IRIS Impressario™, included with IRIX® 6.5, provides basic printing for direct-attached printers and network printers. All IRIX users in your network can submit print jobs, customize printing, and monitor the status of their devices in real-time. IRIS Impressario supports a specific set of Postscript printers including Generic Color PostScript Printer Driver, HP PostScript Capable Printer Drivers, Apple® LaserWriter® Plus thru IIg Printer Drivers, and Lexmark PostScript Capable Printer Drivers. In addition, over 1400 PPD files are provided as a convenience and are not supported by SGI. Non-PostScript printers and high-resolution printing are not supported.

Common UNIX® Printing System (CUPS) provides a standard interface for printing for many types of printers, including PostScript and non-PostScript printers. CUPS is based on the Internet Printing Protocol and is widely used in the computer industry as the standard printing solution under GNU GPL.

For a fully supported and comprehensive printing solution, SGI recommends Easy Software Products' ESP Print Pro™ software for your IRIX printing needs. ESP Print Pro is a complete cross-platform printing solution that includes CUPS and supports the latest printers and major file formats. For your convenience, the ESP Print Pro software is distributed on the Complementary Applications CD included with IRIX 6.5.24 and above, and is also downloadable. A license is required to use the software. A 21-day demo license can be requested from Easy Software Products. Please contact Easy Software Products to learn more and to purchase permanent licenses for ESP Print Pro.