axel@coma.UUCP (08/31/87)
Our LaserWriter is hooked to a MicroVAX II running 4.3 BSD. We use it with TeX (dvi2ps) and ditroff (tpscript). The printcap entry is as follows: lw|Apple LaserWriter:\ :br#9600:fc#021370:fs#000000:lp=/dev/ttyS0:sd=/usr/spool/lpd/lw:sf:sh: >I can tip to /dev/lw and converse with the laser printer, and I can >"cat file.ps > /dev/lw" and get nice clean output. Yet if I >"lpr -Plw2 file.ps", strange things happen. The Laserwriter's yellow >light blinks for the appropriate amount of time and I can see lights moving >around down inside the cover release cutout; but no pages are printed. > To catch the LaserWriter's diagnostics that are issued while it is processing a job, you can use the following tricks: a) tip to the LW _before_ sending the printjob via lpr or b) (better!) insert the following lines in your /etc/rc.local: /usr/ucb/tail +0cf /dev/ttyS0 > /usr/spool/lpd/lw/lw-log & echo 'loggin LaserWriter's diagnostics on /usr/spool/lpd/lw/lw-log'\ >/dev/console With 'tail -f <logfile>', everybody will be able to monitor the LaserWriter's diagnostics. We found this very helpful in debugging PostScript applications. Axel Mahler, Tech.Univ. Berlin