The Common UNIX Printing SystemTM, or CUPS, is the software you use to print from applications like the web browser you are using to read this page. It converts the page descriptions produced by your application (put a paragraph here, draw a line there, and so forth) into something your printer can understand and then sends the information to the printer for printing.

So you have one of those sophisticated office printer models with adjustable guides that allow you to use any weird media size (with some sensible min/max value for width and height)? And you don't know how to tell CUPS to use that size when printing? (Ah... you don't have such a printer, and you are about to skip this article?

A multifunctional printer is capable of doing various task, namely printing, photocopying, printing. Sometimes these printers can be used as a fax machine and you can take direct photo prints from your digital cameras. There are two types of printer. One is inkjet and the other is laser printer.

Printing in Linux, even in this glorious year 2009--almost 2010--of the new millennium, the 21st century, is still fraught with vexations. I have always liked CUPS, the Common Unix Printing System once you figure out your way around it. But there are still some gaps.

Thanks to the OpenPrinting Database and the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), printer support on GNU/Linux is much easier than it was at the turn of the millennium. However, one area in which support still lags is in the detection of ink levels in inkjet printers.

There is one printer manufacturer though that as of last year has begun supporting Linux from top to bottom with their entire line-up of printers. Not only are they providing CUPS drivers, but also they are even printing Tux in the corner of every box they ship right besides the Windows and Apple logos. Do you know who we are talking about?

The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the availability of the Linux Standard Base Driver Development Kit (LSB DDK) for print drivers.

My employer, Warnbro Community Library in Western Australia, had a problem with wasted paper from printing. Library patrons often sent unnecessary print jobs to the printers, then refused to pay for them, leaving reams of unclaimed paper.

What technology has to work right out of the box, but requires cooperation among a dozen companies and even more independent developers? If you answered printing, you probably remember the tussles you've had with this technology on Linux or Unix systems.