On 2004-05-05 12:01:01 +0100 Graham Trott gt@pobox.com wrote:
However, the print job is now (apparently) blocking the queue, and nothing I do at GUI level will clear it. [...]
Is this CUPS? I keep thinking that I should try it again and it must have improved, but then I get an email like this. At the moment, I have a shell script from somewhere which talks directly to the port (no spooling), so if things go wrong, I just start the process viewer and kill the "lpr" task. Mostly, that clears the problem. No networking, but I shove remote print jobs over ssh, which is crude but easy and works.
I used to use pdq, which had a graphical configuration and control panel. That seemed to work too, but it isn't suitable for busy printers because it spools but doesn't queue. I don't remember whether it could accept network printing, but it certainly could send them. I'm sure I've a samba interface file for it somewhere here.
Of course, printing elsewhere is still often below the level of 1990. "Direct" network-attached printers have really basic control interfaces. Power-cycling the damn things seems to be the only way out sometimes. lpq may have been command-line, but at least you could control it a bit less destructively than that. Many happy hours using cmp on the lpd /var dir to remove duplicates after a paper jam before unfreezing the queue. (Why don't people act on the warning lights instead of reprinting? Actually, I think I know why... they can't remember how to free or load paper and fear the device that sounds like a sci-fi ray gun when it works may zap them.)
Last Windows printer of my own I used gave me a choice of drivers: one that only spoke Italian or one that didn't support A4. I'm still glad not to be there. "Insierra carta" (or however it's spelt) still features in my nightmares.
fiddling around for a while I find the standard Linux driver doesn't mention CUPS, but there seems to be another that does.
Ah yes, it is CUPS...
So, can someone tell me the One True Way to get secure, easy-to-control network printing if it's not CUPS? :)