[cups] Instructions for installing /printers/<queue name>.ppd-based printer on Windows?

[Michael Sweet]

Michael,

Sadly there really isn't a good solution for this - you need to rewrite the PPD (see the old code from cupsaddsmb in older CUPS releases) as well as create an INF file, and then pray that the application you are using honors what is in the PPD (some applications, particularly those from Adobe, do not do so well...)

You'll likely have better luck creating a client-side (Windows) command-line tool to grab the PPD and prepare things on the client.  Driver push from Samba is problematic at best since you also have to push the Microsoft-supplied PSCRIPT.DLL and friends... :/

_________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Senior Printing System Engineer, PWG Chair

> On Jul 13, 2015, at 1:22 PM, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a scenario where the manufacturer's native Windows drivers are buggy
> and causing headaches, and all my Linux clients seem to be able to print to
> the same model of printer natively just fine using CUPS.
> 
> Using the basic set of instructions I've found for using CUPS IPP printers
> on Windows (using the MS Publisher Color driver) doesn't reveal printer
> features like duplexers, and I need those.
> 
> Thankfully, the PPD exposed by cups (ipp://printer/printers/queue_name.ppd)
> provides the needed information for that, but I'm having a devil of a time
> finding a good way to use that PPD on Windows.
> 
> What I've found so far:
> 
> First, you can't simply tell Microsoft's PS driver to use the specified PPD
> file, except (in some apparent cases I really don't care about) if you're
> printing to a file.
> 
> There's an Adobe "driver" everyone keeps referencing (
> http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=44&platform=Windows)
> ... but that was last released in 2002, is long unsupported, and is in fact
> a 16-bit driver assembler application (
> https://forums.adobe.com/message/2827979#2827979); it won't even run on
> modern Windows systems.
> 
> Windows supports something called "PScript Mini Drivers" (
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff551675(v=vs.85).aspx)
> which I *think* are just INF files telling Windows to associate the
> PSCRIPT5.DLL driver with the PPD identified in the INF file. But the
> closest thing to a full set of instructions I've found for this are
> outdated, to say the least. (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/142057)
> I have not been able to make this approach work. Worth noting further, the
> referenced (recent) documentation notes an NTF file for listing fonts,
> where I'll note I can see the supported font list in the PPD file provided
> by the IPP server; so it seems there's something further missing in those
> instructions, too.
> 
> Finally, there's IPP Everywhere (https://www.pwg.org/ipp/everywhere.html)
> which sounds promising, but is still beta, and I really don't want to roll
> beta printer software out when my root problem is buggy printer drivers.
> 
> And my various google searches over the past few business days don't turn
> up much targeted at modern versions of Windows, or even many recent mailing
> list or forum postings; it's like this is something people haven't cared
> about for the past decade.
> 
> Has anyone, in recent times, been able to print to PostScript printers
> using IPP from Windows clients with access to advanced features like
> duplexers or staplers? Input and output tray selection? Is there, anywhere,
> an actual, current set of instructions for accomplishing this?
> 
> I really don't want to have to use native drivers, and I'm getting quite
> frustrated...
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