Using dotmatrix printer with (or without) CUPS for graphics printing

[Andrew Gould]

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 7:59 AM, Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:

> I have a dotmatrix printer Epson LQ 570+ attached to a parallel port
> and can print text (using the "recode" utility even with special
> german characters). The printer is being used outside of CUPS
> which I am "forced" to use even though _I_ don't need it (but some
> programs insist on it in order to print).
>
>         % dmesg | grep lpt
>         lpt0: <Printer> on ppbus0
>         lpt0: [ITHREAD]
>         lpt0: Interrupt-driven por
>
> Is there a way I can add this printer to CUPS (of course none of
> the auto-detect capabilities work here) so I can print graphics
> with it? Out of programs (Gimp, OpenOffice)? I know this could
> be done with apsfilter (chained to system's lpd) in the past,
> but how to do that with CUPS? Is it even possible?
>
> It's also an acceptable solution to do this without CUPS, for
> example by somehow "preprocessing" the PS output of the application
> and then writing that to the printer, as I'm doing with the
> crappy Samsung CLX-2160 laser printer I have (speaks "Splix"):
>
>         % foo2qpdl-wrapper -p 2 -r 1200x600 -z 0 file.ps > /dev/ulpt0
>
> So using CUPS is not mandatory as I can "print to file" in
> programs like Gimp or OpenOffice, and then use that file.
>
> Any ideas?
>
>
>
> --
> Polytropon
> Magdeburg, Germany
> Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
> Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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Are PPD files cross-platform?  If so, you could try adding the PPD file
manually during printer configuration.  The related openprinting page for
your printer is here:

http://www.openprinting.org/printer/Epson/Epson-LQ-570plus

Andrew