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HOWTO: Print to a Linux CUPS Server from MacOSX

In which we learn the joys of easy admin that is the Mac. Not.

CUPS standards for Common Unix Printing System. The Mac comes with a nice graphical tool for printer management which has never really worked. So we manage from the command line. In this example we have a Linux machine with printers attached which is acting as a server.

Depending on your printer, you’ll probably need to install hpijs and espgs - available from linuxprinting.org

Here are the steps to get it working:

1. First you need the ppd file for your printers. Go to linuxprinting.org and choose your printer from the menu. Click OK. Download the ppd file.

2. Copy the ppd file to /usr/share/cups/model (You’ll need to be root to do this)

3. Run the lpadmin command as follows:

lpadmin -p (printer-name) -v ipp://(server)/printers/(printer-name-on-server) -m (ppd-file) -E

In the above:

printer-name: is the name you want to use for the printer on your Mac

server: is the name/ip address of your Linux server

printer-name-on-server: is the name of the server knows the printer as

ppd-file: is the ppd file you downloaded in step 1.

See the lpadmin page for full details.

That’s it! Have fun.

Posted by simonb at 02:24 PM in Mac | Email this entry

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