Topic: SME 6, LaserJet Overlay and CUPS

[mushm0uth]

Greetings.  

I discovered SME and contribs.org through my frantic search for an economical solution to a pre-printed forms problem. I am convinced that the overlay solution posted here (http://www.ibizbox.com/overlay/) is what I need but I have run into a problem.

After installing SME 6 and creating a new network printer, I am unable to print to it from a client machine, much less implement the overlay.  After reading the online docs, I installed CUPS.  Now, I can print great from my client workstation, but the beforementioned overlay instructions are no longer applicable, because the CUPS printer doesn't seem to be the same as an SME printer.

Has anyone else run into a similar problem?  I am SO CLOSE, yet so far away from saving my company lots of money. Any help is greatly appreciated.


Deuce

[Robert]

Yes, there is a difference between the standard SME printing system, LPRng, and CUPS. For instance, CUPS doesn't use printcap to specify input filters like LPRng does, which means that the printcap template fragments from the overlay package you refer to won't have the desired effect. Also, the PCL macro filter itself doesn't conform to CUPS filter specifications, so would need some modification. You'd also need to make a PPD that instructs CUPS to send PCL input through the PCL macro filter. If all that doesn't sound like your idea of fun, you might be better off getting LPRng to work properly. Updating the e-smith-LPRng package, as dicussed numerous times in these forums, might be all that's required. If you do wish to convert the PCL macro filter to a CUPS filter, a detailed post to one of the CUPS mailing lists might be worth a try.

[mushm0uth]

Thanks for the info. I should have mentioned that I had updated LPRng based on perusal of the forums, to no avail.

Thanks to posts from another thread I found the ISO for 5.6 and network printing seems to work fine out of the box in that version, so I'm going to go through the process of creating the overlay again and keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks for your help, it is truly appreciated.