How to access CUPS printer from wine applications ?

[Manish Jain]

On 04/26/16 04:18, Polytropon wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 15:48:39 +0530, Manish Jain wrote:
>> On 04/25/16 15:05, Polytropon wrote:
>>> On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 14:35:14 +0530, Manish Jain wrote:
>>>> I am trying to do something complicated with my HP 1112 printer that is
>>>> working very nicely with cups. I want my Microsoft applications (MS
>>>> Office::Word 2000 chiefly) installed under Wine to be able to access the
>>>> printer. Is there any way I can do  that ?
>>> Not tested, just an idea:
>>>
>>> If Wine has networking functionality, you could enable the printer
>>> in CUPS for sharing on the "virtual network" and then access it
>>> as a network printer from within the application that wants to
>>> print. The default output should be PS (Postscript), as this is
>>> the easiest (and standard) format to feed into printer queues.
>>> Make sure to restrict the printer access locally.
>>>
>>> If this fails, you could use the "Print to file" functionality
>>> and save the file to a specific directory that's accessible from
>>> the application running under Wine. Use "winecfg" to assign a
>>> "drive letter" to that directory, so it's easier to write files
>>> there (for example P: for "printer"). Then have a shell script
>>> check for new files in that directory and feed them to lpr, then
>>> delete it. As I said, when this is PS data, it shouldn't be
>>> problematic.
>>>
>>> Wine's access to USB, and then using the "Windows" software for
>>> printing, is probably not possible to achieve.
>>>
>>> Also keep in mind Wine probably doesn't have a full printing
>>> subsystem and sufficient driver support. Doing so from a VM
>>> (with a "Windows" installed in it) is surely easier, but also
>>> more "voluminous".
>>>
>>> Follow-up question:
>>>
>>> Why don't you install OpenOffice / LibreOffice / AbiWord and use
>>> your documents from there? Is there a reason to use a more than
>>> 15 years old office application? Do you have a specific need to
>>> make it that complicated? :-)
>>>
>>>
>> Printing from wine is not particularly important : it would just have
>> been a nice add-on functionality that would have eliminated the
>> occasional need to boot into my Windows XP installation.
> I hope it's an "offline installation". :-)
>
>
>
>> Although I shall install AbiWord as you have suggested, there is a
>> freelance writing project that I am involved in, and those guys want MS
>> .doc strictly, with a lot of formatting rules that are most easily
>> accomplished under MS Office. As for the version of Word (2000) that I
>> strongly prefer - I find the appearance of new Office applications
>> pretty obnoxious, mostly owing to the Ribbon that the new versions of
>> Office use.
> In this case, OpenOffice or LibreOffice will probably a good way to
> avoid using a "Windows XP" only for word processing. Both programs
> can import and export various DOC formats quite well, and the support
> for a 15+ years old format should be stable and reliable. Furthermore,
> the GUI that includes hierarchical menues with logical structure (a
> concept which users have learned to use over decades) makes it easy
> to work with the program.
>
> I had to work in a multi-OS environment for some times, and few users
> still used "Office 2000" products, while everyone else has moved on
> to use OpenOffice. Interoperability of documents was not a problem,
> users were using "Windows" as well as different versions of Linux,
> BSD, and even a few had Mac OS X. OpenOffice was the tool everyone
> loved for collaboration and file exchange. Later on, when systems
> needed to be upgraded, the few remaining "MS Office" users happily
> changed to OpenOffice.
>
> Today, I'd probably suggest using LibreOffice, but I'm not sure if
> that's still the right program to suggest, as there is also OpenOffice.
> Which of those two (most commonly known) free office suites is the
> one that's preferred today?
>
>

I just installed AbiWord. And I think it is good enough for my needs. 
Thanks.

Manish Jain