CUPS - Explained

English Forums Feedback
1

CUPS is a set of drivers and utilities that provide full printer support, management and usage tools for Linux and other Unix-based OS.

CUPS provides it’s own graphical configuration tools that work through the web. Pont your browser to http://localhost:631
you may need to give your user or root password, and you’ll see the CUPS homepage. From here you can add and remove printers as well as manage print jobs and read the docs.

The web interface means you don’t need any graphicall toolkits installed, you don’t even need X running on the computer. You could access the interface through a text browser or from a browser on another computer.

**Isn’t that a bit insecure?
**It could be, but the default CUPS settings only allow connections from localhost. You can alter this to allow connections for your LAN (allowing internet access is generally not rocommended) and also control which users access which parts of the coniguration.

**Is MY Printer supported?
**First stop should be OpenPrinting - The Linux Foundation which maintains a list of how well or not each printer is supported and advice on which driver to use. Ideally, you should check here before buying a printer.

2

On 2008-08-03, caf4926 <caf4926@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
> *Is MY Printer supported?
> *First stop should be ‘OpenPrinting - The Linux Foundation’
> (http://www.linuxprinting.org) which maintains a list of how well or
> not each printer is supported and advice on which driver to use.
> Ideally, you should check here before buying a printer.

Another one, from lots of people:
when the printer stalls (paper jam, toner low, other error), its ‘stopped’
in CUPS. When the printer’s source of error has been removed, does CUPS
strat it again ?

In old faithfull 10.0 it didn’t. I briefly tested 10.3, and I seem to have
noticed a possibility.

Is it possible in 11, and how ?

–
The sand remembers once there was beach and sunshine
but chip is warm too
– haiku from Effector Online, Volume 1, Number 6

3

when the printer stalls (paper jam, toner low, other error), its ‘stopped’
in CUPS. When the printer’s source of error has been removed, does CUPS
strat it again ?

I have never experienced a need to do as you ask. I know what you mean. - But whenever I get a paper jam or ink runs out, I find that page is no longer any use, so just start fresh again with that page.
You can however pause print jobs can’t you.

4

On 2008-08-04, caf4926 <caf4926@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
>> when the printer stalls (paper jam, toner low, other error), its
>> ‘stopped’
>> in CUPS. When the printer’s source of error has been removed, does CUPS
>> strat it again ?
>
> I have never experienced a need to do as you ask. I know what you mean.
> - But whenever I get a paper jam or ink runs out, I find that page is no
> longer any use, so just start fresh again with that page.
> You can however pause print jobs can’t you.

I think you misunderstood my point, sorry.

In short, I meant, is there a way to get CUPS to restart the printer, as
soon as the printer is longer in error?

Whithout going to localhost:631, without the need for a CUPS-admin user or
password.

The ‘OS’ in example (Windows, sorry) will retry the printer for a reasonable
time, before deciding to stop the queue. Say a few minutes. This allows for
filling up the paper tray, removing a jam, maybe even replacing the toner.

Arguments against it would, I suppose, include the overhead on the
connection (USB, network) of those retry attempts. But that’s an invalid
argument to me, considering the speed of today’s interfaces and networks.

And even after that, the user can restart the interrupted job, in the queue
list.

–
The sand remembers once there was beach and sunshine
but chip is warm too
– haiku from Effector Online, Volume 1, Number 6

5

there is a print jobs manager in kde3 which can also be used in kde4
go to menu, applications
utilities
printing

you didn’t say if you were kde3 or 4

pending jobs etc are here, paused etc also

6

On 2008-08-04, caf4926 <caf4926@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> there is a print jobs manager in kde3 which can also be used in kde4
> go to menu, applications
> utilities
> printing
>
> you didn’t say if you were kde3 or 4

So far, in KDE 3. Using releases 10.0 and 11.0 of openSUSE.
Why, does KDE 4 have a more integrated control of CUPS ?

> pending jobs etc are here, paused etc also

Yes, I know. But a stopped printer has to be restarted, using the CUPS web
interface. At least it had to, on 10.0 and 10.3.

With 11.0, I didn’t do much printing yet. So I was wondering if things had
changed much.

–
The sand remembers once there was beach and sunshine
but chip is warm too
– haiku from Effector Online, Volume 1, Number 6

7

But a stopped printer has to be restarted, using the CUPS web
interface

you can use the print jobs manager

8

On 2008-08-04, caf4926 <caf4926@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
>> But a stopped printer has to be restarted, using the CUPS web
>> interface
> you can use the print jobs manager

OK, I’ll have another look at it.

–
The sand remembers once there was beach and sunshine
but chip is warm too
– haiku from Effector Online, Volume 1, Number 6