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HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
THIS TUTORIAL IS OUTDATED
Thanks to everyone from this thread for all their guidance. The sticking point in this whole process is that you need to be root to edit the permissions on the executable.
- Install the cups-pdf package (I used version 2.2.0-1)
- Go to System -> Administration -> Printing
- Doubleclick "New Pinter"
- Notice that there is no mention of a CUPS PDF printer
- Open a terminal and tpe "sudo nautilus" and then your password
- Go to Filesystem -> usr -> lib -> cups -> backend
- Rightclick "cups-pdf" and select Properties
- Go to the Permissions tab and click the "Set user ID" special flag
- Again try to add a new printer
- There is now a "PDF Printer" detected, select it
- Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer (Rev 3b)
- Give it a name, like PDF Printer
- Right click on the newly created printer, and select Properties
- Click "Print a Test Page"
- The file should be in your Home folder, under the PDF folder
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Dude thanks, just at the right time....
but you know, how are we supposed to ask grandma to do something like that...
stuff like this should be as simple as possible.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Once it's set up then it's easy to use. Would you really expect 'grandma' to install _any_ kind of printer, or a PDF printer on windows? Or know what a PDF is? Or know what a printer is?
On a related note, thanks for the HOWTO.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for this, it's really useful. I hope this gets enabled by default in future Ubuntu releases.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by KillerBOB
I hope this gets enabled by default in future Ubuntu releases.
Well, KillerBOB, I'm waiting for that since Warty... :(
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Hi,
I am running a clean install of Dapper. There is no cups-pdf in my usr/lib/cups/backend. What now? :-(
Regards,
Paul
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by sailorxyz
I am running a clean install of Dapper. There is no cups-pdf in my usr/lib/cups/backend. What now? :-(
try this...
Code:
sudo updatedb
locate cups-pdf
if you still don't see it then...
Code:
sudo apt-get install cups-pdf
like i said before, I wish for nuB user's sake, that this kinda stuff is to be enabled by default or "grandma" intuitive.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Good howto - and easy as pie to do. This is an easy feature, that should be enabled by default though. I think Apple has it in OSX, so in order to compete on a feature to feature basis, we should have it too :D
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
seuaniu:
Look at any desktop OS. Is installing a PDF printer 'grandma intuitive'? No. If grandma can't follow a set of simple typed commands then grandma doesn't get PDF printing either way. Do you think 'grandma' even knows what a PDF _is_?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks worked like a charm! Poor Granny..leave her alone... ;-)
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I'm sure some grandmas could do this. It's just a matter of how much they need to do it, and to what degree of "inconvenience" they'll tolerate in order to obtain the functionality.
Old != stupid
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Guess we know who will be cooking the next holiday dinner!
Won't be granny, she'll be recompiling your kernel with funroll-loops.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimcooncat
Guess we know who will be cooking the next holiday dinner!
Won't be granny, she'll be recompiling your kernel with funroll-loops.
LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
grandma-ubuntu-pdf-guru-hacker :p
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I am attempting to follow the guide. When I get to Step 2 of 2:Printer Driver, nothing shows up. Nothing in the dropdown for manufacturer or driver. I had previously installed a network printer through samba (brother mfc-8300),
Anyone have an idea how to get the default drivers to show?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thank you worked like a dream on a fresh install of dapper.
Mudra
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by elpresidente
When I get to Step 2 of 2:Printer Driver, nothing shows up. Nothing in the dropdown for manufacturer or driver.
Anyone have an idea how to get the default drivers to show?
In the dropdown menu go to Generic and there you'll find the postscript etc rev3 printer.
@LoKi128:
Many thanks for this HOWTO!
I tried installing and changing file permissions according to the CUPS-PDF website http://www.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~...entation.shtml but it didn't work...
Great to have a PDF-printer again in Dapper. :-)
Cheers
Franko30
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Very cool! Thanks for this.
Grandma will be a happy camper once I do this for her!
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for this guide!!! Great howto
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Nice one, but it's a bit messy. Maybe you should use the code tags and give the precise commands (like apt-get install) to make it simpler. You could also use "sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" instead of using nautilus as suggested in the other post.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
You could also use "sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" instead of using nautilus
Unfortunately I have to contradict that.
HOWTOs are mostly for people not that familiar with the Terminal and commandline stuff. So I think it's nice to see where in Nautilus you can do this sort of changes.
Maybe both (the chmod and nautilus versions) would be nice. ;-)
Cheers
Franko30
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by Franko30
Unfortunately I have to contradict that.
HOWTOs are mostly for people not that familiar with the Terminal and commandline stuff. So I think it's nice to see where in Nautilus you can do this sort of changes.
