- Print
Devices & Queues - General information
- Spool
Directories - location
- chque
- Changes the name of a printer queue
- chquedev
- Changes the name of a printer device
- chvirprt
- Changes the virtual printer definition
- lpstat
- Monitor print spooler
- lssrc
- Display status of a spool system
- lpq
- Monitor print queue
- enq
- Control print jobs
- lp
- Start a print job
- lpr
- Start a print job
- cancel
- stop a print job
- qpri
- Set priority of a print job
- enscript
- Converts a text file to Post Script
- pr
- Control print format
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To configure
a local printer, a print and queue device need to
be created.
- A print
device is needed to connect the print driver to the
physical port the printer is attached to. A printer is configured
by using the smit makprt command.
- A queue
(alias virtual printer) is a set of attributes that define
a specific software view of a real printer. A virtual printer's
view refers only to the high-level data stream - ASCII or PostScript,
that the printer understands. It does
not include any information about how the printer hardware is
attached or the protocol used for transferring data to or from
the printer. Printer queues are configured by using the
smit mkvirprt command.
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DTR
- flow control
DTR=YES
or ON
- If the
printer configuration has DTR set to YES,
the DTR pin on the printer must be mapped
to the DCD pin on the RS/6000.
- The print
driver checks to see if DCD is high before data can be sent
down to the printer port. If an attempt to print directly
(ls > /dev/lp1) to a port that doesn't have DTR mapped
to DCD, the command will hang until DCD goes HIGH.
- If DTR
is mapped to DCD but the printer is turned off, DTR and DCD
are low. No transmission of data is generated by the
driver until DCD goes high. DCD can only go high when the
printer is turned on and the printer is in an online state.
-
With the 128-port adapter, ALTPIN must be ENABLED via the
/usr/lbin/tty/stty-cxma command.
DTR=NO
or OFF
- If the
printer configuration has DTR set to NO,
the DCD pin on the RS/6000 is not monitored before data is
sent down the printer port.
- When
creating the proper pinouts for cabling to a printer, make
sure that the CTS (pin 5) signal on
the printer is pinned to the RTS signal on the RS/6000.
- The RS/6000
will not send data down the printer cable unless it believes
that a device is powered on.
- If the
RTS signal is low, no data will be sent to the printer cable
and the following error message is shown: ksh:
/dev/lp5: 0403-005 Cannot create the specified file.
- The printer
will set CTS (pin 5) high, when it's busy.
- If data
is sent down the printer cable and nothing is printed, make
sure that the DTR signal on the RS/6000
is connected to DSR on the printer. If the printer's
DSR signal is low, then some printers may not print the data
it received from the host.
When
configuring devices on the 8,16, and 64-port IBM async cards,
remember that the lower the port number on that device, the higher
the priority of that device being serviced. Therefore, make sure
the devices that use more bandwidth or CPU cycles, are configured
with the lower port numbers (0,1,2 vs 14,15,16).
Further,
these adapters not only prioritize service by port on the adapter,
they also prioritize by adapter. This means that every port on
a higher-priority adapter will have their interrupts serviced
before any port on a lower-priority adapter.
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The following
directories may need to be accessed to clean up aborted
jobs:
- /var/spool/lpd/qdir
: Accepts requests for print jobs
- /var/spool/lpd/stat
: Status files for a print job. The backend communicates with
the qdaemon through these files.
- /var/spool/lpd/spool
: qdaemon requests are spooled here
The following
directories are used to store virtual printer attributes:
- /var/spool/lpd/pio/burst
: Stores header/trailer format page
- /var/spool/lpd/pio/predef
: Default attributes
- /var/spool/lpd/pio/custom
: ASCII virtual printer attributes
- /var/spool/lpd/pio/ddi
: Digested virtual printer attributes
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To send print
jobs to a remote print server, TCP/IP must be used. The flow of
a print job is as follows...
- Job is
initiated using lpr
or enq
- The /etc/qdaemon
on the local machine processes the job and passes the data to
a the backend process /usr/lpd/rembak
- rembak
transmits the job to the remote printer via TCP/IP
- On the
remote server lpd, by monitoring port 515, receives and
processes the job to the selected printer
Multiple
jobs submitted on a single command line to either a local
or remote print queue is NOT supported.
AIX is
able to use remote queues with names longer than 7 characters
in length. In order for this to work, you need to define the
backend of the remote queue as follows:
backend
= /usr/lpd/rembak -P <QueueName> -S <ServerName> -N
- The -P
will work with queue names longer than 7 characters.
- The -N
is needed to inhibit sending AIX-specific control information
to a non-AIX remote host
- /usr/lib/lpd/aixshort
indicates the remote server is another AIX machine.
