The configuration tool allows the perform administrative tasks, including adding and removing new printers, and changing their global settings. Regular users can also run it, to easily inspect job queues, examine the printer properties and change their local preferences.
When started, the configuration tools show a list of installed printers from the printing system. Linux printers and other printers are presented in a tree-like structure at the left of the main dialog.
The right part of the main dialog shows a number of tabs that display information regarding the currently selected printer.
The Info tab shows general information about the queue, as configured in the printing system.
The Jobs tab allows you to inspect and manage the job queue for the selected printer. The Configuration Tool allows you to manage jobs even for printers from other manufacturers.
The Properties tab allows you to change the default printer settings. See "Changing Printer Properties" below.
The "File" menu allows you to change the options for your printing system. Although the defaults detected at installation time will work fine most of the time, in some circumstances you may want to change some of these options. The options are different depending on the printing system in use.
When you try to configure a new Linux printer, the configuration tool will do its best to autodetect any printer that may be connected to the computer through the parallel or USB ports.
The "Add Printer" dialog is comprised of four tabs:
This is where you choose the model of printer you want to install. If a new printer could be detected, it will automatically be selected in the list of models. When a printer model supports different printing languages (PostScript, PCL, SPL), you can select the language to be used.
If your printer is not in the list of models, and you obtained a corresponding PPD file from Linux, you can add the printer to the model by clicking on the Pick PPD File button and selecting the PPD file.
This tab allows you to choose how your computer will communicate with the printer. If the printer could be detected automatically, the correct settings will be already selected. The available options are :
The Server is the SMB name for the print server (this is not an IP address). The Resource is the name of the SMB resource on the server.
For instance, if you want to access the printer commonly referred to as \\MACHINE\PRINTER\, then MACHINE would be the Server, and PRINTER would be the Resource.
The IP address for the server can be specified only on non-CUPS printing systems, as CUPS doesn't allow to specify this information.
If needed, you can specify the SMB workgroup name and log in with a user/password combination.Warning: IPP connection types are not working on LPR/LPRng printing system.
This tab allow you to set the global defaults for the various parameters available for the selected model of printer. The available settings vary depending on the models, but common settings include printing resolution, paper size, paper source, etc. These global defaults can be overriden individually by users.
Some printers have conflicting settings, meaning that some settings for two options can't be selected at the same time. When you change a setting and the Printer Package detects such a conflict, the conflicting option is changed to a "No Choice" value, and you have to choose an option that does not conflict before being able to submit the changes.
Parameters for the queue can be defined here. You can choose the name of the queue on the system. You can also make the printer the new default queue by checking the checkbox next to "Make this the default printer". On some printing systems (currently CUPS only), you may enter a description for the queue (by default set to the model of the printer), and you can also specify an additional description of its physical location.
The administrator can remove an installed queue from the system, either by clicking on the "Remove" icon in the toolbar, using the "Printer" menu or right-clicking on the printer with the mouse and selecting "Remove".
After a Linux printer has been added, its setting can be changed through the "Properties" tab. The actual settings depend on the selected model. Since it is possible for some of the settings to be in conflicts with each other, it is only possible to apply the changes if no conflicts have been detected. When a conflict is detected, the conflicting option is changed to a "No choice" value, and must then be selected to a non-conflicting choice before being able to submit the new printer properties.
Original "factory" defaults may be restored for the printer by clicking on the Factory Defaults button.
Regular users are able to override the system-wide default settings defined by the administrator. When a regular user clicks on "Apply", these custom settings will be saved in the user's profile and may be later used with LLPR. If the administrator is running the configuration tool, then the settings will be saved as the new global defaults.
You need to have proper permissions to be able to manage jobs. In the "Jobs" window, it is possible to select several jobs at the same time and apply an operation to all of the selected jobs by using the buttons at the bottom. The configuration tool allows you to perform the following operations on print jobs :
By right-clicking on a queue name, a menu pops up that allows some additional manipulations.