Re: Printing from WindowXP version of emacs

[Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman.073@student.lu.se>]

Peter Dyballa wrote:

>> Are there something similar available on other platforms?
>
>
> Of course! We have some more decades experience.
>
> Usually there is no GUI. If there is one, it comes from the windowing 
> system, for example X11. This one is very basic, so that desktop 
> environments like OpenWindows, CDE, KDE, Gnome, (Classic) Mac OS, or, 
> Aqua on Mac OS X bring something better.
>
> Below all this all UNIX dialects have a print spool mechanism that is 
> now in its 30s. A printer can be attached to parallel, serial, or USB 
> ports or exist somewhere in Internet, or Intranet, attached to the net 
> or attached to a print host. When you create the print queue for this 
> printer you have to give these details to the operating system. OS 
> routines then determine what kind of input arrived, and what kind of 
> input the printer accepts. If a difference is found, the printer 
> queue's input (output of some programme) is converted according the 
> printer's needs. These days this mechanism is based on CUPS, the 
> Common UNIX Printing System (http://localhost:631/). To access 
> printers on the net it uses a slimmed down HTTP connection (so it's 
> open for cryptography or authenticated connections to the splendid 
> printer at your dean's desk).
>
> These ideas are so simple, that some couldn't resist to copy ...

Thanks! I glanced trhough the pages. It looks to me that the printing 
interface in CUPS is different from that normally used by GUI 
applications in Windows.

AFAIU in Windows the operating system through the GDI (graphic device 
interface) using the printer driver takes care of creating the code to 
be sent to the printer.  This does not seem to be the case in CUPS. Is 
not each application there responsible for creating printing code? Do I 
understand it correctly that this the application creates some kind of 
intermediary code that can then be translated through "filters" which 
the printer drivers provide.

Does not this mean that the printing interface as such must have quite 
different implementations in Windows contra system that uses CUPS?

Please note that I am not an expert on printing at all. I am just trying 
to understand.