| Chris Hedemark on Tue, 11 Feb 2003 14:57:16 -0500 |
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Jaguar "broke" all previous printer support. It replaced lpr printing with CUPS - and there is essentially noting in common between the two. As far as I know nobody has written a printcap to <whatever CUPS uses> converter. And so far, I haven't found a "simple enough for me" description of CUPS that tells me -- "Oh yeah, you can just take an OS 9 PPD file and stick it here and it works again."
I took my "Juguar"-powered Powerbook across the aisle to Gabe's desk and asked him to please set up a printer for me. Keep in mind he is a NetBSD/Linux/Solaris guy (maybe more, but that's what I've seen him using) and hasn't been the biggest fan of OS X here by any means. So anyway I gave him an easy one first, something like an HP LaserJet 5. He did it in about 20 seconds, without any help or prompting, and he did it right the first time. Then I told him to try one of the big bulk printers we use to send you junkmail. This is not something you can get at Best Buy, or even fit in a pickup truck. They sure didn't have my Powerbook in mind when they made this printer. Sure enough, Gabe found very quickly the option for 'Other' printer (one not on the list) and when he clicked it he was prompted for a PPD file. This is the same file Windows uses, BTW. BTW, it bears mentioning that CUPS holds up well to cranking out junk mail (though under Linux with a totally different interface than OS X). CUPS is the future of Linux/UNIX printing, make no mistake about that. Apple is on the forefront of this shift, Red Hat is gradually nudging customers in that direction, and the more conservative flavors will follow in time. The basic problem is that Apple is supporting a "hoped for standard" from the Open Source community which is not really supported by anybody else. It is a situation which really does hurt just as much as supporting a proprietary version.
If you are talking about the printing system, it is because the CUPS system has no GUI... and it shows.
And on the Linux side, CUPS has an incredibly useful GUI under the KDE desktop. [Actually, it turns out it has a web interface that isn't very well/widely known about.] Only if your the sort that goes out of their way to not read anything about the software they are using. As you may know, Gabe & I work for a company that does more printing than 99.9% of anyone in the Philly area. So it is pretty important that printing is done well, done reliably, and is easy enough to use for general laborers to get into it. I can't really get into detail but it suffices to say that my experience with CUPS in a large print shop has thus far been very good. I wish I could say the same for lpr or lprng. The problem with CUPS is that even though it is a GOOD idea, it is a NEW idea, and not (yet) a mainstream idea. I disagree. CUPS is mainstream. The very fact that Apple ships it as the default printing system on several million UNIX systems makes it mainstream. I dare say that more CUPS-enabled systems will be sold in 2003 than lpr and its derivatives. Others are falling in line as well. Red Hat is transitioning its customers to CUPS. Apple just had the benefit of not having much of a legacy user base to support. Consequently there are very few people who understand it fully,
and even fewer who understand it enough to make correct and intelligent comments on how to resolve problems with it. Which isn't such a bad thing if it is much easier to use and less troublesome than the system that it replaced. This particular issue is a classic problem for the "early adopter" or "innovator." It doesn't mitigate the problem, but it has to be acknowledged -- when you do something that others are not doing, you are going to have problems. Apple is the 500 pound gorilla in desktop UNIX now. Linux is a major force, but more like the 100 pound chimpanzee. Of course the roles are reversed in the server room, but for end user desktops I think this is a pretty fair assessment. Being the top dog in a given market gives one the freedom and the responsibility to be a leader. The things that Apple is doing in OS X will be followed by Linux distros first, and later by other UNIX flavors. Chris Hedemark PGP/GnuPG Public Key at http://yonderway.com/chris/hedemark.gpg -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (Darwin) iD8DBQE+SVVpYPuF4Zq9lvYRAqYuAKDM/ElXIaZqkSafAghaOKNI6iyn6wCgyNAG M+ovvErzURJnJHa+7UaSneA= =4ikk -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug
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