Network PDF printing from Windows via a (debian) Linux server
This is just a quick checklist of the things you need to enable printing from a Windows network to a centralized server as PDF files. Modern OSs/applications should give you the option to print to pdf easily, but in the absence of that we have to find another solution.
- Install Linux (Debian)
- Install Samba (aptitude install samba)
- Install CUPS (aptitude install cupsys)
- Install CUPS-PDF (aptitude install cups-pdf)
Configure CUPS. You can do this by browsing to the CUPS port on your server (http://localhost:631). The cups config might not let you do this remotely so you might have to change the permissions. You'll need to add the cups-pdf printer as raw.
- Configure Samba to allow printer sharing
- From windows browse your network, find the printer share and add it to your system.
Notes
- You can configure cups-pdf by editing the config file (/etc/cups/cups-pdf.config)
In the smb.conf you might need to add a few lines to the printer config. If you get permission errors on windows you can try adding the line: use client driver = Yes
When installing the cups-pdf printer you will get better results if you use the ppd file that comes with cups-pdf (/usr/share/ppd/cups-pdf/PostscriptColor.ppd)
In Windows you will need to chose a printer driver. There is no "generic" postscript printer driver. In the past it was recommended to use an Apple Color Laser Writer 12/600. This driver is not available in Windows vista. For a generic postscript driver you might want to use Xerox Phaser 1235 PS. Recently (May/2007), Adobe has said they will produce a generic postscript printer driver for Vista, you might be lucky enough to find that.