Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 22, 2012 17:07 UTC (Tue) by jreiser (subscriber, #11027)
In reply to: Because CUPS finally 'just works' by ms
Parent article: Announcing printerd

Another example where CUPS does not "just work": My PostScript printer with USB interface is driven by an Apple AirPort device, accessed over my local network via HP JetDirect protocol TCP port 9100. When my printer job does not succeed (PostScript error, paper out, pushing the Job Cancel button on the printer, ...) then "lpq" on my machine says "Printer is stopped", and indeed no progress will be made on any print job for that printer. So how do I restart the printer? No utility whose name starts with "lp" will do it. Then I try CUPS via http://localhost:631. On the page displayed by CUPS 1.4.8 (or following any of the links) I can find nothing about re-starting a stopped printer, print queue, etc. Rebooting my Linux machine will *not* do it. Answer: "cupsenable <printer_name>". This is such a gigantic failure of Usability!

Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 22, 2012 17:33 UTC (Tue) by vivo (subscriber, #48315) [Link]

https://localhost:631
printers => administration => Set Default Options => Policy
s/stop printer/abort job/

to restart a printer do it in maintenaince

Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 22, 2012 17:38 UTC (Tue) by nybble41 (subscriber, #55106) [Link]

> Then I try CUPS via http://localhost:631. On the page displayed by CUPS 1.4.8 (or following any of the links) I can find nothing about re-starting a stopped printer, print queue, etc.

It's in the "maintenance" drop-down list after you select "Printers" and then the name of your printer. Besides "cupsenable", this is also equivalent to:

> lpadmin -p $printername -E

The error behavior is also configurable with:

> lpadmin -p $printername -o printer-error-policy=retry-current-job

or by changing the ErrorPolicy line in /etc/cups/printers.conf.

This is for a more recent version of CUPS (1.5.2), and I'm not sure how well it translates to version 1.4.8. The maintenance drop-down, at least, has been around for quite some time.

Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 22, 2012 18:57 UTC (Tue) by job (guest, #670) [Link] (2 responses)

The very idea of a web interface just to control your printer is laughable in my opinion. That interface belongs in the print dialog of your GUI, because that is where you are when you need it.

I normally just let gs speak directly to lp0, and use lpr/lpd to connect over a network. That does not give me all access to all the bells and whistles of modern printers, but it just works and it has worked for some fifteen years.

Disagree - web interface a GOOD idea.

Posted May 22, 2012 19:41 UTC (Tue) by boog (subscriber, #30882) [Link] (1 responses)

It works as soon as you have CUPS. No need to wait for Gnome, KDE et to catch up and/or agree on things. Updated immediately with CUPS - the usual benefits of web apps.

Doesn't prevent a more traditional API also being used.

Moreover, the way printer and peripheral support for Linux is going (in the wrong direction as far as I can see), a general move to embedded web technologies is quite helpful.

Disagree - web interface a GOOD idea.

Posted May 23, 2012 7:56 UTC (Wed) by rvfh (guest, #31018) [Link]

We need and HTML5 app that integrates into any desktop, even Android's.

Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 23, 2012 11:44 UTC (Wed) by jengelh (guest, #33263) [Link] (1 responses)

>"lpq" on my machine says "Printer is stopped", and indeed no progress will be made on any print job for that printer. So how do I restart the printer? No utility whose name starts with "lp" will do it.

No, since lp* is out. But there is "cupsenable".

Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 23, 2012 22:56 UTC (Wed) by jjs (guest, #10315) [Link]

lp* is still on my debian testing system.

Because CUPS finally 'just works'

Posted May 26, 2012 23:23 UTC (Sat) by butlerm (subscriber, #13312) [Link]

>When my printer job does not succeed (PostScript error, paper out, pushing the Job Cancel button on the printer, ...) then "lpq" on my machine says "Printer is stopped", and indeed no progress will be made on any print job for that printer. So how do I restart the printer?

Whatever the rationale is, the default for this on CUPS could hardly be more unfriendly. This sort of thing makes it look like a full employment program for system administrators. No wonder people want to replace it.