[cups.general] CUPS is unusable

Gene Heskett gene.heskett at verizon.net
Sat Jan 28 02:34:25 PST 2006


On Saturday 28 January 2006 03:43, Matt Hull wrote:
>the only problem i have with cups is authentication or communication
>between servers.  you cant change a print job unless you go to the
> server that is printing it.  cant do it from the client.

I believe thats an option that is off by default, but which can be 
enabled if you understand swahili, in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.

I *think* I have that turned on, but haven't had an occasion to check it 
for function.

Besides that, I hope you aren't deleting spool, as your incoming mail 
may also spend a short time in that directory/mail/username if its 
configured like I have fetchmail setup.

>i found it much easier to delete a printjob by stopping cups and
> deleting /var/spool, alot less time and hassle
>
>when cups works, it works great; when it doesnt, its a b****
>
>:-D
>
>matt
>
>On Sat, 28 Jan 2006, Gene Heskett wrote:
>> On Friday 27 January 2006 23:11, Anonymous wrote:
>> >My career started with Microsoft XENIX.  Give you some idea of how
>> > long I've been around Unices?
>> >
>> >So...my impression of CUPS?  If CUPS were to be listed in a
>> > software dictionary, there would only be one synonym:
>> > "clusterf**k".
>>
>> Now now.
>>
>> >Now, mind you, this is just an impression.  For all I know, the
>> > underlying software may, for all I know, be amazingly elegant.
>>
>> It is in fact pretty darned good when combined with gimp-print or
>> gutenprint, gimp-prints new name, and decent printers like Epson or
>> the better HP's.
>>
>> > However, the "CUPS experience" has been so miserable that I would
>> > never know it.
>>
>> Have you pointed a browser at (assuming httpd is running)
>> localhost:631? There you will find all the facilities needed to
>> configure and test cups quite thoroughly.  And it is, after you get
>> used to it, pretty straight forward to do.
>>
>> >Unfortunately, "how in the world could anyone design such a poor
>> > system" is very much within my imagination - it's when someone has
>> > an excellent idea backed up with (possibly) a great deal of
>> > expertise coupled with a complete lack of understanding with how
>> > people work.
>> >
>> >So, will I master CUPS?  Only as much as I have to to get things to
>> > work - and with CUPS, that means becoming pretty adept at a lot of
>> > nonsense.
>>
>> Nope, wrong attitude, that will never get you comfortable with it. 
>> Once you get a feel for it, you'll find yourself doing things you
>> may not have thought would be so easy to do, but they are.
>>
>> >PS
>> >Sadly, some of the latest Linuxes don't seem to offer any
>> > old-fashioned "lpr" methods anymore.  "lpr" still could present
>> > technical challanges - but it didn't have any pretense about being
>> > usr-freindly...and you could write a bunch of scripts and/or html
>> > cgi's to let a regular user administer it (try that with CUPS!).
>>
>> The Cups std install, fwiw, does contain an lpr, which if the
>> default printer is set, works very transparently, and much like the
>> lpr of old, only with far fewer warts.  But you don't use lpr to
>> configure, you use the web server built into cups
>> <http://localhost:631> to do that.
>>
>> I use cups here, in a 3 machine home network, and when its been
>> configured all 3 of the machines have access to the printer, which
>> is actually setup as 4 printers.  They are all the same Epson C82,
>> now a bit geriatric, with each "printer" set for a different
>> resolution from a quick draft print to full photographic quality.  I
>> just printed a 65 page document that lives on the shop box, sitting
>> high on a shelf out in my workshop where that box normally drives a
>> small milling machine, with only 2-3 seconds more lag in getting the
>> job started than if I'd printed it from this box.  ssh'd into it
>> from here where its nice and comfy, out there its about 25 degrees
>> ATM.
>>
>> Give cups a chance, it genuinely is a better way, or linux wouldn't
>> have deprecated lprNG years ago.  Having lost the battles with lprNG
>> several times in the early years, I really appreciate the stability
>> cups has brought to my printing here.
>>
>> --
>> Cheers, Gene
>> People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me should add the
>> word 'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which bypasses vz's
>> stupid bounce rules.  I do use spamassassin too. :-)
>> Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
>> message by Gene Heskett are:
>> Copyright 2006 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> cups mailing list
>> cups at easysw.com
>> http://lists.easysw.com/mailman/listinfo/cups

-- 
Cheers, Gene
People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me should add the word
'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which bypasses vz's
stupid bounce rules.  I do use spamassassin too. :-)
Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
message by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2006 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.





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