# CUPS Configuration and the LPD



## rtwingfield (Feb 20, 2011)

First, I apologize if this is not the appropriate forum board.

I'm new to CUPS and I guess that I just don't understand some very basic configuration concepts.  CUPS is a spooling system, as is the LPD.  I've read posts and documentation that suggest that LPD might not be used in favor of CUPS; however, the CUPS documentation regarding _command line printing_ references the lp and lpr commands.  If I shutdown the LPD, then lp and lpr fail, and diagnostic messages suggest that I check to assure that the main LPD is running.

If I start the LPD, then (apparently) lp and lpr route the print request through the LPD's spooler, rather than *cupsd*. 

For example, an attempt to print a simple text file, "printtest" fails as follows:


```
lpr -P HPLaserJet6P printtest
lpr: HPLaserJet6P: unknown printer
```

I can understand why . . .because */etc/printcap* does not describe the HPLaserJet6P. (In fact, there are no printers described in /etc/printcap . . .yet.) */usr/local/etc/printcap* is automatically generated as follows:


```
# This file was automatically generated by cupsd(8) from the
# /usr/local/etc/cups/printers.conf file.  All changes to this file
# will be lost.
EpsonActionLaserPlus|Epson Action Laser Plus:rm=archaxis.net:rp=EpsonActionLaser
Plus:
HPLaserJet6P|HP LaserJet 6P:rm=archaxis.net:rp=HPLaserJet6P:
```
 
What do I need to do to configure CUPS to route an lp or lpr submission through its spooler?

This looks good to me:

```
# lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: EpsonActionLaserPlus
device for EpsonActionLaserPlus: parallel:/dev/lpt0
device for HPLaserJet6P: http://192.168.1.10
EpsonActionLaserPlus accepting requests since Sat Feb 19 18:01:02 2011
HPLaserJet6P accepting requests since Sun Feb 20 14:15:50 2011
printer EpsonActionLaserPlus is idle.  enabled since Sat Feb 19 18:01:02 2011
printer HPLaserJet6P is idle.  enabled since Sun Feb 20 14:15:50 2011
```
 . . .so what do I _do_ to send something to the printer? 


Also, I do not find a "default" /usr/local/etc/cups/lpoptions file.  Is this something that I need to manually create, or does the CUPS web client administration system create the file?


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