2. Quick Start
The quickest way to get started is simply to use the setup tools
provided by your vendor. Assuming that this includes support for
your driver, and assuming that your vendor shipped the driver for
your printer, then it should be easy to get a basic setup going
this way. For information on vendor-provided setup tools, see Section 9.
If your vendor's tool doesn't work out, you should
figure out if your printer is supposed to work at all. Consult the
printer compatibility listings in Section 5.3.1 as well as the online version
described there.
If your printer is known to work with a driver, check that you have
that driver, and install if it not. Typically you will be able to
find a contributed Ghostscript package including newer Ghostscript
code and assorted third-party drivers. If not, you can compile it
yourself; the process is not trivial, but it is well documented.
See Section 10 for more information on
Ghostscript.
After installing the proper driver, attempt again to configure your
printer with your vendor's tools. If that fails, select a
suitable third party tool from those described in Section 8. If that also fails, you'll need to construct
your own setup; again see Section 8.
If you're still stuck, you've got a little troubleshooting to do.
It's probably best to read most of this document first to get a
feel for how things are supposed to work; then you'll be in a
better position to debug.
2.1. Where to Get Help
The Usenet newsgroups comp.os.linux.hardware, comp.os.linux.setup,
and comp.periphs.printers all have a share of general printing
questions. These are well-trafficked newsgroups where an answer
is sure to be found; check in the Google Groups archives, too. There are also
the linuxprinting.foo newsgroups; these are available both as web-based forums and via NNTP; see the website.
Please also poke around the web looking for your answers. LinuxPrinting.org is
an excellent place to start; other websites and projects are
linked to from there.
If you need more help, please try newsgroups, mailing lists, your
distribution's support line, and so forth. If do want to contact me, please do
so via the discussion forums on LinuxPrinting.org;
this will give others a chance to respond, and will archive your
problem and any solution publicly for the next hapless user.
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