Fold, spindle, and mutilate

Speakers: Joshua See

Level: Intermediate, Lecture

Excerpt: Network printing, like much of IT, is simple in concept with devilishly difficult details your users will have no problem stumbling over. You’ve discovered lpadmin and config profiles for installing printers, but what about pushing or locking down features on them? Explore techniques for doing so along with things like discovering AD published printers on not-AD bound Macs and getting the Mac to hunt drivers for a printer hiding behind a server rather than making your users do it.

Description: Network printing, like much of IT, is simple in concept with devilishly difficult details your users will have no problem stumbling over. Doing what you can for them while also controlling consumables costs and getting users to accept and use provisioning systems rather than calling the helpdesk is a challenge, but a rewarding one for all concerned.
Topics covered will include:

  • Pitfalls of issuing with config profiles
  • Discovering printers
    ??? via Bonjour/mDNS
    ??? via AD
    ??? via network scanning

  • Drivers
    ??? PS Generic vs PCL Generic vs PDF Generic
    ??? Finding first party drivers programmatically
    ??? Gutenprint, a fading friend
    ??? Customizing driver services and appearance.

  • Access control
    ??? Directory based vs local
    ??? Authentication and credential management

  • Presenting it to the user


    About the speaker

    Joshua See – Campus Technology Support Engineer – UW-River Falls

    Head of care and feeding of Mac and iOS devices at a small midwestern university for over a decade, I’ve watched hardware, software, management tools, and concepts come and go, getting a feel for what works, what doesn’t, and that “obsolete” ideas that might work again.

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