7.2. Why You Should Use the Spooler

If you're the sole user of your system, you may be wondering why you should bother with the spooler when you don't need access control, header pages, or printer accounting. While it's possible to enable direct access to a printer, you should use the spooler anyway since

• LPD prints jobs in the background; you don't have to wait for data to be copied to the printer.

• LPD can conveniently run a job to be printed through filters to add date/time headers or convert a special file format (such as a TeX DVI file) into a format the printer will understand. You won't have to do these steps manually.

• Many free and commercial programs that provide a print feature usually expect to talk to the spooler on your system. By setting up the spooling system, you'll more easily support other software you may later add or already have.