Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 17:27:39 -0800 From: jehamby@lightside.com (Jake Hamby) To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: SysV printing lameness... Message-ID: <199702210127.RAA00612@lightside.com>
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Now that I'm familiar with the mechanism, and it actually works most of the time, I don't have a problem with the System V LP service. Certainly the BSD print system has its inadequacies too. But somehow Sun manages to screw something up, as evidenced by my story... I wanted to set up printing on Solaris/x86 at home to filter my PostScript jobs through Ghostscript, and generate PCL for my HP Deskjet 500 printer. I have a tried-and-true script to do this, which works great (with minor modifications) on FreeBSD, Linux, and Solaris (on a SPARCstation connected to a LaserJet III at work). But when I set it up, and tried to print out tiger.ps, I got a garbled picture with weird characters along the left side. I tried everything, and there is a LOT to try, since SYSV printing has so many more options than BSD, and they are configured through command-line utilities, rather than editing a printcap file directly. Finally, in desparation, I posted to solaris-x86@mlist.eis.com, and received the response to type: # lpadmin -p printername -H none which apparently removes some STREAMS module which "helpfully" converts LF to CRLF, corrupting my PCL picture in the process! This is an *undocumented* switch, no wonder I didn't find it. Good thing I posted to the mailing list, or I would never have figured it out... Two conclusions from this story: First, mailing lists are a wonderful resource, regardless of the OS, and second, STREAMS are truly evil! Have a nice day... -- Jake
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