Common Unix Printing System (CUPS)

CUPS made printing a lot easier for ordinary users. Before CUPS, printing could involve navigating around the Internet trying to find the right drivers. For system administrators, it was worse because the admin had to set up all printing configurations for each system.

CUPS, developed by Easy Software Products, pulled all the drivers together in one place. It also allows users to set different printing options on a job-by-job basis, at least within the context of general limits set by the administrator.

CUPS is a standards-based print system. It uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Printing Working Group. It runs as a server daemon that receives print data from Ghostscript and then communicates with the printer.

The CUPS daemon on your computer can also communicate with other printers on its dedicated communications port 631. This makes it possible for your computer to "see" other printers without having to configure them.

You can configure a printer with CUPS with a built-in web-based administrative tool, but the potential exists for a security breach because you are typing the Root password into your browser. As always, doing your configuration through YaST is safer, and probably easier.