[CLUE-Tech] new user

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Wednesday 16 June 2004 11:47 pm, Collins Richey wrote:

> > > "CLUE-Tech is our LUG list for technical support and discussion of
> > > hardware, software Linux solutions."

> > Sounds good.

> > > If you'd like to get a taste of the "flavor" here, you can browse
> > > the archives: http://clue.denver.co.us/pipermail/clue-tech/

> > I've tried doing that before with other lists,  it gets *real*
> > time-consuming.

> Slackware is a fine distro. I used to use it, but I've been on gentoo
> for a long time now.

I've heard nice things about gentoo,  but also that it can take you some 
nontrivial time to get going with it.  Maybe I'll get around to checking it 
out one of these days.

> Go to  http://www.kurtwerks.com/mailman/listinfo/slackware for a list
> that supports Slackware; it's low traffic but helpful.

I'm not looking for specific info on support that pertains to the distro,  
mostly.  Or at least I don't think so,  anyhow.   :-)

> And, of course, stick around here. If you're in the Denver area try one
> of our meetings. Go to http://clue.denver.co.us/ for info

I'm nowhere near there -- I'm in PA.  <g>   But someone suggested this list,  
and it seems to be a friendly enough place.

Here's my current issue...

I've not bothered much with a printer here for a very long time.  I used to 
print out all sorts of stuff,  but have pretty much gotten over it.  <g>  And 
I haven't had a printer set up with linux at all yet.

A while back I acquired a couple of printers,  one being this IBM 4019 laser 
that's still going strong even though it's had over 200,000 pages put through 
it,  the other one being some Epson color inkjet that I'm going to worry 
about later.  The IBM has a postscript card in it,  which unfortunately 
causes the printer to kick out a "status page" every time you power it up. I 
guess this isn't a big deal when it's used in a business environment and left 
on all the time,  but...   It also has a few other emulations that you can 
select by holding some button down when you turn it on,  and they apparently 
"stick" when you power it down.

On to software issue:  I hit the linuxprinting.org site,  and they say there 
that your best bet is to "get a postscript printer",  but somehow they don't 
seem to say anywhere in there what you're supposed to DO once you get one! 
I'll mention only one slackware-specific bit here,  that being that it seems 
to want to install as a default (with 9.1) the apsfilter package.  I've also 
installed CUPS,  since it seems to offer the most capabilities.

The problem I'm running into is what .ppd file to use with this beast.  The 
one recommended for this printer (without the postscript card!) at 
linuxprinting.org is "laserjet",  I guess they're assuming that you've got 
that emulation selected without the card in place?

Anyhow,  if any of you guys can help me out with this,  I'd appreciate it.  No 
problem here with editing config files,  hacking stuff,  or whatever,  and I 
don't normally use GUI tools for setting things up,  for whatever that's 
worth.

I get the feeling that I'm missing something simple and obvious and just need 
to have it pointed out to me.  Any ideas?