Download Overview Printing Process - Konica Minolta Australia

Overview
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Print Architecture Components
Print Architecture Components
The powerful printing architecture of Mac OS X includes
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the Printer Setup Utility
the print dialogs of printing applications
the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS), a cross-platform, open-source printing solut
environments.
In addition to providing the printing capabilities for
applications in the Mac OS X graphical user interface, CUPS
provides command-line printing services for PostScript and
raster printers.
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You use Printer Setup Utility to configure local and network printers in Mac OS X.
When you click the Add button, Printer Setup Utility searches for all available printing devices. Y
printer and printer driver that supports that particular printer.
The standard Mac OS X installation includes printer modules for Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Lexm
Canon printers. It also includes GimpPrint, an open-source print driver that supports many older
which the manufactures might not have Mac OS X drivers.
GimpPrint drivers are most useful for customers who have
very old printers, not supported by the vendor, and
customers who do custom, high-end printing.
You can customize the toolbar in Printer Setup Utility by choosing Customize Toolbar from the V
drag icons from the dialog to Printer Setup Utility’s toolbar.
Printing Process
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How It Works
How It Works
Print from an Application
When you print from an application in the Mac OS X graphical user interface, the application use
imaging frameworks to create a PDF spool file that is passed off to CUPS.
Print from Command Line
When you print from the command line, the spool file might be in a different format, such as text
CUPS allows you to print to PostScript and raster printers.
Spool files created by Mac OS X applications or by the command-line utilities are placed in the d
/var/spool/cups.
CUPS Daemon
The CUPS daemon then finds each spool file and passes it through a set of filter processes kno
chain. These processes convert the file to a format that the printer understands, then send the o
printer.
CUPS contains many features that are beyond the scope of this course. You can find more infor
CUPS in AppleCare Knowledge Base article #75413.
You can also learn more about CUPS by accessing the online help in the built-in CUPS web ser
following URL in a web browser running on Mac OS X 10.3:
http://127.0.0.1:631
Adding a Printer
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Printer Setup Utility
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PPD
Printer Setup Utility
The first time you open Printer Setup Utility, it prompts you to add a printer. When you click Add
over the Printer List window. The pop-up menu in this sheet lets you specify the method your co
access the printer. Choices include:
Select AppleTalk, for a network printer that uses the AppleTalk protocol.
IP Printing
Select IP Printing, for a network printer that is configured by its IP address. Quite often, IP printe
printer queue, or print server, that provides printing services for a small or large network. IP prin
add printers using the LPR/LPD, IPP, and Socket/HP direct protocols.
Open Directory
Select Open Directory, for a network printer or printer queue that is available statically through a
such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).
Select Rendezvous, for a network printer that advertises its presence using Rendezvous.
USB
Select USB, for a printer you connect to your computer’s USB port. Typically, as soon as you co
printer Mac OS X detects it, locates the driver, and adds the printer to the Printer List. If Mac OS
it, or if you want to add a USB printer and manually select the driver, you can click the Add butto
List.
Windows Printing
Select Windows Printing, for printers shared using the SMB protocol.
The configuration choices available to you depend upon the printer type you selected. For all typ
selected the printer and configured all settings, you click Add. The Printer List window will displa
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PPD
PPD is an abbreviation for PostScript Printer Description, but CUPS uses PPDs for all printers,
When you add a printer, a PPD file for that printer is created in the directory /etc/cups/ppd.
The PPD file is copied or generated from files that were installed along with the printer driver.
PPD files for standard CUPS and GimpPrint drivers reside in /usr/share/cups/model and /usr/sh
respectively.
PPD files for Mac-specific drivers provided by third-party printer manufacturers reside in subdire
/Library/Printers/PPD.
A PPD file describes the features offered by the printer. PPD files provided by printer manufactu
more printer features than those provided with CUPS or GimpPrint.
Sharing Local Printers
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Setting Up Sharing
Resharing Network Printers
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Setting Up Sharing
In the Print & Fax pane, you can select “Share my printers with other computers” to allow other M
users on the network to print to a USB printer connected to your system.
You can also turn on Print Sharing in the Sharing pane in System Preferences.
Once you turn on sharing, all printers configured on your computer will appear in the following tw
X systems on the local network:
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In the Printer List
Under the Shared Printers menu item in the Printers pop-up menu in an application’s prin
A printer shared by another computer appears in your computer’s Printer List or an application’s
you do not want to use that printer, you can disable the listing on your computer by deselecting
to the printer name in the Printer List.
