Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:14:13 -0600 From: "Mike Meyer" <mwm-dated-1014146053.7891fc@mired.org> To: Kirk <kirkrw@mediaone.net> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: printer woes Message-ID: <15468.3205.343042.817770@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <2750594@toto.iv>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Kirk <kirkrw@mediaone.net> types: > I am trying to get a NEC 870 printer working through apsfilter. Does anyone > know how I should configure my printcap file? No, not without telling us what you're trying to do with it. > :sh:\ > lp|superscript870:\ > :sh:\ > :ml#0:\ > :mx#0:\ > :sd=/var/spool/output/lpd:\ > :lp=/dev/lpt0:\ > :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:\ > :if=/usr/local/libexec/gimp-print:\ > > Specifically should I get rid of the gimp-print filter line at the end (or is > that needed?). I am still stuck with the stair step problem when I lptest to > lpt0 I have *no* idea what gimp-print does, and have never seen it used before. The :sh:\ at the top is certainly wrong. There are basically four ways to do things using lpd, depending on whether your printer is a WinPrinter or not, and depending on whether you want a traditional Unix printer setup where you create files of the proper type to send to the printer, or an intelligent setup where the printer subsystem tries to figure out how to generate text to send to the printer. If your printer is a WinPrinter, you have one entry for the printer. It eithere uses an if that runs ghostscript so that it reads standard input and writes bits for your printer to standard output, or it uses an if that runs an intelligent filter that will figure out how to generate postscript for your input, then run that through ghostscript as above. The first form is the traditional Unix method, and you have to generate the postscript by hand; the second form is the intelligent front end. If your printer isn't a WinPrinter, then you may want two entries. One will be the entry as described above, for handling postscript files. The other - if you need it - will look like the first one, except the spool directory and printer names will be different. It will also use an if entry that converts newlines to the newline-linefeed pair expected by DOS printers. See the Handbook printer setup troubleshooting section on the "stairstep" problem for information about that. If you're using the traditional Unix approach, you'll need a second entry as above. If you're using an intelligent filter, it will do something with text files to print them. The two intelligent filters I've looked at are apsfilter and magicfilter. apsfilter is the easier one to install. It walks you through a dialog, and then adds the appropriate entry(ies) to /etc/printcap for you. The downside is that it converts *everything* to postscript, then runs ghostscript on that to generate the output. It also uses a shell script to do this, so you run a lot of processes to figure out what things are. Worse yet, it means that printing a simple text file will cause it to send a page of graphics to the printer, which will take a long time, and may well fail because you've run the printer out of memory. Magicfilter doesn't do the setup, but instead looks at your system and installs executable files in /usr/local/libexec/magicfilter that uses the programs it sees to handle the various types of files they read for the printers it knows about. That list is unfortunately dated, and you have to create the termcap entry by hand. The upside is that it has the text filter built in, so printing a text file will just send the text to the printer if the printer can handle it. It can also handle various file types that apsfilter can't, like PCL and PJL files. Finally, magicfilter itself is a C program that uses reads the executables in /usr/local/libexec/magicfilter as scripts, so the system overhead for using it is much lower. My, I'm feeling wordy today. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?15468.3205.343042.817770>