Anyone had any luck getting Lexmark Z32 to work?

[Roland Smith]

On Mon, May 30, 2005 at 10:04:22PM +0200, Andreas Davour wrote:
> >>I have looked at apsfilter, and did some half-hearted attempts at
> >>understand the www.linuxprinting.com site.
> >
> >According to
> >http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Lexmark-Z32
> >it works partially, and requires a binary-only linux driver to work
> >properly. Maybe you could use it with linux emulation?
> 
> Maybe. How do linux use printer drivers? Anyone know? Could they be 
> plugged in like a (aps)filter, perhaps?

In FreeBSD and Linux (and other unix-like systems) printer drivers are
not integrated into the kernel like they are on Windows.

Printing is done through a combination of systems.

First you have the lpd system. This is where users submit files for
printing. It spools print commands and feeds them to a printer (locally
or over a network) one at a time.

After that comes a filter program, like apsfilter. This translates the
input file into a format that the printer understands. apsfilter and
other filters usually use ghostscript for converting postscript to a format
that different printers understand. Some printers have their own driver
program (like the lexmark, I think), which can also be called by apsfilter.

> I don't know much about printing, and lp, lpr, lprng and all that 
> alphabet soup. That site didn't clear up my confusion. Maybe I should go 
> re-read the handbook, but I don't think it'll help much.

By all means read the printing chapter thoroughly. It should enlighten you.

<snip>
> >I'd advise you to sell this printer and buy another one. Check
> >linuxprinting.org before you buy, or buy a postscript printer.
> 
> The only reason I have it is I got it for free.
> 
> I did look at that site when someone threw an Apple Laserwriter II NTX 
> after me, 

Hmm, didn't that hurt? ;-)

> and unless I misunderstood it should work fine with linux. I 
> didn't work very well for me (like, it just refused to ever print an pdf 
> document) and I dumped it last week.

According to the info on linuxprinting.org, the LaserWriter II NTX _is_
a postscript printer. To print pdf files with it, there are at least two
options: (1) use pdf2ps, and print the resulting postscript file. (2)
install apsfilter.

> If I had unlimited amounts of money I know what I should buy! A real 
> Postscript printer! Those work. I know. ;)

You just threw one away. :-(

Roland
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