<chapter id="getting-started">
<title
>Getting Started</title>

<para
>This chapter of the &kdeprint; Handbook will walk you through most of the configuration or selection options of &kdeprint;. It will mainly deal with &CUPS; in this version, as the author is most familiar with it, and also because &kdeprint; started off with supporting &CUPS; best. Later versions of the &kdeprint; software and editions of this handbook will support and explore other printing systems more closely.</para>

<sect1 id="selecting-your-print-subsystem">
<title
>Selecting Your Print Subsystem</title>

<para
>You need to define your print subsystem, before you are able to install any printer with the &kdeprint; framework. There are two areas where you can define this: either in &kcontrol; (The <guilabel
>Printing Manager</guilabel
> section), or directly and <quote
>on the fly</quote
> from the print dialogue.</para>

<para
>Navigate to <menuchoice
><guimenu
>K Menu</guimenu
> <guisubmenu
>Preferences</guisubmenu
> <guisubmenu
>System</guisubmenu
> <guimenuitem
>Printing Manager</guimenuitem
></menuchoice
>. At the bottom you can see a button that lets you select which printing subsystem you want to use. In &kde; 2.2 you can choose from the following alternatives:</para>

<itemizedlist
> <listitem
> <para
>&CUPS; (Common &UNIX; Printing System)</para
> </listitem
> <listitem
> <para
>Print through an external program (generic)</para
> </listitem
> <listitem
> <para
><acronym
>LPR</acronym
> (Standard <acronym
>BSD</acronym
> Print System)</para
> </listitem
> <listitem
> <para
>Generic &UNIX; <acronym
>LPD</acronym
> print system (the default)</para
> </listitem
> <listitem
> <para
><acronym
>RLPR</acronym
> environment (print to remote <acronym
>LPD</acronym
> servers from the command line)</para
> </listitem
> </itemizedlist>

<para
>Of course, the chosen system must be installed, and up and running on your box prior to your selection, or before it takes effect. </para>

<para
>On it's first startup, &kdeprint; will try an autodetection. This only works for:</para>

<itemizedlist
> <listitem
> <para
>&CUPS;, as it is checking first for a running &CUPS; daemon</para
> </listitem
> <listitem
> <para
><acronym
>LPD</acronym
>, as it is checking for a running <acronym
>LPD</acronym
> daemon, plus a <filename
>printcap</filename
> file.</para
> </listitem
> </itemizedlist>

<!-- <para>
Go to System->XY->ABC. Now you can choose from the following
alternatives: 
</para
>-->

<para
>The system you choose must be installed on your system prior to your selection. The author's personal recommendation is &CUPS;.</para>

<para
>Once autodetected, chosen, or changed, the active print subsystem will take effect for all &kde; applications. Different users may have different print subsystems in use, if those do exist on the computer and are compliant with each other. Their settings are stored in the <filename
>kdeprintrc</filename
>. This file is unique to every user, and is normally installed in <filename
>$<envar
>HOME</envar
>/.kde/share/config/kdeprintrc</filename
>.</para>

<warning>
<para
>This file is not intended to be directly editable, and all available options can be set from the &kdeprint; &GUI;.</para>
</warning>

<para
>You may even select a different printer subsystem, on the fly, from the &kprinter; dialogue box.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="working-with-printing-manger">
<title
>Working with the Printing Manager</title>

<para
>Once you have chosen your preferred and installed print subsystem, you are ready to investigate, configure administer and work with this system through the &kdeprint; framework.</para>

<para
>Navigate to <menuchoice
><guimenu
>K Menu</guimenu
> <guisubmenu
>Preferences</guisubmenu
> <guisubmenu
>System</guisubmenu
> <guimenuitem
>Printing Manager</guimenuitem
></menuchoice
>. In the right part of the window you will see at least 4 printers predefined. These are the virtual or special purpose printers, explained in section . You will probably see a toolbar with 13 icons at the top of the window, and at least 4 tabs in the lower half of the window, labelled <guilabel
>Information</guilabel
>, <guilabel
>Jobs</guilabel
>, <guilabel
>Properties</guilabel
> and <guilabel
>Instances</guilabel
>.</para>

<!-- Not needed: the default view is as described, this can be mentioned -->
<!-- elsewhere <para
>If you start the <guilabel
>Printing -->
<!-- Manager</guilabel
> module for the first time, you may be missing -->
<!-- Icons or tabs. <mousebutton
>Right</mousebutton
>-clicking the mouse -->
<!-- on the white background of the right part of the window opens a -->
<!-- Menu to select your viewing preferences. To get the same view as in -->
<!-- most screenshots, select: <guimenuitem
>View Toolbar</guimenuitem
> -->
<!-- and <guimenuitem
>View Printer Information</guimenuitem
> and -->
<!-- <guimenuitem
>View Icons</guimenuitem
> and <guimenuitem
>Orientation -->
<!-- Vertical</guimenuitem
>. Moving the mouse over one Button and -->
<!-- waiting a second gives you a tooltip hint about its functions. -->

<!-- 

3.3 Selection: &CUPS; or other?

If your selection of the print system is &CUPS;, you will have more 
choices at your fingertips than with any other printing 
system. &CUPS; is new to most Linux users (even the senior
hackers amongst us), and it is quite easy to use. But it
is at the same time very different from other printing systems.
Therfor the &CUPS; part in the &kdeprint; Handbook is naturally
the most detailed.

Future editions of the &kdeprint; handbook will describe in
more detail the other systems.
-->       

</sect1>

</chapter>

