shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) (11/30/90)
We have a site license for Transcript, so I didn't buy Laser Printer support from SGI. I obtained the patch kit from cb-iris.stanford.edu, and have patched, made and installed the software. Other instructions that appeared in this newsgroup said to use the System Manager tool's Print Manager to add a new printer, then make a change in /usr/spool/lp/interface/printer_name. Well, the menu of known printer types is short, and none of them is a PostScript printer, as far as I can see. (I'm trying to set up an Apple LaserWriter.) Furthermore, I can't figure out where the hell the /usr/lib/vadmin/printers program, which is what I assume System Manager is running, is getting its list of printers. The list doesn't seem to be either hard-wired into the program, or to appear in a file called by the program; I tested for it using "strings". The man page for the System Manager tool says there should be a directory called /usr/lib/vadmin/filetype, but this does not exist on my system, though /usr/lib/vadmin exists, and there is something called /usr/lib/filetypes, which has its own "vadmin" subdirectory. The Iris System Adminstrator's Guide is, as usual, uninformative. All this is very confusing. Help, anyone? I don't know how printers are supposed to work under System V. I guess I thought that since bsd->sysv gives termcap->terminfo, I should be able to find some library of "printinfos" somewhere on the iris. A naive expectation, no doubt. I'm running 3.2.1 on a 4d25tg. -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."***
blbates@AERO4.LARC.NASA.GOV ("Brent L. Bates AAD/TAB MS361 x42854") (11/30/90)
Upgrade to 3.3.1 and use the BSD print spooler. Save yourself some headaches. -- Brent L. Bates NASA-Langley Research Center M.S. 361 Hampton, Virginia 23665-5225 (804) 864-2854 E-mail: blbates@aero4.larc.nasa.gov or blbates@aero8.larc.nasa.gov
lrlait@cdc910b21.gsfc.nasa.gov (Leslie Robert Lait) (12/04/90)
In article <1990Nov30.001442.24330@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) writes: >Other instructions that appeared in this newsgroup said to use the System >Manager tool's Print Manager to add a new printer, then make a change >in /usr/spool/lp/interface/printer_name. Well, the menu of known printer >types is short, and none of them is a PostScript printer, as far as I can >see. (I'm trying to set up an Apple LaserWriter.) Furthermore, I can't >figure out where the hell the /usr/lib/vadmin/printers program, which is >what I assume System Manager is running, is getting its list of printers. We had the same sort of need on our PI. The printer manager tool seems to get its list of printers by looking at all the printer scripts in /usr/spool/lp/model. Each script has NAME, DEVICE, and TYPE fields-- some in comments, some not--and the printer tool apparently finds these fields and interprets them to categorize the scripts. We were able to set up our own PostScript printer queue by modifying the dumb printer script, including the following lines: # NAME=TurboLaser, DEVICE=SERIAL # NAME= TYPE=PostScript (Of course, there are other modifications, such as changing the banner and trailer stuff. We are using the serial port, by the way, because the parallel port is being used by another printer.) Set up your script first, then bring up the printer tool. Your printer should magically appear as one of the printers available ("TurboLaser"). Of course, installing the printer causes the script to be copied to /usr/spool/lp/interface, where the non-commented NAME variable assignment has been changed for you: # NAME=TurboLaser, DEVICE=SERIAL # NAME="TurboLaser" TYPE=PostScript I'm not sure, but I think that the /filetype stuff you mentioned may be referring to the creation of CONVERT rules for WorkSpace and perhaps even the creation of new printer icons. We learned this stuff just by fiddling around and by trial and error, but it works for us (under 3.2 and 3.3). Hope this helps. (To SGI: what I would like to see is the expansion of the three basic devices beyond SERIAL, PARALLEL, and NETWORK. Our default printer queue actually runs the file through a text-to-PostScript filter and submits it to a Postscript queue, and I can imagine someone setting up, say, the audio chip on a printer queue (e.g., "lp -daudio voicemail.sound"). These things can be set up with the standard lpadmin commands, but it sure would be nice to have the printer tool be able to deal with them.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leslie Robert Lait | lrlait@cdc910b21.gsfc.nasa.gov | "...Now hit any key. My opinions are my own, not NASA's. | WAIT! NO! Not *that* key!"
wiltse@sgi.com (Wiltse Carpenter) (12/12/90)
In article <4080@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> lrlait@cdc910b21.gsfc.nasa.gov (Leslie Robert Lait) writes: >In article <1990Nov30.001442.24330@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> >shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) writes: > >>... Furthermore, I can't >>figure out where the hell the /usr/lib/vadmin/printers program, which is >>what I assume System Manager is running, is getting its list of printers. > >We had the same sort of need on our PI. The printer manager tool >seems to get its list of printers by looking at all the printer scripts in >/usr/spool/lp/model. Each script has NAME, DEVICE, and TYPE fields-- >some in comments, some not--and the printer tool apparently finds these >fields and interprets them to categorize the scripts. > This is basically correct. The NAME, DEVICE, and OPTIONS fields are parsed from the various scripts in /usr/spool/lp/model to form the menu in the printer administration tool. When a printer is installed, the un-commented NAME field is filled in with the value of NAME from the menu. Also, the OPTIONS field can be used to specify a list of keyword, value substitutions to further customize the script. Look at the file ``centface'' in /usr/spool/lp/model for an example. All of the printer administration tools beyond the core System V spooling system use a script called /usr/lib/lputil to do most of the actual work. These tools include: the Printer Manager, mkcentpr, mknetpr, rmprinter, and mkPS (part of the Laser Option package). If you want to see exactly how these work you can just look at them with an editor, they're just shell scripts. >I'm not sure, but I think that the /filetype stuff you mentioned may >be referring to the creation of CONVERT rules for WorkSpace and >perhaps even the creation of new printer icons. Right. > >We learned this stuff just by fiddling around and by trial and error, >but it works for us (under 3.2 and 3.3). > Sorry we haven't got all of this documented yet. -Wiltse Carpenter