Maybe both (the chmod and nautilus versions) would be nice. ;-)
Well I'm sorry but there have been discussions about this before and it's pretty obvious copy and pasting one line into the command line is much easier and beats going through 10+ steps to get the same outcome. There's literally nothing that could go wrong. Ingoring the fact that explaining how to navigate through a gui can only be so precise, the less steps the better because there's less for them to screw up. What's the chance of them leaning on their keyboard by accident and deleting something important in nautilus compared to them screwing up a single copy and paste?
Also if you're using linux and aren't familiar with the command line well then now's the time to get familiar, not to mention people usually get familiar with the command line from following guides like those avaiilable on this forum. Now If you don't want or care for getting familiar with the command line then you better switch OS and stop wasting our time trying to help people who won't (read unwilling) even help themselves.
Sorry if I kind of sound a little annoyed. I think it's ok to try to avoid the command line, I just don't condone encouraging people to avoid it.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon
Well I'm sorry but there have been discussions about this before and it's pretty obvious copy and pasting one line into the command line is much easier and beats going through 10+ steps to get the same outcome. There's literally nothing that could go wrong. Ingoring the fact that explaining how to navigate through a gui can only be so precise, the less steps the better because there's less for them to screw up. What's the chance of them leaning on their keyboard by accident and deleting something important in nautilus compared to them screwing up a single copy and paste?
Also if you're using linux and aren't familiar with the command line well then now's the time to get familiar, not to mention people usually get familiar with the command line from following guides like those avaiilable on this forum. Now If you don't want or care for getting familiar with the command line then you better switch OS and stop wasting our time trying to help people who won't (read unwilling) even help themselves.
Sorry if I kind of sound a little annoyed. I think it's ok to try to avoid the command line, I just don't condone encouraging people to avoid it.
I absolutely second what you say. I believe that it's pretty dangerous to tell a new user who is not used to linux in general and permissions in particular to open a nautilus window with root privileges. Just imagine what happens if he leaves it open for a while, then maybe forgets about this and starts to meddle with his system while trying to follow the latest tutorial. If the person is able to open a terminal and type sudo nautilus, then he is also able to copy/paste the chmod-line.
I am not saying that the average linux beginner will start to randomly delete directories in the / dir :-), but as always, safety first. Ever thought about a harmless exploit in nautilus that becomes severe once nautilus is run as root? Or maybe I'm just being paranoid :-) Just my 2 ct.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for the howto :)
Is there anyway I can make the pdf printer to ask me where I want to save the file rather than doing it in the home folder directly?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for the guide. As a new ubuntu linux user, it's nice to be able to find how-to's for the important things !
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Well done. Answers my question as to why the "PDF Printer" isn't detected by default.
Works exactly as described on my system which was upgraded from 5.10 to 6.06.
Thanks!
Peter
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Great how-to. Works like a charm.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks, this very helpfull.
Ounas
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Did not work for me (nothing appears in the PDF subdirectory). I get the following message in
/var/log/cups/cups-pdf_log
[ERROR] failed to set file mode for PDF file (non fatal) (/home/richard/PDF/_howto__General_6_06_-_HOWTO__Install_Cups-PDF_-_Page_3_-_Ubuntu_Support_Forums.pdf)
Looks like some kind of wierd permissions issue
ls -al /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf reveals
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 23120 2006-05-17 21:49 /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
Any ideas?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
The permissions look the same on my system. Not sure what that is. Bumping it for you hereby.
Anyway, I have put this in the wiki, because I didn't find anything to make this work in dapper anywhere in it before.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/fo...tware/cups-pdf
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Great HOWTO!
I just posted a correction for the O'Reilly book "Ubuntu Hacks" Hack #26, "Make Your Own PDFs" citing this thread.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
nice HOWTO........ btw how to make this work on network like my HPLaserjet-1010 do
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
You can probably share your PDF printer like any other.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
i already do that, i know because i can see that printer (PDF printer & Laserjet-1010) on another computer but just PDF printer didnt do the job. PDF printer only can print from server not client.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I'm having a strange problem here.
I had the cups-pdf running on Breezy and now wanted to set it up on Dapper.
I installed the cups-pdf and and can find it in the 'backend' directory, change the permissions as required, but it still doesn't show up as a detected printer???
Anyone have an idea or similar experience??
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
OK, I found the problem. I'm having a conflict with my network printer. The printer hangs on my wife's computer (which is also Ubuntu) and I print over the cups network. If I turn that off, the pdf printer pops on. I have a vague idea how to correct this and I'll give it a shot this weekend.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
excellent howto! I used the pdf printer i installed to print a pdf of the howto for later use during installs :)
Ciao!
Lorris
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LoKi128
Thanks to everyone from
this thread for all their guidance. The sticking point in this whole process is that you need to be root to edit the permissions on the executable.
