shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr30.193149.27550@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) writes: >In article <1991Apr29.232947.18235@odin.corp.sgi.com> suresh@babu.esd.sgi.com (Sureshbabu Katta) writes: >>!> alias can cancel PostScript >> >> The above command cancels the request which is currently getting printed. >>The printer was idle when u requested the cancel. Read the man page for cancel >>command. > >Sorry, I still do not understand. I have read the man page many times. >"lpstat" shows several jobs queued up to print, yet "cancel PostScript" does >not cancel any of them. Why not? Why is the printer idle if "lpstat" shows >jobs? I'd like to thank Sureshbabu and the others who responded publically and privately, for being tolerant of my thickheadedness in this matter, and finally getting me to understand what is happening. I am summarizing the situation just in case there are others who are as confused as I was. (Unlikely, I know. :-) ) Anyway, the nub is that the printer can be idle when jobs are queued up. A bare "cancel PrinterName" command then fails, because the printer is not active. But the command "cancel PrinterName-Job#" works, because this works on queued jobs as well as idle jobs. PrinterTool works because it uses the latter form of the "cancel" command. Of course, this does not explain why it is that the printer can be idle when there are jobs queued, but that's another matter. My confusion was in not understanding that this can happen. Thanks again to all respondants for both your advice and your patience. -P. ************************f*u*cn*rd*ths*u*cn*gt*a*gd*jb************************** Peter S. Shenkin, Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027 (212)854-1418 shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu(Internet) shenkin@cunixf(Bitnet) ***"In scenic New York... where the third world is only a subway ride away."***