FreeBSD for the common man(or woman) (was: upgrade 7.2

[James Phillips]

--- On Sat, 8/8/09, freebsd-questions-request at freebsd.org <freebsd-questions-request at freebsd.org> wrote:


> 
> Message: 11
> Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2009 10:46:00 -0600
> From: Chad Perrin <perrin at apotheon.com>
> Subject: Re: FreeBSD for the common man(or woman) (was:
> > upgrade 7.2

> 
> On Thu, Aug 06, 2009 at 02:56:41PM -0700, James Phillips
> wrote:
> > 

> > 
> > Following the FreeBSD Handbook, I got stuck on trying
> to get the
> > printer to work. The handbook was basicly instructing
> me to write my
> > own print driver! I checked the HP website: they will
> release the
> > details of the PCL language (version 4 or so) for a
> price. I finally
> > got it working by installing the Apsfiler package in
> the ports
> > collection (no, did not send the post-card yet; the
> print server is not
> > functional yet.)
> > 
<SNIP!>
> 
> I'm really not sure how to answer this question, I'm
> afraid.  I don't
> think it's a stupid question, and I think I can understand
> what you mean
> about your problems with getting use out of the
> documentation, but I
> haven't had the same problems so I don't know of any quick
> fixes to offer
> in how to get around these problems.  For instance,
> when I installed CUPS
> on a couple of computers here for the first time since I
> started
> installing FreeBSD them, it all seemed very straightforward
> and I didn't
> see anything that could even through hyperbole be described
> as involving
> writing my own printer driver.  I basically just set
> up configuration for
> CUPS, and it worked -- much more easily than it ever did
> with Debian (my
> OS of choice before I migrated stuff to FreeBSD).
> 

Okay, after reading this, I used the "WayBack Machine" to review the printing section of the April 17, 2006 version of the Handbook.

I was not able to find anything that is writing a print-driver per-se.
In the "Advanced" section numerous shell scripts are described (some of which use printer commands directly), but they tend to use filters from the ports collection:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060417220024/www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/printing-advanced.html

There is a section in the "Simple" section that explicitly says PS != PCL.
Part of the problem may be I did not have documentation for my printer, so did not know how to put it in postscript mode.

I really did feel I needed the PCL 4 documentation at one point. I'm going to have to conclude I was mistaken.

Regards,

James Phillips



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