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Project Overview
VA and HP are working together to improve the user experience of printing with Open Source operating systems. The goal of this project is to:
- take advantage of advanced hardware features in a portable manner
- automate the installation of new printers
- improve feedback from the print spooling system
- create a friendly user interface for printing tasks
| Module Type | Printing | Configuration |
| User Applications | GPR | printtool* |
| Middleware | rhs-printfilters*, lpr*, ppdfilt | npadmin |
| Low-level Libraries | libppd | libprinterconf, snmpkit |
| Figure 1: The Proposed Printing System |
| * == Modified Version |
The system is made up of several layers of abstraction. At the lowest level the libraries allow developers to access various features of todays advanced printers in a consistent, portable manner across several Open Source platforms. These libraries interface with middleware code- such as toolkits or other libraries- to provide user applications with such interfaces as dialog boxes for control, WYSIWYG previewing and the ability to print directly to the hardware in its own protocol.
Several key modules provide such advanced functionality as remote management and autoconfiguration, which enables the end user by simplifyig installation and maintenance.
For a detailed description of the modules and their functions, please visit the Projects page.
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