problem with large number of printers

Kurt Pfeifle kpfeifle at danka.de
Sat Jun 3 09:22:16 PDT 2006


> hey,

Hey!

> this is somehow more a basic understanding problem on my half maybe.

Hmm... from reading all your mail, I do not have a full understanding of your requirements either.

I just guess that your users want to print from clients using KDE... Is that right?

[...]

> So what I need is [....] the user should be able to browse the
> print-server via a build in desktop tool and install the bunch
> of printers he/she wants to without having detailed knowledge
> about the printer hardware. The installed printers should then
> display individual ppd dependent options like the admin prepared
> them on the server, sounds normal to me but somehow I'm stuck,
> any hints someone ????

I suggest to you to try this on one of the KDE clients:

* start "kprinter";
* click "System Options" (bottom, 2nd button from left);
* click "CUPS server" in left column;
* fill in the "Server information" fields;
* fill in the user info (if anonymous printing is disallowed);
* click "OK".

Now see if this setup does what you require. *If* it is what you want, you should see the 500 printers on that server in the kprinter dropdown listing. This figure is clearly too large; you'll want to filter it.

Alright, then setup such a filter:

* start "kprinter";
* click "System Options" (bottom, 2nd button from left);
* click "Filter" in left column;
* (resize window vertically so you see "Location" field at bottom;)
* you'll see all printers in the left field, none in the right one;
* click on the arrows to move selected printers into the right field;
* (optionally use a regex in "Location" field to match wanted printers;)
* click "OK".

Now apply the new filter to the full list:

* start "kprinter";
* click on the "funnel" icon just right to the printer dropdown;

The dropdown list now only shows those printers you defined in the previous step. To again see all printers, just click on the funnel icon again.

You may additionally want to automatize the setup by filling in the config files in each user's ${HOME}; the config file in question is to be found here:

   ls -l $(kde-config --localprefix)/share/config/kdeprintrc

If you want to lock down these settings for your users, have a look at the KDE "Kiosk" mode. More infos about Kiosk are f.e. here:

  http://websvn.kde.org/branches/KDE/3.5/kdelibs/kdecore/README.kiosk?rev=438982&view=markup
  http://developer.kde.org/documentation/tutorials/kiosk/index.html

Kiosk is able to make the print settings immutable, so users can't mess up with the system....

Hope this helps.





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