The New Generation of Foomatic

LinuxPrinting.org mentions the release of version 3.0.0 of the Foomatic printer compatibility database. This is the first stable version in the 3.0 series. Foomatic is used for defining printer and printer driver capabilities, it works with the following print spoolers: CUPS, PPD, LPD, LPRng, GNUlpr, PDQ, and PPR. It also supports printer operation without a print spooler.

Some of the important changes in Foomatic version 3.0.0 include:

• One filter, foomatic-rip, works with all spoolers.
• Standard PPD files are now used for all spoolers.
• Full Adobe Compliance for Foomatic generated PPD files.
• Support for manufacturer supplied PPD files.
• Foomatic-rip adheres to Adobe's DSC (Document Structuring Conventions).
• Support for custom page sizes on all spoolers.
• Option settings can be applied to individual pages.
• Support for pre-configured quality levels with "PrintoutMode".
• Much more.

The announcement lists all of the changes in detail. In all, this release looks like a good step toward organizing Foomatic into a simpler and better organized system. Linux and Unix printing are somewhat embarassingly behind the times, hopefully the efforts of the Foomatic team will help to improve this situation.

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