russell@imtec.co.uk (Russell Brown) (08/30/88)
This question only refers to SYS V - Berklyites should press n :-) Please correct me if I am wrong (sure someone will :-) but I can't find any simple way to support different types of stationary under the System V spooler. What's needed is some mechanism whereby jobs can send output to the spooler indicating the required stationary (letterhead, narrow plain, wide plain, multipart, pretty paper with flowers on etc etc) The spooler beasty should only print those jobs that match the currently loaded paper type, holding all other jobs in the queue until the system admin changes the paper (and tells the spooler!). To make this workable, a number of tools will be required to interrogate the queues, tell the spooler we are about to change the paper and detect that the spooler has stopped output. Anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this? is hacking an interface program the correct approach? The file formats in /usr/spool/lp are not documented :-( and we do not have source :-( :-( Comments? Ideas? Email and I will summarise if an interest is shown. Thanks in advance, Russell -- --------------------------------------------------------------- | Russell Brown | Voice: 0733-66852 | | Imtec plc | EMAIL: russell@imtec.co.uk | | 7 Fitzwilliam Suite, | UUCP: | | Broadway Court, Peterborough, | ...mcvax!ukc!imtec!russell | | Britain, PE1 1SQ | | ---------------------------------------------------------------
pls@sortac.UUCP (Pat Sullivan) (09/01/88)
In article <750@imtec.co.uk> russell@imtec.co.uk (Russell Brown) writes:
+This question only refers to SYS V - Berklyites should press n :-)
+ ^^^^^
+ ... simple way to support different types of stationary under the
+System V spooler.
Set up (lpadmin) a printer (-p) and class (-c) for each different type
of stationery; use the same device (-v) for all classes.
The printer administrator needs to "disable" all printers other than
the one for which the proper stationery is loaded and "enable" just
that one.
=================================================================
Pat Sullivan - {att|gatech|akgua}!sortac!pls - voice 404-573-7382
(-:) our printer is only stationary when the papar jams (:-)woods@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Greg Woods) (09/02/88)
In article <750@imtec.co.uk> russell@imtec.co.uk (Russell Brown) writes: >Please correct me if I am wrong (sure someone will :-) but I can't find >any simple way to support different types of stationary under the >System V spooler. > [exact definition of problem deleted] Use printer queue "classes". I've often seen the queue class type used to specify printer types (ie: dotmatrix, line, laser), or to specify priorities (ie: now, pm, low). There is no reason why the printer class could not be used to specify form type. Either a printer name, or class may be specified as an option to the lp command. The commands enable and disable will allow you to specify what type of form is currently loaded. Accept and reject can also be used for longer term availability. >To make this workable, a number of tools will be required to >interrogate the queues, tell the spooler we are about to change the >paper and detect that the spooler has stopped output. A bunch of shell scripts that call enable, disable, accept, reject, and lpadmin could be written to control the currently loaded paper type, document the class names, add new form types, and such would make this a user-friendly scheme. However, an experiences superuser should have no trouble without. A simple cron deamon could let the system administrator know that there are an abundance of jobs waiting in a particular queue. Mind you, most administrators aren't always available to change paper and re-configure the spooler! They've often got more important things to do -- like fixing bugs in all the free software they get off the net :-). [ I have responded on the net because I have previously answered a lot of questions about the Sys V lp spooler. I don't think many people have looked at the full capablilty of this almost unique spooler. The front-end commands above give it a tremendous degree of flexibility at a very low cost. By writing appropriate interface scripts for the "back-end", the lp spooler can be used for many types of batch applications. ] -- Greg Woods. UUCP: utgpu!woods, utgpu!{ontmoh, ontmoh!ixpierre}!woods VOICE: (416) 242-7572 [h] LOCATION: Toronto, Ontario, Canada