You might not have the required print drivers installed on your computer for printers shared over
Mac OS X will download the PPD file of the printer from the system sharing the printer and prov
on the shared printer’s capabilities. This process happens automatically and does not require an
may cause a slight delay when you first select the printer.
Resharing Network Printers
You can also reshare network printers so that you can monitor and manage the jobs sent to the
that other users printing to it go through your machine instead of bypassing your machine and g
printer). There are two disadvantages to resharing network printers:
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You will increase network traffic. Instead of users sending the print jobs directly to the prin
machine and then your machine will send it to the printer.
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Your machine will have to handle the increased load of processing all the print jobs sent t
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Exercises
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Connect and Configure a USB Printer
Print
Share the Printer
Add a Networked Printer in Printer Setup Utility
Print to a Networked Printer
The following exercises requires that you have a USB printer available for
setup and sharing on a LAN or WAN. You will also need two Macintosh
systems running Mac OS X 10.3 connected to the LAN or WAN.
One exercise requires access to a networked printer with a known IP address.
If you do not have the required equipment on hand, review the exercise steps
and the Knowledge Base articles on the Links page.
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Connect and Configure a USB Printer
1. Open Printer Setup Utility located in /Applications/Utilities.
2. If you receive the “You have no printers available” message, click
Cancel.
This may not show at first if there are no printers being shared.
When you open Printer Setup Utility for the first time, the printer list will
display a list item called Shared Printers.
3. If any printers are listed and you have not connected and turned on
your printer yet, it is because these are printers that Mac OS X found
being shared on the network. For this exercise, disregard these
printers. The only one you will be concerned with is the one you
connect directly to your computer.
4. Connect the USB printer and turn it on.
After a few seconds, if the printer is supported by Mac OS X, it will be
automatically added to the list of printers in Printer Setup Utility. The
name of the printer will vary depending upon the model of the printer.
At this point you could print to the printer from Mac OS X.
5. Select the printer then click the Show Info button.
In the Printer Name Field enter a name you can easily recognize.
6. Click the Apply Changes button and close the window.
7. Notice that the name of the printer in the Printer Setup Utility’s list has
been updated. You are now ready to print.
Print
1. In Printer Setup Utility, open the print queue for your printer by doubleclicking the printer in the list or by selecting the printer and choosing
Show Jobs from the Printers menu.
This step is not required for printing; you are doing it so that you can
monitor the background printing.
2. Open a text file in AppleWorks or Word and select Print from the File
menu
A print dialog will be displayed.
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3. If your printer is chosen by default, select your printer from the Printer
pop-up menu.
Again, all of the other printers, if there are any others listed, are shared
printers that Mac OS X discovered on the network.
4. Click Print.
The application will print your document, creating a spool file that is
added to the queue for your printer.
You can monitor the progress of printing in the queue window for your
printer that you opened earlier.
The printer will now print your document.
5. Close the document.
6. Don’t save changes if requested.
7. Quit the application.
8. Quit Printer Setup Utility.
Share the Printer
After you are able to print to the printer directly, you can configure Mac OS X
to share the printer over the network to allow other Mac OS X users to use the
printer as well.
1. Open the Print & Fax pane in System Preferences.
Print & Fax pane is located in the System Preferences Hardware
group.
Select printer sharing by clicking the checkbooks “Share my printers
with other computers.”
Any printers connected to your system are now accessible to other
users on the network.
2. Open Printer Setup Utility on the second computer.
You should find your printer already listed, because Mac OS X scans
the local network for any shared USB printers and automatically adds
them to the list of printers you can use. As before, you may find printers
other than your own listed. For now, disregard the other printers.
3. On the second computer, select the printer that is connected to your
computer.
If you want to know more about the printers in the list, you can
configure Printer Setup Utility to display additional information columns.8
If you want to know more about the printers in the list, you can
configure Printer Setup Utility to display additional information columns.
4. Choose Columns > Location from the View menu.
Printer Setup Utility adds a Location column displaying the location
information that you entered earlier. When sharing printers, it is
recommended that you always provide location information to let users
know where to find their printouts.
5. As you did on the other system, open a text document.
6. Choose Print from the File menu.
7. Select the shared printer from the Shared Printers menu item in the
Printer pop-up menu.
Notice that if you hold the pointer over the printer name, a small
window appears displaying information about the shared printer.
8. Click Print.
The document will be printed on the USB printer connected to your first
computer.
