UNIX PRINTING list of printers How to print from Solaris 2 and HP-UX operating systems. CONTENTS A. INTRODUCTION B. POSTSCRIPT ONLY PRINTERS C. PRINTING FROM SUN SOLARIS 2 D. PRINTING FROM HP-UX E. CHECKING THE STATUS OF A PRINT JOB F. CANCELLING A PRINT JOB G. BUGS AND UNRESOLVED HP PRINTING ISSUES A. INTRODUCTION =============== We had hoped that there would be one simple command to use when printing to any of our printers from either Sun or HP UNIX platforms. Unfortunately this is not easily realized, due in part to the variety of printers we have (AppleTalk, IP, PostScript) and complexity of printer options (duplex, transparency, 11X17). Furthermore, Sun and HP implement their lp commands very differently -- Sun's version can pass options to networked printers, HP's version cannot. (HP has instead created a separate product, JetAdmin, which uses the jetprint command in place of lp, which it then calls.) The commands and options listed below should also work within Netscape. B. POSTSCRIPT ONLY PRINTERS =========================== For the following printers, when printing plain text files which are not PostScript, you must first convert the file to PostScript: helter hippo jsp ophelia For sending plain text files to any of the above printers, instead of using a command of the form: Sun Solaris 2 syntax: lp -d $PRINTERNAME $FILENAME or HP-UX syntax: lp -d$PRINTERNAME $FILENAME please use (for both Solaris 2 and HP): nenscript -d $PRINTERNAME $FILENAME C. PRINTING FROM SUN SOLARIS 2 ============================== NOTE: space is required between switches and arguments of the lp command 1. PAPER OUTPUT -- 8.5" X 11" lp -d $PRINTERNAME $FILENAME e.g. lp -d raphael myfile 2. TRANSPARENCIES (available printers: raphael, klee) lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o tray2 $FILENAME 3. DUPLEX printing (available printers: raphael, klee, pokey, mumbo, adams) lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o duplex $FILENAME 4. 11" X 17" (available printers: raphael, mumbo, adams and orozco) SINGLE SIDED lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o 11x17 $FILENAME 2 SIDED lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o 11x17 -o duplex $FILENAME For 2 pages of 8.5x11 on 11x17 paper, 2 sided: lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o 11x17 -o tumble $FILENAME Printer mobydick special instructions for group aog lp -d mobydick -o upper $FILENAME D. PRINTING FROM HP-UX ====================== NOTE: No spaces are allowed between switches and arguments of the lp command. (We use the double quoting mechanism and pad a space to satisfy the Solaris syntax required on our Sun print spooler.) 1. PAPER OUTPUT -- 8.5" X 11" lp -d$PRINTERNAME $FILENAME e.g. lp -draphael myfile 2. TRANSPARENCIES (available printers: raphael, klee) lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o" tray2" $FILENAME 3. DUPLEX printing (available printers: raphael, klee, pokey, mumbo, adams) lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o" duplex" $FILENAME 4. 11" X 17" (available printers: raphael, mumbo, adams and orozco) SINGLE SIDED lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o" 11x17" $FILENAME 2 SIDED lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o" 11x17" -o" duplex" $FILENAME For 2 pages of 8.5x11 on 11x17 paper, 2 sided: lp -d $PRINTERNAME -o" 11x17" -o" tumble" $FILENAME Printer mobydick special instructions for group aog lp -d mobydick -o" upper" $FILENAME E. CHECKING THE STATUS OF A PRINT JOB Use the lpstat command. See the appropriate man pg for your platform as Sun's and HP's implementation differ: man lpstat F. CANCELLING A PRINT JOB Use the cancel command; see the appropriate man pg for your platform: man cancel G. BUGS AND UNRESOLVED HP PRINTING ISSUES ========================================= 1. Even though the above commands will work, when you print you may get email similar to: encountered an error while printing on printer $PRINTERNAME. Please ignore this message. 2. If you check the status of your print job with the lpstat command you may receive a disconcerting response like: status being received is corrupt Please ignore this message as the output will usually complete without problems.

 

Last modified: 2005-05-15 16:29:59-07