The interconnection of the printing world - research on printing technology under Linux system

In modern society, printing technology has become an indispensable part. In the rapidly developing digital era, printing technology under Linux system is particularly important. This article will conduct a series of studies on printing technology under Linux systems and explore how to achieve efficient, stable, and secure printing services under Linux systems.

If your printer is not automatically detected by the system, you can find out how to manually add a printer on Linux in this article. This article assumes you are using the GNOME graphical desktop system, and the setup process also applies to KDE or most other desktop systems.

Printer driver

When you try to print files with a printer, first confirm whether the updated printer driver has been installed on your Linux system.

There are three major categories of printer drivers you can try to install:

• The open source Gutenprint driver provided as an installation package bundled with your Linux system
• Special driver provided by printer manufacturer
• Printer driver provided by third-party development

The open source printer driver library can drive more than 700 printers and is worth installing. There may be a driver for your printer in it, and it may be able to automatically set up your printer (so you can use it) .

Install open source driver package (library)

Some Linux distributions have pre-installed open source printer driver packages. If not, you can use the package manager to install it. For example, on Linux systems with Fedora, CentOS, Magela and other similar distributions, execute the following command to install:

$ sudo dnf install gutenprint

HP series printers also need to install HP’s Linux Graphics and Printing System Package (HPLIP). For example, on Debian, Linux Mint and other similar systems, you can use the following command:

$ sudo apt install hplip

Install the driver provided by the manufacturer

Many times because printer manufacturers use non-standard interface protocols, in this case the open source printer driver cannot drive the printer. In other cases, open source drivers can make the printer work, but will lack some vendor-specific features. In these cases, you need to visit the manufacturer's website to find the Linux platform driver for your printer model. The installation process varies, read the installation guide carefully to install step by step.

If your printer is not supported by the manufacturer at all, you may have to try the driver software for this model of printer provided by a third party. Such third-party drivers are not open source, but neither are the proprietary drivers for most printers. If you need to spend extra money to get help from the supplier to install the driver and use your printer, that is very distressing, or you simply throw away the printer, at least you know that you will never buy this brand again next time Printer.

Universal Print Driver System (CUPS)

Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) was developed by Easy Software Products in 1997 and acquired by Apple in 2007. This is the open source base software package for printing on the Linux platform, and most modern distributions provide a customized interface for it. Thanks to CUPS technology, you can discover printers connected to your computer via USB or even shared printers connected to the same network.

Once you have installed the required driver packages, you can add your printer manually. First, connect the printer to a running computer and turn on the printer power. Then find and open Printers settings from the Activity screen or app list.

printer settings

Based on the driver package you have installed, your Linux system may automatically detect and recognize your printer model, and you can use your printer without additional settings.

printer settings

Once you find your printer model in the list, set it up to use this driver, and congratulations, you can print with it on your Linux system.

(If your printer is not automatically recognized,) you need to add the printer yourself. In the "Printer" setting interface, click the unlock button in the upper right corner, enter the administrative user password, and the button will transform into an "Add Printer" button.

Then click the "Add Printer" button, and the computer will search for the connected local printer model and match the corresponding driver. If you want to add a network shared printer, enter the IP address of the printer or its server machine in the search box.

searching for a printer

Select the printer model you want to add, click the "Add" button to add the printer driver to the system, and then you can use it.

Printing on Linux systems

Printing on a Linux system is easy, whether you are using a local or network printer. If you plan to buy a printer, it is recommended to check the Open Printing Technology Organization's (supported printers) database (OpenPrinting.org) to see if the printer you want to buy has a corresponding open source driver. If you already own a printer, you now know how to use your printer on your Linux system.

Through the exploration and experiments in this article, we can see that it is not difficult to implement efficient, stable, and secure printing services under Linux systems. You can use CUPS as the core of print service support. You can choose to use other protocols such as lpd or samba during specific configuration. At the same time, you need to pay attention to the security issues of the printer device. In the days to come, we will see printing technology under Linux systems being continuously optimized and improved, making the connection between the printing world and the digital world closer.

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