postscript.  Would that be a problem?

Could you temporarily hook one of the printers directly to the linux PC to test
whether the linux print output is correct?  I think the following would give you
a raw print directly to the printer from your groff / lpr command (but you
should probably verify it).

  lp206|HP LaserJet 4000N in Computer Lab:\
          :lp=/dev/lp0:\
          :sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp206:\
          :lf=/var/log/lp-errs:\
          :mx#0:\
          :sh:.

-- Doug

Karen A Swanberg wrote:

> Hi all;
>
> First, if anyone who responds would cc: to swanberg at umn.edu, that would be
> great, as I'm subscribed via digest. There is a linux question embedded
> below, I'm just trying to give enough detail...
>
> I have an NT print server serving my networked printers so I can use some
> third party software to do printer accounting (PAS, from
> www.metrics.com) Therefore, my HP Laserprinters (4000N, 4100N, etc) only
> allow print jobs from the IP of the print server. I have macs and pc's
> printing just fine, using the standard print queues of the NT server.
> I have tcp/ip print server service running.
>
> I now have a linux user (running SUSE) who wants to print to the printers.
> I see doing this with one of two methods: printing directly to the printer
> (opening the HP jetdirect to his IP, which is fine) or having him send the
> print job to the print server.
>
> The user is creating the files (either Postscript 2 or 3, depending) by a
> command such as: $ groff -Tlj4 -ms cv.6 > cv6_lj.ps, and sending them to
> the printer or the print server with:  $ lpr -Plp206 cv6_lj.ps
>
> If the user send the job to the print server, the job prints out as the
> postscript commands, rather than the formatted postscript output. If he
> sends it directly to the printer, he gets postscript jibberish or nothing
> at all.
>
> We've tried a bunch of different printcap configurations, some of which
> are below. No luck with any of them.
>
> # /etc/printcap: printer capability database. See printcap(5).
> # You can use the filter entries df, tf, cf, gf etc. for
> # your own filters. See /etc/filter.ps, /etc/filter.pcl and
> # the printcap(5) manual page for further details.
>
> # Notes by Karen.
> # The print queue's are called:
> # PAS-104-Laser - an HP 4100N
> # PAS-206-Laser - an HP 4000N
> # PAS-800-HPGL2 - an HP DesignJet 800PS using the GL2 drivers
> # PAS-800-PS    - The same Designjet using the PS (level 3) drivers
> # PAS-Tek-850DP - Tektronix Phaser 850DP
> # The print server is named graphite.my.domain.edu / AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD
> #       :sd=/var/spool/lpd/pas206:\
>
> lp206|HP LaserJet 4000N in Computer Lab:\
>         :lp:\
> #       :rm=graphite.my.domain.edu:\
> #       :rp=PAS-206-Laser:\
>         :rm=IP.of.printer.here:\
>         :rp=raw:\
>         :sd=/var/spool/lpd/lp206:\
>         :lf=/var/log/lp-errs:\
>         :mx#0:
>
> # Tektronix Phaser 850DP Color Printer
> color2|Phaser 850DP:\
>         :lp=:\
>         :rm=graphite.my.domain.edu:\
> #       :rp=AUTO:\
>         :rp=PAS-Tek-850DP:\
>         :mx#0:\
>         :af=/var/log/lp-acct:\
>         :lf=/var/log/lp-errs:\
>         :sd=/var/spool/lpd/color2:\
>         :sh:
>
> I'm in the rough here. I'm unsure how to integrate LPR printing into my
> Win print server (although I'm assured by the tech support on the 3rd
> party printing system that it works, but they don't know how to do it),
> but at this point I'd be happy to completely bypass the print server and
> go straight to the printer. Unfortunately, I have even less of an idea how
> to do that then printing to the server. I've heard rumblings about port
> 9100 printing, but that means nothing to me.
>
> I do have a samba server I could use to catch the lpr print jobs, and send
> them onto the win server, but boy do I *not* want to do that.
>
> I'm told by others "I don't think printcap / lpr is the problem... at
> least, not on the client machine.  Lpr just ships files off to the print
> server: it's the server's job to interpret the job correctly," but if so,
> I don't understand why my NT serer isn't translating this correctly.
>
> Has anyone done this? Can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm
> still a bit leary on the whole blackbox printing thing...
>
> Sincerely,
>
> -Karen
>
> -                                                                  -
>     Karen Swanberg | Sys Admin | Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
> 206 Pillsbury Hall | 310 Pillsbury Ave. SE | University of Minnesota
>      Minneapolis, MN 55455  (612) 624-6541  (612) 625-3819 (f)
>
>               * <---- Tribble   . <--- Tribble.tgz
>
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