or printer is not
> connected print spooler doesn't inform about it.  

gnome-cups-manager

> I have tired lpd,
> lprng and CUPS all are more or less same. 

CUPS is the only modern printing subsystem,  lpd is a dinosaur, and
lprng the equivalent to a woolly mammoth - both belong solely to the
footnotes of a history text.