1.6. Printing

Printers can either be connected to your system locally or via a network. Either kind of configuration is made initially using YaST. For an in-depth coverage of printer configuration, refer to the printer chapter in the Administration Guide. As soon as a connection has been established, start using the printer. Both desktops provide applications enabling you to monitor and edit the print jobs queued at the selected printer.

1.6.1. Managing Print Jobs in GNOME

Start Cups Manager from the command line with gnome-cups-manager or from the main menu. A window opens showing any printers attached to your system. Double-click the icon representing the printer queue to monitor to open a window holding the list of print jobs. See Figure 1.4, “Managing Print Jobs with GNOME Cups Manager”.

Figure 1.4. Managing Print Jobs with GNOME Cups Manager

Managing Print Jobs with GNOME Cups Manager

The menu bar of the jobs window contains two menus, Printer and Edit. Via the Printer menu, pause the printer, print a test page, or modify the print properties (paper size and orientation, printout mode, and resolution). The Jobs menu allows you to pause, resume, or remove any selected job that is not yet printing.

1.6.2. Managing Print Jobs in KDE

To control print jobs in KDE, use two different applications. Start and configure the print job with KPrinter then control the processing of the print job with KJobViewer.

Start KPrinter with the command kprinter from the command line. A small window opens in which to choose a printer and edit the Properties of your print job, such as page orientation, pages per sheet, and duplex printing. To specify the file to print, the number of copies, and various other options, click Expand at the bottom left. The window then expands and shows four tabs: Files, Copies, Advanced Options, and Additional Tags. See Figure 1.5, “Filing a Print Job with KPrinter”.

Figure 1.5. Filing a Print Job with KPrinter

Filing a Print Job with KPrinter

The first tab, Files, determines the file or files to print. Either drag them from the desktop and drop them into the list window or use the file dialog to locate them. Copies determines the page selection (all pages of the selected document, the currently selected one, or a range) and the number of copies. You may also choose to print only the even or only the odd numbered pages of the selected document. Use Advanced Options to specify any additional information for the print job. Enter any Billing information if needed or set a custom page label at the top and bottom of the page. The Job Priority can also be set here. The fourth tab, Additional Tags is hardly ever needed. Once your print job has been filed, you can watch its progress using KJobViewer.

[Tip]Printing from KDE Applications

The KPrinter dialog opens any time you print from a KDE application. The dialog is basically the same except for the lack of the Files tab, which is not needed because the file to print has already been determined when you clicked the Print button.

Start KJobViewer from the main menu or with the command kjobviewer from the command line. A window like that in Figure 1.6, “Managing Print Jobs with KJobViewer” opens, listing all the print jobs queued on your printer. As long as your print job is not active, you can edit it. Do this using the entries of the Jobs menu.

Figure 1.6. Managing Print Jobs with KJobViewer

Managing Print Jobs with KJobViewer

If, for example, you want to check if you sent the correct document to the printer, you can stop the job and resume it if you decide to print it. Remove your own print jobs from the queue with Remove. To change the printer, select a different printer with Move to Printer.

With Restart, reprint a document. To do this, select Filter+Toggle Completed Jobs, select the desired document, and click Jobs+Restart. Clicking Jobs+Job IPP Report reveals the technical details of a job. Use Jobs+Increase Priority and Jobs+Decrease Priority to set the priority, depending on how quickly you need the document.

Filter enables you to switch between various printers, toggle completed jobs, and limit the view to your own print jobs by selecting Show Only User Jobs. The current user is then displayed in the top right field.

Settings+Configure KJobViewer opens a configuration dialog. Here, determine the maximum number of print jobs to display. Enter a number in the field or use the slider to the right to determine a value. Press OK to save the setting or Cancel to exit the dialog without saving.

The icons in the toolbar correspond to the functions you can access by way of the menu. A help text explaining the function is displayed when you move the mouse pointer over one of the icons.

The job list consists of eight columns. The job ID is automatically assigned by the print system to identify the various jobs. The next column contains the login of the user who sent the job followed by the filename of the document. The status column indicates whether a job is still in the queue, currently being printed, or already completed. Next, the size of the document is displayed in kilobytes and number of pages. The default priority of 50 can be increased or reduced if necessary. Billing information can be cost centers or other company-specific information. If you right-click a job in the list, the Jobs menu opens under the mouse pointer, allowing you to select an action. Only a few functions are available for completed jobs. If you activate Keep window permanent, KJobViewer opens automatically when you log in the next time.


SUSE LINUX User Guide 9.3