[TriLUG] CUPS configuration difficulties

[Tanner Lovelace]

Paul D. Boyle said the following on 9/13/04 3:52 PM:

> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I recently upgraded my old SuSE 7.3 distribution to SuSE 9.1.  The SuSE
> docs seemed to strongly push CUPS as the printing subsystem of choice.
> That, coupled with the fact that BSD lpd is no longer supported by SuSE,
> I decided to take the plunge and move to CUPS.  The short version of
> this email is that, as others on this list have discovered, CUPS is
> a freakin nightmare to configure. As an aside, the SuSE Yast printer
> configuration tool, hangs up when reading the configuration files,
> so I've been trying to configure CUPS via the web interface as well as
> text editing the .conf files directly.

You know, I've never had any problem configuring CUPS.  Perhaps it's
just me, but it really doesn't seem that difficult.  Have you tried
looking at the documentation at http://localhost:631/documentation.html ?

> Now the longer version:
> I have an HP LaserJet 4m+ hooked up via parallel port to my main computer
> at work.  I have gotten to the point where I can print from this computer
> however, I must specify the printer's name.   I would rather have my local
> printer be the default printer for my system.  When I fire up the web
> interface, the Printer administration page indicates that the default
> destination for print jobs is some other printer in our department.
> When I edit the /etc/cups/client.conf file and add the "ServerName"
> directive so that it points to my local computer, a different (undesired)
> computer on our network then is indicated to be the default destination.
> This is unexpected (and annoying) behavior.

This sounds like a DNS problem.  You must make sure that both the
computer you're running cups on and the computer you're accessing
the web interface from understand the use of that name.  If you
haven't setup either DNS or hosts files on both computers, don't
do this.

> I would really like to make the printer attached to my parallel port
> the default printer for my system.  This isn't an extraordinary or exotic
> configuration, and I would appreciate anyone's pointers on how to make it
> work.
> 
> I've been messing with this for a couple of days now, and I feel
> frustrated.  
> 
> Thanks for any help,

Like I said, have you looked at the documentation?  If you select
the "Software Administrators Manual", it shows exactly how to
configure the default printer.  From the manual:

  Setting the Default Printer

  Run the lpadmin command with the -d option  to set a default printer:

  /usr/sbin/lpadmin -d printer ENTER

  The default printer can be overridden by the user using the lpoptions(1)
  command.

Now, see, that wasn't hard. :-)

Cheers,
Tanner