- Navigate to System Preferences Printers and Scanners. Click the icon under the Printers List. The Add dialog is displayed. It displays a list of all of the discovered printers on the network.
- For Mac OSX 10.8, there is currently no way to listen to adverts sent out by MATHS printers, and so we instead must add printers manually. There are a few steps involved. First, install the printer drivers. Second, turn on the Mac's web interface for its CUPS server.
I have experienced a couple of issues printing with the Ricoh printer drivers for macOS - at one location, I simply couldn't print, and at another, I couldn't get it to print 'two-sided' (despite the correct duplex settings). In both cases, I reverted to the standard macOS driver, i.e. 'Generic PostScript Printer' or 'Generic PCL Laser Printer'. This post details the steps to set printer defaults like duplex via CUPS.
The Mac gives you control over how your printer will behave and how your prints will look. You can customize your printouts by adding borders, creating two-sided prints, scheduling a delayed printing, color matching, adjusting print quality, and more. With your document open, display the print window by choosing File and then Print.
In macOS, one would typically create Printer Presets with your desired defaults. In addition, one could check if there are any settings under System Preferences > Printer and Scanners > Options & Supplies.... However, for the Generic PostScript Printer, the settings are rather sparse - only one option to enable duplex printing in my case:
Hidden deep in the guts of macOS, there is another way to set defaults like duplex printing, or set up separator pages and so on, as I found on the Apple Forum. These settings are buried in the CUPS printing sub-system.
Configuring the Generic Printer Driver in CUPS
First, open up Terminal and enter cupsctl WebInterface=yes. If it works, there is no output from this command!
Next, fire up Safari to http://localhost:631/printers and select your printer from the list. In the printer summary page, leave the first drop down as Maintenance, select Set Default Options in the second:
Among the functions available apart from Maintenance are Print Test Page, Print Self Test Page, and Cancel All Jobs.
Now you can go ahead and changes to the various options, and hit Set Default Options to save them. If you are prompted for a username / password, use your macOS login which has Admin rights (has 'Allow user to administer this computer' checked):
- The Options Installed page has Duplex Print Unit set to
Installed(because I already set it in System Preferences) - In the General page, I set the Duplex option to
2-Sided, Long-Edge Binding, Media Size toA4 - Under BannersStarting Banner is
confidentialor any other cover page.
If you are using the PCL driver, the options may differ slightly.
Finally, you can go ahead and disable the CUPS web interface again via the Terminal command cupsctl WebInterface=no.
Configuring via the Manufacturer's Driver in CUPS
Just for comparison, the Ricoh driver has many, many more settings, in CUPS and in the Printer Presets and System Preferences pages (but I still have problems with duplex printing - don't ask me why):
Conclusion
So that's how to set the CUPS printer preferences in macOS. Most users won't need this, and is interesting only tech-heads like me!
Like many other technologies in OS X, printing technology is layered. The top layer is the custom application code that you write to generate the printed output you want. The AppKit layer provides the printing classes that Cocoa apps use to print. That layer is the focus of this book. The Core Printing layer is a C API that most Cocoa app developers will never use directly because it is ideal for writing command-line tools or performing printing tasks that don't require a user interface. The Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) layer provides the low-level services, print queue management, and driver interfaces needed to communicate with printing devices. As an app developer, you don't need to know anything about CUPS.
Note: This document was previously titled Printing Programming Topics for Cocoa.
At a Glance
Most Cocoa apps provide printing support in one form or another. When you create a Cocoa app, the Print command is automatically provided in the File menu. It's straightforward for apps to implement printing.
Printing is Designed to be Easy-to-Use and Flexible
The printing system does as much as possible automatically for your app. If your app's printing needs are simple, you might need to write only a few lines of code. But if your app needs to print precisely formatted pages, you'll find that OS X printing provides all the flexibility you need.
Relevant Chapter:Printing System Workflow and User Interface
NSView and NSDocument Objects Each Support Printing
The printing system API works in conjunction with the NSView and NSDocument classes. Each class has API that responds to print messages. Your app will either be view-based or document-based. Printing is easy to use in either type of app. The basic concepts are the same with only minor differences in the API available to each.
Layout Options Let You Format for Paper
Most of the time you'll want to print content other than what shows on the display, if only to add page numbers or margins. You can add borders, crop marks, and other features to the page as well as set up layout options that work best with paper.
Relevant Chapter:Laying Out Page Content
If it Needs to, Your App Can Manage the Printing Workflow
Most apps can let the printing system take care of managing Print and Page Setup panels, querying printers, and managing print information. If your app is not a typical app, you can manage various objects in the printing system. For example, your app can add an accessory view to the Print panel to allow users to set app-specific printing features.
Relevant Chapters:Managing and Extending the Print Panel, Managing Print Information Objects, and Managing Page Layout Objects
- The Options Installed page has Duplex Print Unit set to
Installed(because I already set it in System Preferences) - In the General page, I set the Duplex option to
2-Sided, Long-Edge Binding, Media Size toA4 - Under BannersStarting Banner is
confidentialor any other cover page.
If you are using the PCL driver, the options may differ slightly.
Finally, you can go ahead and disable the CUPS web interface again via the Terminal command cupsctl WebInterface=no.
Configuring via the Manufacturer's Driver in CUPS
Just for comparison, the Ricoh driver has many, many more settings, in CUPS and in the Printer Presets and System Preferences pages (but I still have problems with duplex printing - don't ask me why):
Conclusion
So that's how to set the CUPS printer preferences in macOS. Most users won't need this, and is interesting only tech-heads like me!
Like many other technologies in OS X, printing technology is layered. The top layer is the custom application code that you write to generate the printed output you want. The AppKit layer provides the printing classes that Cocoa apps use to print. That layer is the focus of this book. The Core Printing layer is a C API that most Cocoa app developers will never use directly because it is ideal for writing command-line tools or performing printing tasks that don't require a user interface. The Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) layer provides the low-level services, print queue management, and driver interfaces needed to communicate with printing devices. As an app developer, you don't need to know anything about CUPS.
Note: This document was previously titled Printing Programming Topics for Cocoa.
At a Glance
Most Cocoa apps provide printing support in one form or another. When you create a Cocoa app, the Print command is automatically provided in the File menu. It's straightforward for apps to implement printing.
Printing is Designed to be Easy-to-Use and Flexible
The printing system does as much as possible automatically for your app. If your app's printing needs are simple, you might need to write only a few lines of code. But if your app needs to print precisely formatted pages, you'll find that OS X printing provides all the flexibility you need.
Relevant Chapter:Printing System Workflow and User Interface
NSView and NSDocument Objects Each Support Printing
The printing system API works in conjunction with the NSView and NSDocument classes. Each class has API that responds to print messages. Your app will either be view-based or document-based. Printing is easy to use in either type of app. The basic concepts are the same with only minor differences in the API available to each.
Layout Options Let You Format for Paper
Most of the time you'll want to print content other than what shows on the display, if only to add page numbers or margins. You can add borders, crop marks, and other features to the page as well as set up layout options that work best with paper.
Relevant Chapter:Laying Out Page Content
If it Needs to, Your App Can Manage the Printing Workflow
Most apps can let the printing system take care of managing Print and Page Setup panels, querying printers, and managing print information. If your app is not a typical app, you can manage various objects in the printing system. For example, your app can add an accessory view to the Print panel to allow users to set app-specific printing features.
Relevant Chapters:Managing and Extending the Print Panel, Managing Print Information Objects, and Managing Page Layout Objects
Corposprint Mac Os Download
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