First thing I did after leaving configuration was to fire up Netscape and print a Web page. Netscape is notoriously cranky in these matters, but it worked without the slightest problem. Next test was StarOffice, which previously had refused to work unless the PostScript cartridge were installed. Again, no problem. (My test in this case was the document that I absolutely had to print.)

KDE2 wouldn't print anything from any application, but I'm not terribly surprised by that. I suppose that with some fiddling it will -- and it certainly will if CUPS becomes the standard that it ought to be. I hesitate to characterize those who decide what goes into distributions, but I have heard that there were hamster-like squeaks and the faint aroma of elderberry in the air at their births. Adoption of CUPS would be a step toward the redemption that in some cases will be a long journey indeed.

Once I was satisfied that CUPS was working to the extent that I wanted to keep it around (as if there were a choice), I added it to the services at startup. This can be done (as root, of course) with the KDE Sys-V Init Editor or with any distribution's daemon manager.

And I could cross one off the list. Sound still doesn't work here, between the VIA Audio Codec and KDE2's artsd, and the font anti-aliasing remains a raging nightmare. There's still no first-class word processor. But getting the printer to work is progress.

More than progress -- a sign of its coming maturity. The corresponding sign that it's still fresh and new will be achieved when I hear that the kdesupport .ppd files have been hacked into CUPS.

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