ken wrote:
Of the two printer files (*.ppd files) in my /etc/cups/ppd/, one works and the other doesn't. Doing a "diff" on the two files, I see no significant difference between them, just things like page size, media type, and variables related to color.
The one that works is owned by root. The one that doesn't is owned by lp. Could that be the reason?
Are you sure the one owned by root is the one that works? Mine (10.1) is owner and group lp.
Also, I'd like to change the name of the working printer. As far as I've been able to find, there's no GUI for doing this. Can I just rename (i.e. mv) the ppd file?
You are using SUSE aren't you? You can use Yast>Hardware>Printer, or KDE Printer Manager, or http://localhost:631/admin in a browser. And you shouldn't change the name of the ppd file, as it matches info sent by your printer to CUPS. The name of your queue is up to you.
And... I'd like to change the *DefaultPageSize: from A4 to Letter. Can I just hand-edit the ppd file to do this? And then I'd have to likewise change *DefaultPageRegion and *DefaultImageableArea and *DefaultPaperDimension, yes?
You might want to give http://linuxprinting.org a check, and download the ppd for your printer there. You might miss something. You can also edit this via any of the GUIs above.
And say I get a nicely working printer and want to change just a few minor parameters, like print quality. Could I just copy the working ppd file and thereby create another printer?
No, I believe this is best done by the particular print dialog box. The ppd defines what the printer CAN do, you can select what you WANT it to do per print job via the print dialog box, such as kprinter
Finally (for now anyway), is it permissible to put comments into a ppd file, i.e., lines which begin with "*%"?
I wouldn't mess around with the actual ppd file. If you only have one printer, you should only have one ppd file in /etc/cups/ppd. -- Joe Morris Registered Linux user 231871 -- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com