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Configuring and Managing Printing in Oracle® Solaris 11.3

Exit Print View

Updated: December 2017
 
 

Selecting a Print Device

When you set up a new printer or when you modify the properties of a configured printer, you must select an appropriate device for that printer. The following table describes the device choices that might be displayed in the Select Device window.

Device
Description
When to Use
printer-name
Specifies a printer that has been automatically detected.
Select this device when setting up a new printer.
printer-name (serial-number)
Specifies a printer that has been automatically detected, and includes the serial number.
Select this device when setting up a newly detected printer.

Note - Most often, this device is the same device as the printer-name device. The difference is that one entry contains the serial number of the printer, and the other entry does not. The reason two entries are listed for the same device is that both the system-config-printer back end and the HAL back end detect USB devices. When configuring a new printer, you can specify either device.

Serial Port # number
Specifies a device that is connected to the serial port of your local system.
Select this device when setting up a printer that is connected to your local system's serial port.
AppSocket/HP Jet Direct
Specifies a device that uses a method of communication with network printers that is effectively a TCP connection.
Select this device when setting up remote print queues on a network.
Internet Printing Protocol (IPP)
Specifies a device that is used for network printer setup on a host that is running IPP.
Select this device when setting up newer printer models on a host that is running IPP.
LPD/LPR Host or Printer
Specifies a device that is used to connect to an LPD network printer.
Select this device when setting up remote print queues that use LPD.

Note - This device might not work for more modern printer models.

Unknown
Specifies a device that uses a Server Message Block (SMB) host on the network.
Select this device when setting up printers on Windows-hosted systems.

Note - This device might not be displayed on all systems.

Other
Specifies a device that uses a device URI that is user-defined.
Select this device when setting up printers by specifying your own destination or device URI, for example, file:///dev/printers/0. Note that file: device uri support must be enabled under CUPS (cupsctl FileDevice=yes).