- /usr/lib/lpd/aixlong
indicates the remote server is another AIX machine. (For long-form
output)
- /usr/lib/lpd/bsdshort
indicates the remote server is BSD4.3 or Linux lpq printer queue
- /usr/lib/lpd/bsdlong
indicates the remote server is BSD4.3 or Linux lpq
printer queue (For long-form output)
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Terminates
one or more print jobs, even if the
job is currently being printed.
| Examples |
What
it does |
| cancel
280 |
Cancels
the print job 280 |
| cancel
laser |
Cancels
all jobs associated with the queue laser if user is
root or all jobs submitted to that queue from the user
who issues the cancel command. |
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Changes
the name of a printer queue in the /etc/qconfig
file. Queue names can only be up to seven
characters long.
| Examples |
What
it does |
| chque
-q lp0 -n laser |
Changes
the print queue name from lp0 to laser |
| chque
-q lp0 -a discipline=sjn |
Jobs
submitted to printer queue named lp0 will now place
short jobs at the start of the queue in preference to longer
running jobs. The distinction between short and long jobs
is the number of blocks of text that jobs consists of. This
can be determined by reviewing the Blks field of the
lpstat command. |
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Changes
the name of the printer device associated
with the printer queue in the /etc/qconfig file.
Flags:
- -d
refers to the current name of the print device
- -n
refers to the new name of the print device
- -q
refers to the queue name associated with the print device
| Example |
What
it does |
| chquedev
-dlp0 -qlaser -nlaser |
Changes
the name of print device from lp0 to laser for the queue laser |
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Changes
the virtual definition of a particular
printer stream
Flags:
- -d
refers to the current name of the print device
- -a
refers to the attribute to change
- -q
refers to the queue name associated with the print device
| Example |
What
it does |
|
chvirprt -dlp1 -qlaser -a _q=1 |
Changes
the print quality attribute of the printer queue named laser
from letter to draft mode. |
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Disable a
printer queue
| Examples |
What
it does |
|
disable laser |
Brings
the print queue laser off-line immediately. |
| disable
-c laser |
The
-c brings print queue laser off line without waiting
for current job to finish printing. |
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Converts the
ASCII form of the /etc/qconfig file into the binary version of
the /etc/qconfig.bin file used by the qdaemon.
Every time
a new virtual printer is added to the system, the /etc/qconfig
file will get compiled by the qdaemon which updates this data
file. If the date on the qconfig file is
earlier than the date on the qconfig.bin file, the qconfig file
will not be digested, even if it has just been modified.
| Example |
What
it does |
|
/usr/lpd/digest /etc/qconfig /etc/qconfig.bin |
Creates
a new version of the /etc/qconfig.bin file |
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Administers
the line printer subsystem
| Examples |
What
it does |
| enq
sam* |
Prints
all the files starting with "sam" to the system
printer |
| enq
-x 150 |
Print
job 150 is terminated immediately |
| enq
-X laser |
All
jobs on print queue laser will be terminated if you are the
root user, else cancels all jobs submitted by that user |
| enq
-Plaser:lp0 sales.doc |
Send
the file sales.doc to the queue laser attached to the print
device lp0 for printing |
| enq
-D -Plaser |
Disables
the queue laser after the current job has finished. qdaemon
doesn't send jobs to downed queues. Only
applies to local queues. |
| enq
-G |
qdaemon
process is gracefully shutdown after all current running jobs
have finished. This is the only clean
way to bring the qdaemon process down. The kill command may
cause problems, such as jobs hanging in the queue.
If the qdaemon process is running under srcmstr, enq -G does
not prevent qdaemon from being restarted automatically. You
must use the chssys command
(chssys -s qdaemon -O)
to prevent the automatic restart of the qdaemon process. Only
applies to local queues. |
| enq
-K -Plaser |
Disables
the queue laser and immediately terminates any job that is
currently being printed. Print jobs remain in the queue and
are rerun once the queue is re-enabled. Jobs currently being
run are lost. Only applies to local
queues. |
| enq
-U -Plaser |
Enables
the queue laser. Only applies to local
queues. |
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Enable a printer
queue
Example:
enable laser
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Takes a text
file as input, converts it to PostScript format, and spools the
file to a PostScript printer.
The ENSCRIPT
environment variable can be used to specify PostScript defaults.
For example, ENSCRIPT='-fTimes-Roman8' sets the default
body type size and font to 8 point Times Roman.
| Examples |
What
it does |
| enscript
-dps feb3.notes |
Prints
the file feb3.notes to printer queue ps. The enscript command
will translate all the ASCII text to PostScript and pass it
off to the ps queue. |
| enscript
-r feb3.notes |
Prints
the feb3.notes file to the default printer |
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Sends
requests to a printer. A queue's state
only goes to running if the queue device is actually a device
file and can be opened for STDOUT. Only one job at a time can
be submitted to a print queue.
| Options |
What
it does |
| -w |
Writes
a message on the requester's terminal once the job has printed |
| -m |
Sends
mail to the user who submitted the job once the job has printed |
| -d |
Name
of the destination queue follows |
| Examples |
What
it does |
| lp
-w /etc/motd |
Prints
the file /etc/motd to the default printer. |
| lp
-mdlaser /etc/motd |
Sends
the file /etc/motd to the laser queue for printing |
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Examines the
spooling area used by 'lpd' for printing files. Files are spooled
to the /usr/spool/qdaemon directory until they have been successfully
printed or canceled.
