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Date:      Thu, 2 Nov 1995 11:24:04 -0500 (EST)
From:      John Fieber <jfieber@indiana.edu>
To:        Anthony Golia <anthony@fabrikant.com>
Cc:        questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Printing Problems
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.91.951102111639.26095H-100000@fieber-john.campusview.indiana.edu>
In-Reply-To: <9510312246.AA24478@fabrikant.com>

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On Tue, 31 Oct 1995, Anthony Golia wrote:

> I recently installed FreeBSD vers 2.0.5.  It works great except for printing.
> I have a HP Lasejet IIP attached to lpt1.  No matter what filter I use it either
> prints garbage or nothing at all.  So, then I tried catting a file and
> redirecting
> it to the /dev/lpwhatever port and the same garbage came out.  Is it my
> printer (but it
> works fine under DOS)? 

Describe "garbage".  :)

Catting directly to the device won't work.  The reason is that HP 
printers expect DOS style line termination.  They can be configured for 
unix line termination via escape sequences sent at the start of the print 
job (by a filter, or printcap entry), or on some models like the deskjet, 
with switches on the printer.

Assuming the software method, the following is a printcap I used to use.  
This printcap doesn't rely on any external filters.  The ff line sends 
the escape sequence to change the line termination.  The one below also 
sets the character width to 12cpi and adds a left margin (for punching 
holes or stapling) which is not strictly necessary.

If you want a more detailed description, have a look at 
http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/printing.html.

#	@(#)printcap	5.3 (Berkeley) 6/30/90
#
# tr= Eject page at end of all jobs
# mx= Maximum size of job (0 = no limit)
# sh= no header page
# fo= send 'form-feed' when opening device
# ff= the 'form feed': Reset printer, CR=>CR, LF=CR+LF, FF=CR+FF
# tr= (eject page at end of printing ?)
#

lp|local line printer|DeskJet 500:\
	:lp=/dev/lpt0:\
	:sd=/var/spool/lpd/pcl:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:af=/var/log/lpr-log:\
	:mx#0:tr=\033&l0H:fo:\
	:ff=\033E\033&k2G\033&l0O\033(10U\033(s0u0p12h12v0s0b6t2Q\033&a10L:\
	:sh:pw#80:\

-john

== jfieber@indiana.edu ===========================================
== http://fieber-john.campusview.indiana.edu/~jfieber ============




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