HOWTO: Set Up a PDF Printer
Well, I posted the other day about printing to PDFs. I mentioned the program “cups-pdf”, though also said that I didn’t know how to get it to work. Well, today I found this howto on the Ubuntu Forums that explains exactly what to do.
- Firstly, install the cups-pdf program. This can be found in Synaptic, or you can use the following terminal code:
sudo apt-get install cups-pdf - In the terminal, type in the following:
sudo gedit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
Find the line:
RunAsUser Yes
Change it to:
RunAsUser No
Save and close the file. - Now, you will have to restart your computer or manually restart cups by typing in the following into the terminal:
sudo /etc/init.d/cupsys restart - a) Now you will need to add the PDF printer.
b) Go to: System -> Administration -> Printing
c) Open up: New Printer
d) Make sure that “Local Printer” is selected. In the list of detected printers it should have “PDF Printer”. Select that.
e) Continue
f) It will ask you for a manufacturer. Select Generic for that.
g) For model, put in PostScript Color Printer.
h) It should auto select a driver. - Click Apply. That should add your new PDF printer. Every time you want to print to a PDF file, just select that printer.
General Notes
When you print something to that printer, it will save the PDF document in a folder named PDF in your home directory.
Thats it. Now you can enjoy your new PDF printer!
Credit given to anil_robo for the article!
April 19th, 2006 at 8:15 am
Thanx. That was very useful for me.
Working perfect under Ubuntu Draper Drake 6.06.
Best regards
Bart
June 22nd, 2006 at 3:38 pm
1) Installed cups-pdf.
2) There was no “RunAsUser Yes” line in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.
3) Restarted cups.
4) The Gnome Printing tool did not find “PDF Printer”.
So your howto didn’t work for me on Dapper Drake.
August 15th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
I am experiencing the same problem as Lynng. No “RunAsUser” line in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf. Also no “PDF Printer” in the Gnome Printing tool detected.
October 9th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
I too cannot get this to work for the same reason as lynng and Graeme. O too am using Dapper Drake 6.06, (fully updated).
That’s too bad… any other suggestions?
October 9th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
You can PRINT PDFs FROM ANY APP IN UBUNTU by doing the following:
From Terminal type: sudo apt-get install cups-pdf
and then: sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
Now go to:
System -> Administration -> Printing
New Printer
Add a Printer
Select Local PDF Printer, Next
Generic Manufacturer
Choose “postscript color printer rev3b”
apply
Printouts go to your home/PDF directory unless you edit:
/etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf
### Key: Out
## CUPS-PDF output directory
## special qualifiers:
## ${HOME} will be expanded to the user’s home directory
## ${USER} will be expanded to the user name
## in case it is an NFS export make sure it is exported without
## root_squash!
### Default: /var/spool/cups-pdf/${USER}
Out ${HOME}/PDF/
From: http://brianpedigo.info/print_pdf_fi…_app_in_ubuntu