"Inside of CUPS are several different groups of drivers:
Foomatic, Gutenprint, and vendor-supplied drivers. This is why so
many printers have several different driver options when you
install a new printer. Unlike Windows, in Linux it is trivially
easy to test the different drivers to see which one you like best--
in the CUPS Web interface, just select "Modify printer" to run
through the installer again. You won't have to reboot or watch it
gag and crash; it just works. Many printing problems are cured by
using a different driver.
"I had an issue with an HP Laserjet 3050. This is one of their
low-end multi-function laser printers: scanner, fax, copier, and
printer. Somewhere in my Linux adventures it suddenly decided that
it could not just print, no, it wanted me to hit the 'Enter' button
on the printer for every print job. Every. Single. One....
"At any rate, I poked around in CUPS and noticed that it was
using a CUPS driver, either Foomatic or Gutenprint, who knows which
one, instead of the HPLIP driver. HPLIP drivers are labeled in the
CUPS driver selector as either HPLIP or HPIJS. So I switched to the
HPLIP driver, and no more hitting 'Enter.'"
