[Sugar-devel] Print Support proposal (need input) Beta

[Carol Farlow Lerche]

Print queue management and quotas are key to this feature being usable in a
classroom/school environment.  Consumables are very expensive and kids love
to hit print, often without thinking.  So providing a way to place print
jobs in a "hold for review" status is very important, IMHO, as well as
providing a way to look through the queue releasing only the jobs you really
want to print.

2009/3/19 Vamsi Krishna Davuluri <vamsi.davuluri at gmail.com>

>
> Hello!
>
> So here is a refined and less abstract approach for the Print Idea. (input
> credit Luke, Ben, Tomeu)
>
> Initial problem:
>
>  where do we get the cups daemon/server from, and how do we have it working
> on python since its written in c?
> solution:
>  The cups daemon would only need to be running on the core distro (add it
> as a dependency), and we have the amazing pycups bindings which wrap it up,
> so we can use in our configuration program and other apis which we will
> discuss.
>
> Now, that we have CUPS ready, lets step into implementing it
>
> problem 2: Interacting with the CUPS daemon to actually configure the
> printer
>
> solution:
>
> Debian has a python version of print-system-configure UI, hacking into the
> code will yield a decent template for fedora. Which can then be tailored to
> fit the sugar guidelines.
>
>
> problem 3: Who does the actual printing of the files?!
>
> solution:
>
> well, again there's these amazing pygtk print modules that take care of it.
> They make the CUPS API a backend, and work as a decent printing API, they
> again access the print-system-configure UI(or diving more deeply, the files
> postscript files (PPD) ) ( I have written a sample printing program
> demonstrating it on fedora)
>
>
>
> NOW LETS SUGARIZE THEM! (oh sweet sugar)
>
> problem4: We have everything ready but where do we put our
> print-system-conifguration?
>
> solution: we strip the debian (python based) UI, and dress it up with our
> nice sparkling UIs (the sugar design apis ) and put it in the control panel
>               Here's where I propose an extra credit : Make the
> configuration An Interactive Wizard, (someone add groovy animations later
> on, or its on the end list on me) , as we will have
>               to provide a default printer configuration at least once,
> despite cups having the ability to automatically select the printer.
>
> problem5: Okay, okay most of the job is done. Now where do we print from?
>
> answer:
> We print from that one place ofcourse, The Journal! (after all its he
> uncrowned king bad joke)
>
>    As it is it is against the bitfrost system for a program to both access
> the network and the journal at the same time - secuirty constrictions. and
> also as to see that activity writers dont have to struggle with the print
> code, we can just see that the print requests are rendered into nice pdfs
> (CUPS again, we can print to pdfs) with the click of a magical button,store
> them at a known location and send those 'hit coordinates' and if any
> metadata by the IPC, and queue them up on journal for print. As an ACK send
> back a notification to the activity stating, "You have a print job waiting,
> print it with default settings? or go to journal to edit settings" Remember
> how i said pygtk can interact with the CUPS settings, well we will implement
> the relatively important ones in the journal as an option.
>
> Extra credit: I've been thinking about this make the school server take in
> network print requests (feasible/required or not? input please)
>
> Obscure stuff: CUPS server, Quota management, and permissions,
>
> CUPS server is a background process (hence daemon) which loopsback over the
> listening ports and ips.
> CUPS already benefits from a standard print quota management, the secrets
> of the implementation are in our debian configuration UI.
> permissions: ( I need input here) print permissions should be of any matter
> only if its a network assignment as far as i know.
>
>
>
> So what's the end result::
>
> A nice interactive printer configuration wizard!
> Minimal work for the activity author! (an addition of 3 modules to print to
> pdf, but it will be of great value, as the user can present his work in as a
> pdf within the activity)
> Journal acting as print dock!
> pdf printing!
> And everything sugarized
>
> P.S. My actual application will be formal, please dont kill me :P
>
> Input Input Input please!
>
> Thank You
> Vamsi Krishna Davuluri
>
>
>
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>
>


-- 
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair
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