CHAPTER 1 UNIX PRINTING

An example of a typical printcap file:

laser1Printer on Floor 1:\ :lp=:\ :rm=BRN_310107:\ :rp=TEXT_P1:\ :sd=/usr/spool/lpd/laser1:

Make sure this information is added to the end of the printcap file. Also make sure that the last character in the printcap file is a colon ":"

This will create a queue named laser1 on the host computer that communicates to a Brother print server with a node name (rm) of BRN_310107 and a service name (rp) of TEXT_P1 printing text files to a Brother printer through spool directory /usr/spool/lpd/laser1. If you are printing binary graphics files, you would use the service BINARY_P1 instead of TEXT_P1.

The rm and rp options are not available on some UNIX systems, so if necessary check your documentation (or man pages) to determine the equivalent options.

Users of Berkeley-compatible UNIX systems can use the lpc command to obtain the printer status:

%lpc status laser1:

queuing is enabled printing is enabled no entries

no daemon present

Users of AT&T-compatible UNIX systems can generally use the lpstat or rlpstat commands to obtain similar status information. Because this procedure varies from system to system, refer to your system documentation for the exact usage.

4.Skip this section if you have completed Step 3, unless you have an SCO UNIX system.

If you have an HP/UX system, IBM RS/6000 AIX computer, or Sun Solaris 2.xx, there is no printcap file. This is also true for some other AT&T-based UNIX systems, as well as many VMS-based TCP/IP software packages (for example, UCX, TGV Multinet, etc.). On SCO systems, there is a printcap file, but it is automatically configured by the rlpconf command. Most of these systems generally use a printer setup program to define the service name (remote printer), the print server name (remote machine) or IP address, and the local queue name (spool directory). Refer to the appropriate section depending on your version of Unix.

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