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The smart-mode printing method involves installation of a local print filtering system on the CUPS server. The CUPS server will attempt to interpret the nature of the file that is sent to the printer, and will then filter it with appropriate automatic conversion to suit the printer.

When CUPS printers are used in smart mode, it is possible to use a CUPS PostScript driver (available from the CUPS web site) on all Windows clients, even if the printer is not a PostScript-capable printer. CUPS will convert the print job to the necessary format. It is, however, necessary to install a printer driver that produces an output format known to the CUPS filtering system.

The Samba smb.conf file is shown in Example 15-3. This example enables use of raw-mode printing. If the CUPS printer driver is correct, any one of a large number of Windows printer drivers can be used on the Windows clients. For example, it is possible to use a Color LaserJet driver even though the printer may be an Epson Bubblejet printer.

Example 15-3. Samba smb.conf file for an office network

# Global parameters

[global]

workgroup = GOODOIL

netbios name = LOUDBELL

passwd chat = *New*Password* %n\n *Re-enter*new*password* %n\n *Password*changed*

username map = /etc/samba/smbusers

syslog = 0

name resolve order = wins bcast hosts

printcap name = CUPS

cups options = raw

show add printer wizard = No

add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd -s /bin/false -d /dev/null '%u'

logon script = scripts\logon.bat

logon path =

logon home = \\%L\%U

logon drive = H:

domain logons = Yes

preferred master = Yes

wins support = Yes

[homes]

comment = Home Directories

valid users = %S

read only = No

browseable = No

[printers]

comment = SMB Print Spool

path = /var/spool/samba

guest ok = Yes

printable = Yes

use client driver = Yes

default devmode = Yes

browseable = No

[netlogon]

comment = Network Logon Service

path = /var/lib/samba/netlogon

guest ok = Yes

[officedata]

comment = Office Files

path = /data/office

read only = No

Please refer to Chapter 14 for information regarding Linux printer configuration. Samba is capable of communicating directly with CUPS via the libcups.so library. To configure Samba to use LPRNG-based printing, simply replace the printcap name = CUPS directive with printcap name = LPRNG. All printers will be automatically exported for use by Samba.

Install the smb.conf file in the correct location. Then start Samba following the guidelines shown in "Starting the Samba server," earlier in this chapter.

Create the Linux filesystem directory /data/office and set the Linux permissions so that the Linux and Windows (Samba) users who need to access it have appropriate access privilege. For example, if all users should be able to read the directory, and the user jamesb needs write capability, execute the following:

linux:~ # chown -R jamesb:users /data/office

linux:~ #chmod -R u=rwx,g=rx,o-rwx /data/office

After Samba has started, add a user account as shown in "Adding users." When you have created a user account, try out the smbclient command described earlier in "Using the FTP-like smbclient to access Windows":

linux:~ # smbclient //localhost/officedata -U'username'

password:XXXXXXXXXX

Here, username is the user account you created, and XXXXXXXXXX is the password you entered when adding the Samba account through the smbpasswd command.

At the smb: > prompt, you can enter any smbclient command. Try the ls command, to list the contents of the directory. Then try the help command, which will show you all of the commands that are available. The smbclient program works very much like ftp, so if you are used to ftp, you will feel right at home. Now exit smbclient (using the quit or exit command) and try some variations. First, use your server's hostname loudbell instead of localhost to check that name resolution is functioning properly. Then try accessing your home directory by using your username in place of officedata.

And now for the really fun part: go to a Windows system,