On Thu 23 Jun 2016 at 20:33:29 +0200, Emanuel Berg wrote: > Brian <a...@cityscape.co.uk> writes: > > > Do you mean this?: A user has or intends to > > buy, for example, an HP LaserJet P1102w. > > How does she determine whether Debian has > > a PPD and driver for it and what package to > > install to get them? > > Yes.
A guaranteed technique is to install all printing related packages. When Debian is installed it offers to install a Print Server task. Newcomers (and others) who do this can use the web interface or 'lpinfo -m' to get a complete list of supported printers. If the printer you have is not listed you can be virtually assured you will have to use the manufacturer's resources to set the device up. If for some reason this task is not initially installed it can be installed later with apt-get install task-print-server A user would well advised to look at openprinting,org as a first step in installing a print queue. It is usually possible to work out the name of the required package on Debian from the advice there. Taking the recommended option is not a bad choice. Installing printer-driver-all is also a good move (but it does not give you the same as task-print-server). It would lead to lpinfo giving you the alternatives for your HP LaserJet P1102w. > Also: a driver for the particular architecture. I thought all drivers were built for all architectures.