[Samba] Newbe samba confusion - windows to samba to lpd which driver does the translation?

[John H Terpstra]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004, Charles Bradshaw wrote:

> I'm trying hard to understand some very basic samba working. If I'm asking the
> question in the wrong list could somebody kindly re-direct me.
>
> When a print job is sent from a windows machine to a printer on a linux samba
> server there are a number of 'drivers' (actually just translators) involved:
>
> First the windows machine puts the text and or graphics through the windows
> 'driver' and a job is spooled to the windows queue. At this stage I assume we
> have printer codes in the spool queue? Next the data is past across the
> network to a samba spool queue /var/spool/samba. Next the samba server demon
> picks up this data and passes it to the linux printing system and yet another
> set of 'drivers' gs lpdomatic hpijs etc. process the data an it is spooled
> ready to be finally to be passed to an actual device driver /dev/lp0 or whatever.
>
> First question is this simplified picture correct? I think it is because I
> have a working Epson printer setup which works just fine.
>
> If so then how on earth is the data not translated twice? Is the 'magic
> filter' clever enough to identify that raw data is being passed from samba to lpd?
>
> Last question I never see anything in /var/spool/samba is this because this is
> just a buffer? Of have I got it all wrong?
>
> Finally where is the big picture documented? I have read the Linus printing
> HOWTO and the distributed Samba docs. I don't wish to be grumpy but this is
> all far too deep for understanding no matter how determined. When I eventually
> get to understand it all I promise to publish a diagram.
>

Check the "Classical Printing" chapter of the Samba-HOWTO-Collection.

	http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/Samba-HOWTO-Collection.pdf

> Thanks for being patient with a geriatric newbe ;}

We were all there once. Now we are geriatric oldies! :)

- John T.
-- 
John H Terpstra
Email: jht at samba.org