The IFHP filter does job and format conversion for for PostScript and PCL printers as well as the usual 'dumb' printers. For printers which provide status information over a bidirectional connection, it can monitor the printer for conditions and report current page usage. This information is incorporated into the LPRng printer status information.

The IFHP filter provides facilities to do format conversion from a wide range of input formats. By default, IFHP uses the Unix file utility to determine the input job type, then uses various conversion programs including GhostScript (www.ghostscript.com) to convert the file to the appropriate format for a printer, and then transfers the job to the printer. It also produces extremely detailed error and status messages explaining the various conversion steps and and error conditions encountered.

The IFHP filter is extremely simple to install and configure using the LPRngTool facility.