Example:
lpq
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Uses the spooling
daemon (lpr) to queue and print files when those facilities become
available.
lpr
sends files to the system default printer or to the printer specified
by the environment variable LPDEST. If the LPDEST variable
has no value, the PRINTER variable is used. If this environmental
variable is not set, then the system default printer is used.
If
you are forced to kill the /usr/lpd/lpd daemon, remove the /etc/locks/lpd
file before you start up the lpd process again. If you don't,
the error messages "lpd: errno = 17: Do not specify an
existing file. lpd: (FATAL ERROR): 0781-196 lock file or duplicate
daemon." is
generated:
The lpd daemon
will not restart, until this lock file is removed. If the message
pr:Server error: your host does not have
line printer access or something similar to it is displayed
after an lpr print request, then edit the /etc/hosts.lpd file
and add the client node your making the print request from. You
don't have to restart the lpd daemon to reread this file.
Use the
lpq command to inspect
the status of a job.
Use the cancel
command to delete a job.
| Example |
What
it does |
|
lpr -s /oracle/marketdata.1992 |
The
-s option is used to link a file to the spooling directory,
rather than copying it, so that large files can be printed. |
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Displays
printer queue status information. First
printer listed by lpstat is your default queue. In other words,
if no queue name is given when the LP command is executed, then
the print job will be submitted to the default printer.
If
the lpstat command hangs at a client machine, theres a
good chance that the lpd daemon is not running on your print server.
- Execute
the startsrc -s
qdaemon command to start the lpd daemon.
- If
this daemon fails to start, the lock file /etc/locks/lpd may
be preventing this process from successfully starting. Delete
this file and rerun startsrc
-s qdaemon again.
| Example |
What
it does |
|
lpstat |
Displays
print queue status |
| lpstat
-t |
Displays
print queue status with more detail |
| lpstat
-plaser |
Displays
print queue status for the queue laser only |
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Generates
the line printer ripple test pattern
| Example |
What
it does |
|
lptest 80 100 | pr -n |
Prints
100 lines of 80 column test pattern to the default print queue
- where each line is prefixed with a line number |
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Lists
the name of the printer queue attributes
stored in the /etc/qconfig file.
| Example |
What
it does |
|
lsquedev -q ibm -d dlp0 |
List
the attributes for the queue ibm associated with the device
lp0 |
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Displays
the attributes for a virtual printer or printer queue
| Examples |
What
it does |
| lsvirprt
-qlaser -dlp0 |
Lists
printer queue attributes and their values. The
'q' (queue) and 'd' (device) flags are required. |
| lsvirprt
-qlaser -dlp0 -a _K |
Lists
the condensed print attribute (_K) for the printer queue laser |
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List
the status of a subsystem
| Examples |
What
it does |
| lssrc
-g spooler |
Display
status of all the spooling daemons |
| lssrc
-a |
List
status of all subsystems |
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Create another
print queue to the same output device (multiple queues to one
print device)
When you submit
jobs to these queues remember the qdaemon redirects stdin,stdout,
and stderr to the NULL device (/dev/null). If you wish to see
any output from your job, you will need to redirect stdout and
stderr of that job to a specific file or CRT.
| Example |
What
it does |
|
mkquedev -d ksh1 -q bsh -a backend=/bin/ksh |
Creates
an additional printer queue to the 'bshdev' device named 'ksh1'. |
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Paginate
a file before printing it via the lp
command. Separates files into pages with headers, footer margins
and page numbers. It can also produce multicolumn output. Output
of this command will default to the screen but is normally redirected
to a file or line printer.
| Example |
What
it does |
|
pr -l64 UserGuide.doc | lp |
Paginates
the UserGuide.doc to 64 lines per page and pipes the output
to the system default printer. |
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Set
the priority of a print job. This
command will only work with local print queues. If the
job is ranked first in the queue, this command will only work
once. If the first ranked job is changed a second time, the priority
won't change. Default priority is 15. Use the
lpstat -t command to see print
queue priority.
| Examples |
What
it does |
| qpri
-#169 -a 4 |
Lowers
the priority of print job 169 to 4 from 15. If there are jobs
with higher priority in the same print queue where job 169
resides, they will move ahead. |
| qpri
-#169 -a 20 |
Raises
the priority of print job 169 from 15 to 20. If there are
jobs with higher priority in the same print queue where job
169 resides, they will move behind job 169. |
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This command
is used to start the spool daemon named qdaemon. By default,
this daemon is started everytime the system reboots.
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This command
will stop the spool qdaemon. If the qdaemon is not running,
all jobs submitted to the spooler will be queued. The job
number for these print jobs will be marked 'new'. Once the
qdaemon is restarted those queued jobs will be given a job number.
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Lock
Files
Occasion you
may get a message lpd:
lock file or duplicate daemon.
This can be caused if there is a problem with the lpd daemon.
When this
happens
- Remove
the file /etc/locks/lpd. This file should contain the
Process ID (PID) for the currently running lpd daemon.
- Stop and
start the print spooler.
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