Re: [Printing-architecture] Associate printer

[Tobias Hoffmann <lprint-list@the-axe-effect.de>]

Matt Gessner wrote:
> Well, I actually understand MOST of that... but I think what I was 
> missing was the DeviceManufacturer and DeviceModel set_param stuff.
>
> Thanks for filling that in.
>
> So, by specifying the DeviceManufacturer and DeviceModel fields, 
> THAT'S how HPIJS knows that it's a USB printer versus, say, a network 
> printer or a parallel printer?  (Does it even support network printers 
> without CUPS?)
Well, they only specify the "output format" required for the given 
printer-type. How this output data gets to the printer is again up to you.
Cups has several backends for this; they are quite simple.

On the IJS side you'll have to provide either the OutputFD or the 
OutputFile parameter. A common case is
OutputFD = dup(fileno(stdout))    and then pipe the output from your 
printing filter to one of your output backends.
For example with network printers this could be as simple as
ijs-print-filter [inputfile] | netcat printer-ip 9100

Yet can just as well create a pipe() and do everything in one 
application, then again you can first store everything in a temporary 
file, or ...

  Tobias