9. Close the document.
10. Quit the text application you are using.
11. Don’t save changes if requested.
12. Quit Printer Setup Utility.
13. On your first computer, turn off Printer Sharing.
14. Quit System Preferences.
Add a Networked Printer in Printer Setup Utility
Unlike USB printers that are discovered and added to the list of available
printers automatically, you need to manually add networked PostScript
printers in Printer Setup Utility.
1. Open Printer Setup Utility.
When Printer Setup Utility opens, it displays the printer list,
The list will already contain entries if you completed the USB printing
exercise or if there are shared USB printers on the network. During this
exercise you can disregard these printers.
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exercise you can disregard these printers.
2. Click the Add button.
Printer Setup Utility will display a dialog that allows you to specify
information about which printer to add to your printer list.
3. Choose IP Printing from the pop-up menu near the top of the dialog.
4. In the Printer’s Address field, enter the IP address of a networked
printer on your LAN or WAN
5. Leave the other settings with their default values and click Add.
Printer Setup Utility will redisplay the list of printers with your network
printer added.
6. Quit Printer Setup Utility.
Print to a Networked Printer
Now that you have added a printer in Printer Setup Utility, it is time to make
sure that you can print to it.
1. Open a text document.
Your text application will launch and open the file.
2. Choose the Print command from the File menu or press Command-P.
You should see the print dialog.
3. Choose your networked printer from the Printer pop-up menu.
4. Click Print.
Confirm that the file has printed.
5. Quit your text application.
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Windows Printing
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Printer Sharing and Windows
Printing to a Windows Shared Printer
Printing from Windows
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Printer Sharing and Windows
Mac OS X supports printer sharing over SMB. As of Mac OS X 10.3 this means two things:
Windows computers can print to a Mac OS X machine’s shared printer.
A Mac OS X machine can print to a printer shared by a Windows machine over the network.
Printing to a Windows Shared Printer
With Mac OS X 10.3, you can print to printers shared by Windows computers. To add Windows
Printer Setup Utility, click Add and select Windows Printing from the pop-up menu. You can list p
workgroup or domain.
Printing from Windows
If you turn on Windows sharing in Mac OS X in Sharing pane of System Preferences, Windows
see your Mac OS X computer in Network Neighborhood.
On a Windows computer, you can browse for the Mac OS X computer under its workgroup (you
workgroup of your Mac OS X computer in Directory Assistant).
If you double-click the Mac OS X computer’s icon in network neighborhood, you will be able to s
shared. You can double-click the shared printer to use it. A screen will prompt you for the driver,
from the Internet.
Print Queues
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Managing Print Queues
Managing Print Queues
Each printer that you have set up has a queue associated with it. Once you share that printer, o
printing to it can send their jobs to that printer’s queue on your computer.
You can view and manage a printer’s queue from within Printer Setup Utility by double-clicking t
print list. A window will open displaying the printer’s queue and the current print status.
Individual print jobs can be paused, restarted, or deleted from the queue by selecting the print jo
Resume, or Delete buttons, respectively. The Stop Jobs button stops the print queue completely
button is clicked, after which the print jobs in the queue will resume printing.
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Resume, or Delete buttons, respectively. The Stop Jobs button stops the print queue completely
button is clicked, after which the print jobs in the queue will resume printing.
If a queue is stopped and someone tries to print to it, a dialog will ask them to add the job to the
queue’s owner to turn it on, or to restart the queue and print the job.
If you are resharing a network printer, you can conveniently monitor and manage what is being s
the network printer’s queue.
The queue can also be managed from the command line. The command line section of this cou
detail.
Setting Printer Info
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Default Printer
Default Printer
The default printer listing in Printer Setup Utility’s Printer List might not be intuitive, especially fo
only display an IP address in the Printer List.
You can, however, modify the entry and change the name to something more descriptive and us
You can also provide location information to help others find where the printer is physically locat
information, select a printer from Printer List and choose Show Info from the Printers menu in Pr
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Page Setup
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Page Setup Dialogs
Page Setup Dialogs
The Page Setup dialogs from Mac OS X applications allow you to change the appearance of pa
choices for settings depend on the application you are printing from and the printer you are usin
Because the printable area on a page varies for each type of printer, it is important to use the Pa
specify the intended printer so that the application does not attempt to exceed the printable area
configuration selected in Page Setup is used by the application to determine the printable area.
The “Format for” option is subtle in how it affects the page. Each printer has different page boun
closer to the top and bottom edges of the page; others can print closer to the left and right edge
selection specifies a lowest common denominator for the printable area, one that just about any
If you find that headers or footers are cropped when printed from your computer, but not from an
the printer selection in Page Setup as it is probably set to Generic. Selecting the correct printer m
problem.
