Re: Opinion Sought

["Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Andreas,

         I thank you for your courteous reply to my perhaps-overly-dogmatic 
recommendation of Debian.  By no means did I wish to deprecate your 
contribution of apsfilter!  To the contrary, everything I have read 
concerning apsfilter makes me wish I could utilize apsfilter with CUPS.

At 11:14 PM 1/13/02 +0100, Andreas wrote:

>On Sun, Jan 13, 2002 at 07:41:13PM +0000, Russell L. Harris wrote:
>
> > Debian is the most advanced and versatile
> > Debian/GNU distribution, while RedHat is the most popular.
>
>Over the years I found a strategy to become familiar with a Unix
>system, by browsing through all the files under /etc. This gave
>me a quick overview, how this Unix is to administrate, what
>startup scripts it offers, how the philosophy of system management
>is ...
>
>Well Debian puts all config files under /etc. Not only the system files,
>what would be very beneficial, but also the config files of every
>package that you install. At the end /etc was very "polluted" and
>I completely lost the overview, what belongs to the system and what
>not.

         I think you make a good point; I, too, am confused in this 
respect.  Regrettably, I did not have benefit of UNIX experience before 
encountering Linux.

>Russel, could you please tell me, what benefits you see in CUPS ?
>The last time I saw it I noticed a Web based printer installation
>but not many more. How is the flexibility for the user, if he
>wants to preview printouts or if he wants to change some print
>parameters ? Does CUPS have any mechanisms like apsfilter printing
>options ? Or pseudo / real Duplex printing ?
>Half a year ago I didn't find any interesting stuff that justifies
>to say apsfilter goodby ;-) Another thing is, that they hack an
>older gs version 5.x. We are now at 6.x/7.x (GNU, AFPL Copyright).
>
>Would be interested to learn from you, what real advantages CUPS
>has over apsfilter.

         I have only limited experience with Linux.  I am a technical 
writer, and my first goal when installing a Linux system is to get the 
print system working.  I have a HP LaserJet 5 with a Postscript SIMM.

         I tried CUPS 1.1.10 in the Debian stable release (2.2, "Potato") 
but printing did not work quite right -- possibly because of my 
inexperience.  I then uninstalled CUPS and installed LPRng, but could not 
print anything with LPRng -- the configuration process is a bit complex for 
my present knowledge of Linux.  Also, LPRng recommends its own magic filter 
for HP LaserJet printers, ifhp, and I did not know if I could use apsfilter 
with LPRng.

         Finally, an associate recommended that I install Debian testing 
release (3.0, "Woody"), which ships with CUPS 1.1.12a.  Configuration of 
CUPS was extremely simple, and I finally am able to print, both ASCII files 
and Postscript.

         I do not yet know how well the magic filter in CUPS handles a 
variety of file types; in this respect I would be more comfortable with the 
time-tested apsfilter.

         My need is primarily for reliable printing of documents generated 
by LaTeX.  A secondary need is to print documentation in all forms (HTML, 
man pages, info files) and directory listings -- with margins and page 
numbering.

         Reliability is more important than the Internet Printing Protocol 
(IPP) which CUPS provides.  I would be happy to install for my own use any 
combination of components which results in a reliable printing system which 
is simple (or at least straightforward) to configure and which runs 
properly in the Debian environment.   I don't need bell-and-whistles; I 
need reliability and freedom from bugs.  If you can recommend specific 
components for such a system, I am all ears.


>My recommendation for John would be to try Linux RedHat, Debian
>Linux with apsfilter and gs 7.0.
>Another options to enlarge the horizon would be to install FreeBSD
>which is Unix in the original terms of "being a Unix".
>Excellent fast/reliable/secure and _mature_ base system.
>6000 ports in the ports collection. Best 3rd party management.
>Best migration support over source (using cvsup, mergemaster
>and port management utilities). Linux Binary compatibility.
>Yes I think it worth a try.
>         Andreas ///

RLH