Version: (using KDE KDE 3.4.2) Installed from: Debian testing/unstable Packages OS: Linux I've set Cups to print raw and it works fine when I manually send a text file to the printer, however KDE has no means to print out plain ASCII text. It converts a text file into postscript before sending it out resulting in printing out the postscript code. The KDE print system should have a means to disable the postscript convertion before sending to the printer.
How do you mean? If you add a raw printer to CUPS, kprinter will see it as is. If you print with kprinter a plain text file and choose this raw printer, kprinter will pop up a dialog which will offer to attempt to convert to PS ("Convert"), send the file as is -- i.e. as raw text -- ("Keep") or cancel printing. Please be more specific.
OK. I wasn't using kprinter directly, I was using it through Kate and Kword. If I print a text file directly with kprinter (kprinter test.txt on a command line), I get the dialog you mention and selecting "Keep" does print the text properly. When I print text from a KDE application I get the kprinter dialog where I choose the printer and hit print. I get no dialog asking me what to do with the data, I just get postscript code printed vice the text that should be printed. None of this is what should be happening. KDE should know, or there should be somewhere to tell it, that a raw printer is just that. Kprinter should not open a dialog box telling me "The file format text/plain is not directly supported by the current printer system." and asking me if I want to convert to postscript. It's a raw printer, so send it the data as is. There should also be some type of feedback between kprinter and a kapplication as to wheather or not a conversion to postscript is required/desired according to the printer selected. The only time a warning box should be displayed is if there are graphics in the file and you are printing to a raw printer. Perhaps raw mode isn't quite what should be used here. Maybe there should be somewhere to tell kprinter or KDE that a printer is ASCII text only.
KDE applications (like kate) are doing with the data that is sent to kprinter whatever the author of the app chooses as best fit. I know for sure that kate generates postscript from the text data that it has to be printed, in order to format pages (put headers and footers, add line numbers) and such. There's nothing kdeprint could do about this. Please feel free to fill an appropriate bug report with the particular application.
Closing old Resolved status bug.