OS X Mountain Lion Server For Dummies

Don’t Forget Your Clients

You probably know how to enable your Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS clients to print. In this section, I point out a few things that are helpful to know when your clients connect to OS X Server. I also mention some things you might want to remember for Mac and Windows clients.

PPD files

It’s helpful for the server and client computers to have the correct PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files for the specific network printer models. The PPD files enable a user to choose special features, such as double-sided printing and the ability to select specific paper trays. OS X Server and Mac and Windows clients come with plenty of PPD files installed.

When adding a print queue to a client computer, you or the user chooses the PPD on the client by selecting the printer model from a list. If you don’t see the PPD file on the client, or if the OS X server doesn’t have it, check with the printer manufacturer or the software that came with the printer.

If you don’t have a PPD file on the clients or the server for a network printer, the user can probably still print to that printer. OS X identifies the printer as Generic PostScript Printer. Users probably won’t have access to special features of that particular printer model.

Helping Mac clients print

Since the earliest models, Macs have been good at printing, with easy setup and few printing errors. Today, you connect ...