Chapter 14: Printing

The DSL Control Panel has a button fro Printer Setup. This script will run the aspfilter which will set up the printer. Once you start the program you will need to accept the license and then you will be asked to accept a license in in a postcard, you can choose no to proceed. The actual script will configure your printer whether it is using a serial, parallel or network connection. It will also set paper settings and resolutions.

The script will check permissions on the /var/spool/lpd directory and should find by default that lp is the owner and group for that directory. You will be asked if this is OK, which it is.

When you add a printer it will look to see if a printer was configured previously, if it was you will need to make the choice if you will overwrite the original entry or not.

The Main Menu will give you these options:

The interface for Apsfilter is difficult. You will find yourself going though a number of windows just to get to the main configuration window you see above. One question you will be asked is if the default permissions are correct, which they should be so they will not be changed. In addition, lp should be the owner of the /var/spool/lpd directory.

The next question will be if you want to add or modify a previously installed printer. When you answer this question it will bring you to the screen you see above.

You will see 7 numbers that need to be configured. Notice to the right of each number are brackets that contain the setting for the printer. For example by default the Printing Quality is set at medium. In the default settings you will need to change 1, 2 and 3.

Number 1 is setting your device drivers. For this you will need to know the make and model of your printer. Enter the number 1 and then you will see the options for adding the device drivers for your printer.

Make your selection, configure for your printer and then be sure to choose Q to finish.

You will need to export your printer so other applications may recognize it.

Here is the command to use:

export printer_name

Of course you will replace printer_name with the name you have set up.