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the printer selection in Page Setup as it is probably set to Generic. Selecting the correct printer m
problem.
The default items in the Paper Size pull-down menu in Page Setup are country-specific. For exa
United States as your country when you configured your computer, using Setup Assistant, the P
will include US Letter and US Legal.
Print Dialog
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Main Interface for Printing
Main Interface for Printing
The Print dialog is the main interface for printing from any Mac OS X application. Printers that
are configured in Printer Setup Utility can be chosen from the Printer pop-up menu on the Print
dialog.
Options such as number of copies and pages, layout, output, paper feed, and error handling can
be configured and saved as settings. Additional options depend on the printer driver being used
and might be configurable in the Printer Setup Utility on the Show Info pane.
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Desktop Printer Icon
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Creating a Desktop Printer
Creating a Desktop Printer
If you create a desktop icon for a printer, you can quickly print documents by dragging them to th
You can also double-click the icon to open the printer’s Jobs window and monitor documents wh
To create a desktop printer, either select the printer in the Printer Setup Utility and choose Crea
from the Printer’s menu, or drag the printer’s name from the Printer List to the desktop.
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Printing from Command Line
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Use of Command Line
Use of Command Line
You can use either lp or lpr to print from the command line.
You can get printer status using lpstat and other information using lpinfo. You can use cancel
For more information about printing from the command line, see http://127.0.0.1:631/.
As an administrator, you can add, delete, and manage printers using the command lpadmin.
For more information about administering printers from the command line, see http://127.0.0.1:6
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PDF Workflow
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Saving as PDF
PDF Workflow Feature
Saving as PDF
In Mac OS X, it is easy for you to save a document as a PDF file. All you need to do
is open the Print dialog, click the Save As PDF button, and provide a name and
location for the PDF file.
PDF Workflow Feature
The PDF Workflow feature in Mac OS X 10.3 gives you the ability to specify how
you will prepare the PDF and what to do with it after creation.
For example, you can specify to open the PDF with Adobe Acrobat or to optimize
the PDF for onscreen viewing.
The PDF Workflow buttons are hidden by default. The buttons will appear if the
system detects either of these two directories—/Library/PDF Services/ or
~/Library/PDF Services/.
You can add a menu item to the PDF Workflow pop-up menu by adding an item
from this list to either of these directories:
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An alias to a folder
An application
A UNIX tool
An AppleScript file
The PDF Workflow feature works with aliases as well as original
items.
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You can also add items to /Network/Library/PDF Services/ which
will appear in the local Workflow pop-up menu.
However, the local /Library/PDF Services or ~/Library/PDF
Services/ directory is required to activate the PDF Workflow
feature.
The type of item determines what the item does when you select it from the PDF
Workflow pop-up menu.
For example, if the item is a location (such as a folder), then the PDF is copied to
that location. The name of the item appears as an option in the PDF Workflow popup menu, so it is important that the item is named appropriately.
You can find more information about using PDF Workflows at
http://developer.apple.com/.
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PostScript Format
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Saving a Document in PostScript Format
Saving a Document in PostScript Format
The printing system in Mac OS X includes a PostScript interpreter that allows you to print a
PostScript document to a non–PostScript printer.
You can also use the printing system to convert a document to PostScript format without printing
it.
To do that:
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6.
Open the document
Choose File from the Print menu
Choose a PostScript printer from the Printer pop-up menu
Choose Output Options from the Copies & Pages pop-up menu
Select the Save as File checkbox
Choose PostScript from the Format pop-up menu
If you do not have a PostScript printer, you can create a virtual PostScript printer on your
computer and choose it when you want to convert a file to PostScript.
To create a virtual PostScript printer,
Open Printer Setup Utility
Click Add
Choose IP Printing from the pop-up menu
Choose Internet Printing Protocol from the Printer Type pop-up menu
Type
localhost
in the printer’s Address field
6. Provide an easy-to-remember name in the Queue Name text box
7. Choose a printer manufacturer’s name from the Printer Model pop-up menu
8. select a postscript printer in the Model list
9. Click Add
10. When you save a document as a PostScript file, choose this printer from the Printer popup menu in the Print dialog
1.
2.
3.
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5.
Once you have a PostScript file on your computer, you can print it on either a PostScript or a
raster printer by dragging the file’s icon to the desktop printer alias of a PostScript printer.
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You can also print a PostScript file from the command line. (You could open the PostScript file
in Preview and print from there, but Preview would convert the file to PDF for printing, which
might degrade the quality.)
