Linux

Printing on Linux has changed a lot from debian Wheezy to debian Jessie. At the moment we support both of the printing systems available at the ETH. The old VPP printing system with mostly Xerox printers as well as the new Nashuatec printers connected via samba. In the future, the VPP system will go end of life and the printers will be replaced with new Nashuatec printers.

As we did a complete rework of the printing accessibility there are some significant changes for the users. The main difference is, that every client runs it's own CUPS (printserver) instead of the former central printserver (ipp2vpp.ee.ethz.ch). As a consequence of that, you can now print out of any application which supports CUPS printing.

Although you can't see any difference in the list of printers between the VPP and the PIA printers, there are some substantial difference in the background which have to be concerned. More about that in the system-specific paragraphs below.

VPP

On one hand, there are is the old VPP printing system which already worked on Wheezy machines. Unlike as on wheezy machines, you won't have to print over LPR/ GTKLP anymore. It's possible to print on VPP printers ( <<List below>> ) using the printing dialogs of any applications which supports the CUPS printing now.

PIA

On the other hand, there is the new PIA printing system. General information about the system are available here: https://www1.ethz.ch/id/services/list/print_service/index . Since the upgrade of our managed clients to debian version Jessie, all the PIA printers of the ET and HIA area are installed by default.