- Install the cups-pdf package (I used version 2.2.0-1)
- Go to System -> Administration -> Printing
- Doubleclick "New Pinter"
- Notice that there is no mention of a CUPS PDF printer
- Open a terminal and tpe "sudo nautilus" and then your password
- Go to Filesystem -> usr -> lib -> cups -> backend
- Rightclick "cups-pdf" and select Properties
- Go to the Permissions tab and click the "Set user ID" special flag
- Again try to add a new printer
- There is now a "PDF Printer" detected, select it
- Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer (Rev 3b)
- Give it a name, like PDF Printer
- Right click on the newly created printer, and select Properties
- Click "Print a Test Page"
- The file should be in your Home folder, under the PDF folder
Yeah very simple and easy way .... However, I have a unique problem, I did not find "Printing" in the system "Administration" ... I don't have it ... Anypne can help telling me how to "Printing" in the system administration ...
Thanks....
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Works like a dream - thank you very much :KS
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
ok, nice, the virual pdf printer work fine from local and remote.
But there's no /etc/cups-pdf.conf
how do i change the default pdf output location ?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
froggay
ok, nice, the virual pdf printer work fine from local and remote.
But there's no /etc/cups-pdf.conf
how do i change the default pdf output location ?
For future reference use synaptic to find where this file really is:
/etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
sorry i made a mistake in the path.
i tried to copy a template cups-pdf.conf (from cups-pdf website)
to /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf
and changed the "Out"
restart the daemon with /etc/init.d/cupsys restart
but it seems that the /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf is not parsed !
my pdf still going to /home/$USER
what's the problem ?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Can anyone tell me how to get CUPS-PDF working under Xubuntu?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LoKi128
Thanks to everyone from
this thread for all their guidance. The sticking point in this whole process is that you need to be root to edit the permissions on the executable.
- Install the cups-pdf package (I used version 2.2.0-1)
- Go to System -> Administration -> Printing
- Doubleclick "New Pinter"
- Notice that there is no mention of a CUPS PDF printer
- Open a terminal and tpe "sudo nautilus" and then your password
- Go to Filesystem -> usr -> lib -> cups -> backend
- Rightclick "cups-pdf" and select Properties
- Go to the Permissions tab and click the "Set user ID" special flag
- Again try to add a new printer
- There is now a "PDF Printer" detected, select it
- Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer (Rev 3b)
- Give it a name, like PDF Printer
- Right click on the newly created printer, and select Properties
- Click "Print a Test Page"
- The file should be in your Home folder, under the PDF folder
First off, thanks so much for the how-to! This works beautifully! I have a couple additional questions, however. As a Windows convert to Linux, the previous PDF driver (not Adobe) I used allowed appending to the beginning or end of the created document, altering its quality and therefore file size, etc. Do such options exist with this listed setup?
Thanks!
Cephus
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thank you Loki, good howto!
;)
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for How-to. Was wondering around how to do that this morning.
A quick question is : why does cups-pdf need SetUID? Doesn't that mean whenever cups-pdf is run, it will run under root priviledges?
Why does it need root priviledge? It is putting the file in my $HOME so if I run it, it should be able to write to my $HOME right?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I use xubuntu and i dont have the gnome printer dialog i use the cups webinterface : http://localhost:631/
Can somebody post these files with a working pdf-printer
/etc/cups/cupsd.conf
/etc/cups/printers.conf
thx
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I have used Cups PDF printer from the beginning :-) Can anyone advise, however, why the output is not machine readable? I'll explain. Open up one of your created pdfs in Adobe reader and then using the Select tool, grab some text, copy and past it into your text editor. You should see a row of little boxes with numbers and letters inside, and not the text you copied. This doesn't happen with "proper" pdfs? Any clues?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I believe cups-pdf uses postscript to genarate pdf, however i am not sure. I have also problems with evence and printing if i generate a pdf with tranparent images (alpha layer) evence cant print them correctly) acrobat can.
So there are diffrences between the engines that are used.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Excellent thanks for this thread I have now got PDF up and running in no time.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Can someone rewrite this howto to work with te cups web interface?
I use xubuntu and it is some what diffrent than the gnone print tool.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for this, it's really useful.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
This was the most helpfull clear and straight forward help I got ever! Thank you worked straight and really well. (but really why isn't this enabled by default?) :-P
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for the great How-To.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
For Xubuntu, install cups-pdf then use
sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
A virtual printer should appear in the printer manager (see the Desktop Guide documentation link on the default browser page for accessing the printer manager).
Step through the set-up as for a normal printer. I used a generic PS/Foomatic printer option that seems to work OK.
Set additional printer options in the printer tab. For web page options like background printing, use the browser page set-up dialogue.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pwk
sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
Thx this was helpfull
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Or you can use this latest version of cups-pdf and if will fix everything.
