Print Filters are often referred to as drivers but that is not an accurate use of the term 'driver'.

I'm in front of an '8 cartdrige' printer and Windows computer cannot access the ink levels by this method.īefore buying a physical USB Print Server, is it possible to configure some Debian service for making the printer available trough IP address, without using CUPS and his drivers ?Ĭups is a server that provides spooling, accounting and if needed, print filters.

I'm pretty sure that it's possible to do it from Debian, after all.īut everything I found is using CUPS, making it listen on every interface, installing the correct driver/PPD into CUPS, and then, connecting existing Windows computers to it thanks to the cups link ( but it's not using an IP adress, it's using CUPS address, and cups drivers as an intermediate layer. By doing so, client computer is able to access Ink levels and various things provided by the driver, so that the USB Print Server doesn't put any limitation by trying to drive the printer by itself. USB Print Server devices are also available from various manufacturer.įortunately, those devices don't need the driver of the printer : driver is installed on the client side. I saw in the past a lot of routers/modems which are able to transform an 'USB' printer into a 'Network printer'.