KDE:Printing

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[edit] K Print

KDEPrint, the printing module in KDE (see printing.kde.org) is built into KDE applications and can be used by most Gnome and third party applications. When used with CUPS, the Common Unix Printing System, KDEPrint covers all the bases. KDEPrint consists of seven components.

  1. A print job viewer for each defined printer.
  2. A print server configuration tool.
  3. A print settings tool.
  4. An add printer wizard.
  5. A printer manager.
  6. Konqueror printer browser.
  7. A print utility called kprinter.

The easiest way to learn about these components is to Right click, KDE panel -> Configure Panel... -> Menus -> check Print System -> OK. This will put a Print System folder in the Main menu.

When I started the print manager I noticed that a printer was already set up. CUPS has the capability of automatic discovery and setup of printers on a network that contains a CUPS server. There is no CUPS server on my network, so why this printer showed up is a mystery. To get rid of the bogus printer, I first checked with synaptic to make sure that I had the lastest release of cups. Then I did the following

# cd /etc/cups
# mv cupsd.conf cupsd.conf.orig
# cp cupsd.conf.rpmnew cupsd.conf

I edited cupsd.conf and changed 

#Browsing on

to 

Browsing Off

and then restarted the cups service.

# /etc/init.d/cups restart

Next, I added several printers using the Add Printer Wizard. Main Menu -> Print System -> Add Printer... -> Network Printer w/IPP -> Setting... -> Subnetwork: 130.127.112 -> Scan -> select guthrie -> select HP, Color Laserjet 4550 -> Settings -> Double-Sided Printing <Off> -> fill in printer name and location. The printer guthrie is one of six printers found on this subnet. Next, I repeated the process by scanning the Subnetwork: 172.19.112. I found three more printers. I added two, gutenberg and ramanujan. Note that when a printer is found, a description is provided including the model number. You need the model number later on in the Add Printer Wizard process.

The utility kprinter can be run standalone. In this case you add files to be printed in a dialog box and files can be printed without first opening them with an application. All KDE applications have kprinter built in. Most non-KDE applications can also use kprinter since they allow the user to specify a print command. If the print command kprinter does not work try kprinter --stdin. I used kprinter successfully with the non-KDE applications Acrobat Reader, Firefox, OpenOffice, Gnome Ghostview, and Maple 9, with the KDE applications Kate and Kile, and with the Gnome applications gEdit and Evolution.

Retrieved from "http://learn.clemsonlinux.org/wiki/KDE:Printing"
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