Documentation clarification for CUPS newbie

gcr quaternion at comcast.net
Wed Aug 2 02:50:21 PDT 2006


Thanks for the clarification, but it seems to me that, in essence, you're saying what I suspected: either the documentation is poorly written, or is just plain wrong, but regardless, the documentation should be revised. BTW, I'm a WINDOWS newbie, but contrary to what's in the reply, it's been my understanding that WINDOWS 95,98 did NOT support CUPS/IPP, but that support WAS provided in WINDOWS 2000, but that's based on various web postings not firsthand experience. Still, if CUPS support started with WINDOWS XP, which was introduced in late 2000, that means the part of CUPS Software Administrators Manual in question was nearly four years out of date when the document was issued --- the document has a 2004 copyright. That material really needs to be updated --- I'll look into submitting a bug report.

Gene


> On 01/08/06, gcr <quaternion at comcast.net> wrote:
> > I added the printer on the WINDOWS machine using the "Add Printer" wizard, and specified the printer as http://foo:631/printers/HPLaserJet4ML , [stuff deleted]
> > However since I haven't configured the samba server on foo, how is my WINDOWS machine accessing the printer? I
> >  researched this some over the internet, and if I had to explain what's going on, I'd say WINDOWS is really accessing the printer through IPP rather than CUPS per se, with CUPS providing a web-based interface for the WINDOWS machine, without providing a server capability. Does that sound about right?
>
> Yes and no. You are correct that in your case XP is accessing
> your printer through CUPS via IPP. But incorrect in that CUPS
> certainly does not just provide a web interface; it also "provides
> a server capability" and acts as the print server.
>
> I suppose the documentation talks about auto-configuration;
> I had been printing from Windows directly using IPP for
> months. This even works on Windows 95 and Windows 98.
> No Samba is required.
>
> (Miraculously, IPP printing does not seem to work on Windows
> 2000; I have not tested XP but from what you wrote I suppose it
> works.)
>
> (I don't know how much of the above is still correct for cups 1.2.)
> --
> cheers,
> -ambrose
>





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