Nowadays, as of 2013-11, Linux systems load a hardware-specific kernel module, to enable general printing support. You need a special kernel module for each different printer( e.g. one module for PCL5, one for EPSON, one for PostScript,..) The printing is then configured by the helpof CUPS.
In Windows Server 2008 and high-end versions of Vista, Win7 ( Enterprise and Ultimate ) and Win8 ( Enterprise ), the recent “Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications” ( SUA ) is included.
BusyBox: The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux - “BusyBox combines tiny versions of many common UNIX utilities into a single small executable. It provides replacements for most of the utilities you usually find in GNU fileutils, shellutils, etc. The utilities in BusyBox generally have fewer options than their full-featured GNU cousins; however, the options that are included provide the expected functionality and behave very much like their GNU counterparts. BusyBox provides a fairly complete environment for any small or embedded system”.