Like lp, with routing, restart and operator control
Where lp and CUPS are the right answer, where they stop being one, and what Xi-Text adds at that point.
When lp or CUPS is enough
For a single system with modest printing needs, the native lp spooler is
sufficient. CUPS provides good facilities for ad-hoc network and desktop
printing, and where that is the requirement it is the right answer.
Where they run out
Production printing is a different problem: many networked hosts, large numbers of jobs and users, a variety of printer types, and output that costs real money when it goes wrong - statements, invoices, payslips, cheques.
Recovery
A job interrupted by a jam, a communications failure or an operator stopping the printer has to be reprinted from the beginning. On a sixty-thousand page run that failed near the end, that is expensive in paper, in time and in the production window.
Routing intelligence
Applications must name a printer. If that printer is busy, out of paper or down, the job waits or fails. There is no way to express 'any printer with cheque stock loaded'.
Access control
Anyone who uses lp can act on everything in the print queue.
In an environment printing payroll and cheques that is not acceptable, and the
native tools have no finer control to offer.
Accounting
No usable record of who printed what, on which printer, on which stock.
Visibility
No single view of every printer and every job across a network of hosts.
Pre- and post-processing
No hooks to transform, overlay or handle output on the way to the device.
What production printing has to do
| Capability | lp / CUPS | Xi-Text |
|---|---|---|
| Basic spooling to a named printer | Yes | Yes |
| Route by form type rather than printer name | No | Yes |
| Automatic printer pooling | No | Yes |
| Automatic bypass of inoperative printers | No | Yes |
| Restart at point of failure | No | Yes |
| Print a specified page range | No | Yes |
| On-line viewing before printing | No | Yes |
| Form-driven tray, font, orientation, duplex | Limited | Yes |
| Alignment pages for pre-printed stationery | No | Yes |
| Pre- and post-processing hooks | No | Yes |
| Class-code security, per group and per user | No | Yes |
| Chargeback by printer and form type | No | Yes |
| Single-screen view across all hosts | No | Yes |
| Transparent networking with automatic registration | No | Yes |
| Full audit trail | No | Yes |
| Programmatic API | No | Yes |
The idea that makes the difference
Most of the rows above follow from one design decision: you print to a form type, not to a printer.
Name letterhead or cheque or greenbar as the destination, and Xi-Text finds
an available printer carrying that form. If several carry it, they become a pool.
If one is down, it is simply not in the pool. If the form needs the legal-size
tray or condensed pitch, the form type carries that too - standard.14 selects a
different tray from standard.11, with no change to the application.
Applications stop needing to know about printers. Operations can move work between devices without anyone editing anything.
Nothing has to change to adopt it
Xi-Text does not run on top of lp. It is an independent print management system
with its own commands and syntax. It does not, however, require you to rewrite
anything:
- An emulation program accepts
lpcommand syntax and performs the equivalent Xi-Text request, so existing applications print unchanged - The
lpdandlprprotocols are supported, for receiving jobs and for sending to other print systems - CUPSPY emulates CUPS for programs that expect it, routing their output to printers under Xi-Text's control
- Windows clients print in through Samba, and Xi-Text prints out to a Windows print server over LPD where the LPD Print Service feature is enabled
Xi-Text works with virtually any print device and can interface to external spoolers, networked printers or printers reached through terminal servers.
We print millions of pages every month of utility bills, invoices, bank statements, credit card statements. The software does exactly what it is supposed to without any hassles.
Marty Scholes, Output Services Inc.
Next
About Xi-Text · Xi-Text case studies · Request an evaluation