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Fax Support
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Faxing from Your System
Faxing from Your System
With Mac OS X version 10.3, you can print a document to a fax machine.
In the Print dialog, click the Fax button and specify where to fax the document to. Faxing uses y
modem.
You can also share your fax/modem with other computers so they can fax through your compute
can share a printer.
Once you enable printer sharing, users on other computers can add your modem to their printer
To add your modem to their printer list, they choose Show Fax List from the View menu in Printe
click your modem in the list.
Note that when you are sharing your fax/modem, other computers
on the network using your machine to send faxes will spool their
print jobs to your machine at which point your machine will handle
the faxing process.
This means that their print spool job will be stored on your system
until it’s faxed. The location for the spooled files is /var/spool/fax.
You can also set your system to receive faxes by selecting the appropriate checkbox in the Prin
Preferences.
Printing from Classic
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Using the Chooser
PPD Use
Using the Chooser
The Classic environment uses some features of the Mac OS X printing architecture, but not
all of its features.
As of 10.3, if you add an IP printer in Printer Setup Utility, it will be
available in Classic, but you still must choose LaserWriter 8 in
Chooser. For a USB printer, you must install the Classic driver.
You do not use Printer Setup Utility to configure printers for printing from Classic
applications. Instead, you use the Chooser to select a printer. The Chooser is available
from the Apple menu when you are running a Classic application.
You use the Print command in the File menu of the Classic application to print the
document. Mac OS 9 printer drivers are located in /System Folder/Extensions/.
PPD Use
You can install a Mac OS 9 printer description file (PPD) in Mac OS X.
Most printer manufacturers include an installer to place the PPD into the correct location for
Mac OS X. However, in some cases you might have to install the PPD under Classic, then
manually move it to the Mac OS X location.
In that case, you need to create a directory structure in
/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/
and copy the PPD files from /System Folder/Extensions/Printer Descriptions to that new
directory. Do not delete the copy in /System Folder/Extensions/Printer Descriptions.
Placing the PPD in
/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/ allows
Printer Setup Utility to find it automatically.
You could also store it in some arbitrary directory. Then when you
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add the printer, select “Other” as a printer model and navigate
the PPD’s location.
You could also store it in some arbitrary directory. Then when you
add the printer, select “Other” as a printer model and navigate to
the PPD’s location.
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Troubleshooting
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Troubleshooting Issues
Troubleshooting Issues
Here are some strategies for identifying and fixing problems with printing:
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Attempt to print to a different printer, if one is available, to see if the
problem is with the printer.
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Try removing and then re-adding the printer in Printer Setup Utility.
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For USB printers, try adding them manually. If you are unable to locate
the printer in Printer Setup Utility, use the troubleshooting techniques
suggested in the Peripherals course to identify if you have a hardware
or software issue.
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For network printers, use the networking troubleshooting techniques
you learned in Panther Networking to make sure that your network
settings are correct and your connection to the network is functioning
properly.
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If you’ve verified that it isn’t a hardware problem, but you can’t see the
printer listed in Printer Setup Utility, reinstall the printer’s driver. Since
the installation of printer drivers is optional while installing Mac OS X, it
could be that the drivers were never installed. Also, check the
manufacturer’s website to get the latest version of the printer driver.
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If there are problems with the format of the printed documents, make
sure that you formatted the page to the correct printer in Page Setup.
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If a printer feature, such as duplex printing, isn’t available or
functioning, make sure the correct PPD is selected for the printer in
Printer Setup Utility. You may need to configure the installable options
in the printer’s Show Info dialog in Printer Setup Utility.
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Make sure to read the log files related to printing. They are access_log,
error_log, and page_log, all located in /var/log/cups. They serve as the
best source of information for any problems you may have.
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Keep in mind that you might not have control over problems that occur
with network printers and print servers. You should coordinate with the
administrators of those computers and printers to resolve problems.
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Occasionally, you might have to call the printer vendor to resolve a
problem.
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Course Summary
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Review this material before taking the course test.
In this chapter, you were presented with a brief introduction to connecting and
using printers.
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Printer Setup Utility is the central utility for managing printers and
printing. Through it, you can add and delete printers and manage print
queues.
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You can share locally connected printers over the network by turning
on Print Sharing in the Sharing pane or in the Print & Fax pane of
System Preferences.
Once you do that, other computers running Mac OS X 10.2 and higher
will list your locally connected printers.
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Mac OS X printing is based upon Common UNIX Printing System
(CUPS).
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Several techniques are available to troubleshoot issues with Printing.
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