Re: [SLUG] print servers

From: Steven Johnson (alinuxguru@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Aug 22 2001 - 03:08:44 EDT


There are three distinct concepts that I mentioned so I will break them down
individually. Hopefully, we will discover where the process is breaking
down for you.

Please bear in mind that I do not have any Linux machine at home right now
so this is all going from memory. You caught me at a bad time -Usually I
have two or three running at any one time :) Ergo, I will make
syntactical errors so consult your man pages for proper syntax.

1. The easiest concept: Printing in "RAW". In your /etc/printcap file
your printcap entry will look similar to this:

printer name|some other alias|:\
    :rm={IP or Host of SMC Barricade}:\
    :rp=LPT1_PASSTHRU:\

and a few other settings. Essentially what you are doing is pointing the
linux box to the parallel port of the SMC. The SMC will in turn simply pass
it through to the printer unformatted. Pretty simple and really only
useful for ASCII text only. But try to get this working first.

2. Printing using Printer Control Language (PCL). If you had the most
minimalistic printcap entry which is what I have, little extras like bold
and different font sizes become unavailable to you. If I want to print
landscape, courier 8 in bold, I embed the formatting changes directly into
my document. See
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpl03718.html#P17_1566 for
more generic information on PCL. It looks cryptic, and it is, so if you
have a specific question about PCL let me know.

3. Printing using filter files. What a filter file is, for lack of a
better term, is a driver file for your printer that tells the printer daemon
how to process the document. It takes care of all of the mundane things
for you. If you had a filter file, your printcap entry would look similar
to:

printer name|some other alias|:\
    :rm={IP or Host of SMC Barricade}:\
    :rp=LPT1_PASSTHRU:\
    :if=/var/spool/somefile:\
    :of=/var/spool/someotherfile:\

where the :if is your input filter and :of is your output filter. and I
belief there is one or two more :*f filters available.

----Original Message Follows----
From: Seth Hollen <seth@hollen.org>
Reply-To: slug@nks.net
To: slug@nks.net
Subject: Re: [SLUG] print servers
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 16:55:51 -0400

could you give more details? i'm definately a newbie with printing! Thanks

On Tuesday 21 August 2001 02:09 pm, you wrote:
> try a prot name of "raw", or "pr". This is a subtle trick in getting IP
> printing via lpr to work on HP print servers, and Axis print servers.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Seth Hollen" <seth@hollen.org>
> To: <slug@nks.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 9:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [SLUG] print servers
>
> > I have the same router but can't get the print server to work in linux
> > It's driving me crazy!, but it works well as a router
> > could you tell us how you did it?
> >
> > On Tuesday 21 August 2001 09:30 am, you wrote:
> > > I have had the SMC for only a few weeks and one firmware revision
ago.
>
> The
>
> > > primary reason that I purchased it was the firewall/4 port switch so
> > > the print server was just gravy. The only "flaw" for me is the lack
> > > of detailed logging that my Linux firewall used to provide.
> > >
> > > Attached to the print server is an HP LaserJet 3100. The OS' that
>
> connect
>
> > > to the print server are: RH and Corel Linux, Windows NT, Windows
2000,
> > > Windows ME, and Windows XP. So far no noticeable issues but I am
just
> > > getting started with XP.
> >
> > --
> > Seth
> > Seth@hollen.org
> >
> > I live in my own little world, but it's ok... they know me
> > here.

--
Seth
Seth@hollen.org

I live in my own little world, but it's ok... they know me here.

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