Just install it. And stay happy....
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yopnono
Or you can use this latest version of cups-pdf and if will fix everything.
Just install it. And stay happy....
I can't speak for the others but I like to keep my system as "stock" as possible.I don't mind using third party software and apps of course;however for core system stuff I won't go outside the repos.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Anduu
I can't speak for the others but I like to keep my system as "stock" as possible.I don't mind using third party software and apps of course;however for core system stuff I won't go outside the repos.
I agree with you about this. Anyhow you can always check the deb before installing it. This deb include the latest cups-pdf.
And also it have the permission fixed. (it set the permission to "user id" during install.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Just found this HOWTO, works great, cheers!
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Sorry to ask but why do we need to install this Cups-PDF ?
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
cups-pdf is only necessary if you want to print to a pdf file
in my case i have sun an hp boxes ( cad station ) and i don't want to install a pdf printer on each box.
So i have installed a pdf printer on the linux box with cups and cups-lpd so that i can directly send task to this spooler from all the cad workstation.
it was working fine with ubuntu 4.1, and now i'm trying to migrate to 6.06 on a sparc machine (without gnome)
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NewbieLearnLinux
Sorry to ask but why do we need to install this Cups-PDF ?
The deb I provided is for people that just like to install the cups-pdf and have it working directly without having to sett permission and stuff.
It does the same as installing from synaptic and setting the permission yourself
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
A more general response is that cups-pdf lets you print from an application to a pdf file rather than a physical printer.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Thanks for the HOWTO. I have a couple of questions, though:
First, why on earth does this backend have to be setuid root? None of the other backends are, so it must be poorly-designed software--especially as most *nix programs go out of their way to avoid setuid root.
How come the deb doesn't set the proper permissions? The whole point of a package is to set everything up automatically. I shouldn't have to read a HOWTO.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mssever
Thanks for the HOWTO. I have a couple of questions, though:
First, why on earth does this backend have to be setuid root? None of the other backends are, so it must be poorly-designed software--especially as most *nix programs go out of their way to avoid setuid root.
How come the deb doesn't set the proper permissions? The whole point of a package is to set everything up automatically. I shouldn't have to read a HOWTO.
I think it's on ubuntu you need to set user id.
If you read the makers website you don't need to do that, but on ubuntu yes... don't know why. You don't need to do that on Fedora 5
http://www.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~vrbehr/cups-pdf/
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
techstop
A more general response is that cups-pdf lets you print from an application to a pdf file rather than a physical printer.
Thanks for answering. I thought OpenOffice.org could export doccuments to PDF files ...
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NewbieLearnLinux
Thanks for answering. I thought OpenOffice.org could export doccuments to PDF files ...
It sure does, but other applications don't have that feature, therefore the need for cups-pdf.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I had used PDFCreator on ******* but I rarely used it after I installed OOo-win. Nevertheless this HowTo is a nice one ...
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Hi, i'm using 64 bits ubuntu and i have downloaded the cups-pdf package v2.4.1-1 from the debian.org repository, i have followed your instructions but the printer doesn't appear as detected, do you have any idea on how to get it to work?
Regards.
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Excellent How-To Thanks :)
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
factor
Hi, i'm using 64 bits ubuntu and i have downloaded the cups-pdf package v2.4.1-1 from the debian.org repository, i have followed your instructions but the printer doesn't appear as detected
i have the same problem on a sun sparc server, i've used apt-get install cups-pdf and the printer pdf:/ does not appear.
So if you find a way, can you post a message here please
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
I managed to get cups-pdf to work in Edgy. Instead of root-nautilus'ing and changing properties, simply open a gnome terminal and execute the following:
Code:
“sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf”
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Re: HOWTO: Install Cups-PDF
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LoKi128
Thanks to everyone from
this thread for all their guidance. The sticking point in this whole process is that you need to be root to edit the permissions on the executable.
- Install the cups-pdf package (I used version 2.2.0-1)
- Go to System -> Administration -> Printing
- Doubleclick "New Pinter"
- Notice that there is no mention of a CUPS PDF printer
- Open a terminal and tpe "sudo nautilus" and then your password
- Go to Filesystem -> usr -> lib -> cups -> backend
- Rightclick "cups-pdf" and select Properties
- Go to the Permissions tab and click the "Set user ID" special flag
- Again try to add a new printer
- There is now a "PDF Printer" detected, select it
- Select the Generic, Postscript Color Printer (Rev 3b)
- Give it a name, like PDF Printer
- Right click on the newly created printer, and select Properties
- Click "Print a Test Page"
- The file should be in your Home folder, under the PDF folder
Thanks for this, it worked perfectly and allowed me to print off a rather important job application form. That's another small step towards getting everything working just the way I want it. Aren't these forums wonderful?