PostScript printers do not require a special printer driver (see Section 5.1.2. “Processing Print Jobs”). Other printer types need a Ghostscript driver to produce the data. For non-PostScript devices, choosing the right Ghostscript driver and the right options for it has a big influence on output quality. The Ghostscript drivers available for specific models are listed in the sources mentioned in Section 5.2.1. “General Requirements”.

If you cannot find a Ghostscript driver for your printer, ask the manufacturer which printer language your model understands. Some manufacturers supply special Ghostscript drivers for their printers. Even if the manufacturer is not able to provide any Linux-specific information on your printer model, he can still provide the following information to facilitate the selection of a suitable printer driver:

Because the printer drivers for Linux are usually not developed by the hardware manufacturer, it is crucial that the printer can be addressed with one of the common printer languages (PostScript, PCL, and ESC/P). Normal printers understand at least one of the common printer languages. However, GDI printers only work with the operating system versions for which the manufacturer has enclosed drivers, as they can only be addressed with special control sequences. As these printers cannot be addressed with any known standard, their use with Linux is impossible or difficult.

GDI is a programming interface developed by Microsoft for graphical devices. There is not much of a problem with the interface itself, but the fact that GDI printers can only be controlled through the proprietary language they use is an issue. A better name for them would be proprietary-language-only printers.

On the other hand, there are printers that can be operated both in GDI mode and in a standard language mode, but they need to be switched accordingly. If you use Linux together with another operating system, it may be possible that the driver set the printer to GDI mode when you last used it. As a result, the printer will not work under Linux. There are two solutions for this: switch the printer back to standard mode under the other operating system before using it under Linux or use only the standard mode, even under the other operating system. In the latter case, it may turn out that printing functionality is limited, such as to a lower resolution.

There are also some very special printers that implement a rudimentary set of a standard printer language, such as the commands needed for printing raster images. Sometimes these printers can be used in a normal way, as the Ghostscript drivers normally only use commands for printing raster images. In this case it may be impossible to print ASCII text directly. This should not be too much of a problem, however, as ASCII text is mostly printed through Ghostscript and not directly. However, printers that first must be toggled with special control sequences are problematic. This cannot be done with a normal Ghostscript driver, but requires a specially adapted driver.

For some GDI printers, you may be able to obtain Linux drivers directly from the manufacturer. There is no guarantee that such vendor-made drivers will work with other or future Linux versions.

In any case, the above is only true for GDI models. In contrast, printers that understand one of the standard languages do not depend on a particular operating system nor do they require a particular Linux version. However, they often produce the highest quality of output when used with a vendor-made driver.

To sum all this up, SUSE LINUX does support the GDI printers listed below. They can be configured using the printer configuration module of YaST. Be aware that their use will always be rather problematic. Some models might refuse to work at all or their functionality might be limited, for example, to low-resolution black-and-white printing. SUSE does not test GDI printers, so cannot guarantee this list is correct.

To our knowledge, the following GDI printers are not supported by SUSE LINUX (this list is not complete by any means):