Chapter 1. Introduction

CUPS is the abbreviation for Common UNIX Printing System. It is a modularized computer printing system for UNIX-like operating systems, which provides a common printing interface across a local network, masking differences among the printing systems on each computer. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them to the appropriate printer. It was developed by Easy Software Products (ESP) and is now owned and maintained by Apple Inc. Now CUPS is the standard printing system in most Linux distributions.

In this chapter, we will discuss the various features of CUPS, and the support of PostScript Printer Driver (PPD) in detail.