Several Linux
applications (chief among them OpenOffice.org) now
support making PDF documents as well.
Printing: An Overview
The most important thing to understand about printing in
Linux is that it is largely a conversion process. Whenever
you issue a print command in an application, you are actually
creating a PostScript (.ps) file that is sent to the printer.
The problem is that most printers, except for relatively
high-end laser printers, do not have the power to process
PostScript commands directly.
To solve this problem, Peter Deutsch of Aladdin Enterprises
wrote a program called Ghostscript and released it under an
open source license, the Aladdin Free Public License (AFPL).
Subsequently, another version was released under the GNU General Public License. The
primary difference between the two licenses is that the AFPL does not allow for commercial
distribution. Both versions (and a commercial version produced by Artifex) are still
being produced, with AFPL Ghostscript at v8.11 and GPL Ghostscript at v7.05. CUPS
incorporates a specially patched version of GPL Ghostscript, called ESP Ghostscript, that
openSUSE uses in its distribution.
Pages:
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321