Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 15:30:08 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com> To: service@fixer.com Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Printer won't work Message-ID: <20050722151445.F35068@wonkity.com> In-Reply-To: <006c01c58ef9$33182b30$bec03040@yourykcpkzegys> References: <000801c58e83$72d8adb0$bec03040@yourykcpkzegys> <20050722093916.Q29847@wonkity.com> <006c01c58ef9$33182b30$bec03040@yourykcpkzegys>
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[Please keep questions@freebsd.org CCed in case there is useful information for others in this thread. Thanks.] On Fri, 22 Jul 2005, service@fixer.com wrote: > Thanks, I put 'lpd_enable="YES" in my rc.conf file and I now have a printer > deamon. I checked with your 'ps aux | grep lpd" and yes its there. > lptest> /dev/lpt0 still works the same. Sorry, can't recall what that was. > When I run 'lpr somefile', it will > do absolutely nothing sometimes. Othertimes it load a page and eject > immedialtely without trying to print anything. If your printer can print plain text, you still might only see the first line--the rest can "stairstep" off the page because lptest only sends linefeeds, not CRLF, between lines. lptest sends 200 lines of text with linefeeds, enough to force a normal printer to eject at least a couple of pages. While testing a new printer, though, it's easy to lose track of what may be left in the printer buffer. Once the printer realizes that text will not be on the visible part of the page, it may not do anything until it has received enough linefeeds or a formfeed to eject the page. You can send a formfeed directly: printf "\f" | lpr Printers that can't handle plain text (euphemistically known as "host-based" or "winprinters") have to get preformatted data through a driver. The driver is usually specified as an input filter (if=) in the printcap. Check /var/log/lpd-errs for error messages from the driver. -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA
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