Which driver (and PPD version) is my printer using?

Question

As printing is sometimes unusually slow on my system, I'd like to check which driver my printer is using. I'm not sure if the driver version and the PPD version amount to the same thing; if you know the difference, plz briefly explain.

Neither http://localhost:631/ nor the standard printing config GUI seem to be offering any insights re driver / PPD version numbers.

Solution 1

There's version info in the PPD file itself (it's only text).

You can see this for yourself with the command cat /etc/cups/ppd/YourPPD.ppd | grep Version where YourPPD.ppd is the name of your PPD file.

Here's an example from my system for illustration purposes.

~$ cat /etc/cups/ppd/DCP7065DN.ppd | grep Version
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*FileVersion: "1.00"
*LanguageVersion: English
*cupsVersion:   1.1
*PSVersion: "(3010.106) 3"

According to what I see here, my ppd file is Format 4.3 and it shows that I'm using the postscript 3 driver version 3010.106

For more about postscript versions and the differences between them see this.

For more about the creation of PPD files look here

Solution 2

In the standard printer config GUI:

• Printer Options
• scroll down, PPD Version

Comments

[nutty about natty]

and furthermore: the PPD already corresponds to the most recent one offered on the manufacturer's site.

[Ian Mackinnon]

On 17.04 using an HP I can't see this option.

[dschinn1001]

Normally HP is using hplip - package ?! - you could install package hplip and then after this go to terminal and type : sudo hp-setup - there you can watch your driver being installed.

[Stewart]

Not sure which desktop environment you suggested, but in Gnome, the "standard printer config GUI" does not have "Printer Options"

[Jonathan Komar]

Cool, but this does not answer the question of which driver is in use.