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CSL: Printing FAQ

In this page:

• Printing Systems: LPRng and CUPS
• Printers and Basic Printer Commands
• CUPS Options
• LPRng “Z” Options
• Conversions
• PDF's and Unusual Paper Sizes
• Saving Paper: Printing N-Up

For many years, the C.S. department has used LPRng as the primary printing system; this is most noticeable when using Solaris. Due to a reduction of support and development for LPRng, we've been transitioning the printing system to CUPS. Due to some as-yet unresolved issues with CUPS, we've not yet switched completely over to it, but there is a largely functional CUPS installation available on the C.S. network. In essense, we have two parallel, co-existing printing systems.

Please see the appropriate man pages for command details. For example, in a terminal window, you can type, “man lpstat” to view the manual page for the lpstat command.

On Solaris hosts (e.g., login.cs.duke.edu), printing commands are generally LPRng commands, even the lp family commands. If you really want CUPS on Solaris, then prefix the commands with “cups-”, for example, cups-lpstat. On Linux, generally CUPS commands will be the default; i.e., even the lpr family commands are actually front-ends to CUPS commands.

Some applications - especially on Linux - will auto-detect the presense of a CUPS server, and will then use only that; examples are OpenOffice and Firefox.

OpenOffice:
If you prefer to disable CUPS, you will need to set this environment variable: SAL_DISABLE_CUPS=1. This can either be set in your startup files, or can be used with a command-line invocation. For help with this, please contact the Lab Staff.

Firefox:
For Firefox, we have disabled CUPS auto-detection by default. If you want to use CUPS, you'll need to do this:

• Start Firefox.
• Enter "about:config" in the URL/Location box, and click Go.
• Find "print.postscript.cups.enabled".
• Double-click on it to toggle it to "true".

To make this permanent, you might also need to add this line:

    user_pref("print.postscript.cups.enabled", true);

For help with this, please contact the Lab Staff.

In general, our printers are named for the room number (and building) where they are located; they are listed in the table below.

The lp and lpr commands are the most basic way of sending print jobs (files, documents, etc.) to a printer. In many instances, printing may be initialed directly from an application running on your workstation or Windows PC, with options selected via a dialog box. More information is available in the Windows printing FAQ. For information about printing from the wireless network, please see the wireless printing instructions. When possible, please try to print in duplex mode (both sides of the sheet) to save paper - this is generally the default setting.

To remove a print job, use the cancel or lprm commands. To check on the status of a print queue, use the lpstat or lpq commands.

*NOTE: For LPRng commands, printers can generally be selected via a -P option, e.g., “lpr -Pqueuename”. For CUPS commands, usually a -d option is used, e.g., “lp -dqueuename”. For CUPS commands, only the first listed queue name -- plus name-sx and name-dx -- will work; you can also customize your own queue names using the lpoptions command.

**NOTE: For LPRng, the queue names listed above can be modified by appending modes to the end with a dash (see below). The available modes are:

• sx = simplex (single-sided)
• dx = duplex (double-sided)
• mf = manualfeed
• ut = uppertray
• lt = lowertray
• lh = letterhead
• tr = transparency

(Actually, -dx and -sx will now usually work with CUPS, too.)

Examples:

lp -d331 -o duplex=none myfile

will cause your job to be printed single-sided on printer 331.

lpr -P128-dx yourfile

will cause your job to be printed double-sided on printer 128.

lpr -P020-mf herfile

will result in a manual feed request on printer 020.

lp -d108c-sx -o 'inputslot=tray1 hpstapleroptions=1angled' somefile

will result in a single-sided, manual feed, stapled request on color printer 108c.

It is a good idea to use environment variables to hold the queue name of the printer that you use the most. That way, you do not have to type the -d or -P option when using that printer. For example, put this line in your .cshrc file:

	setenv PRINTER 022-dx		# for LPRng
	setenv LPDEST 022-dx		# for CUPS

With CUPS, you can also use lpoptions -d queuename to designate your default printer.

On the HP4730MFP and HP4650DTN (color printers), -ut (uppertray) and -tr (transparency) are equivalent.

On the HP4050TN, -ut (uppertray) and -lh (letterhead) are equivalent.

***NOTE: The color printers require special transparencies, which can be obtained from the Lab Secretary in D128. Do not use unapproved transparencies or paper in these printers! Other non-approved transparencies will melt in the printer and cause damage; i.e., they will not work!

****NOTE: The eprint printer is primarily managed by OIT. It can be accessed via the ePrint system, and is one of a pool of campus printers that can print any ePrint job using DukeCard authentication. You can also print to this printer directly via the local 101 queue.

	lp -d101 myfile
	lp -Unetid -deprint myfile

In the first example above, the print job is sent directly to the printer via the local queue. In the second example, the job is sent to an OIT ePrint server, and can be retrieved from any ePrint printer on campus. Note that for eprint, if your CS username is different than your Duke NetID, then you must include the -U{NetID} option; it might not be possible to do this through most GUI print dialogs!

Cups provides two ways to select print options, i.e., when using commands and not an applicaiton dialog box. There's command-line selection via lp's “-o” option. There's an example above in the Printers and Basic Printer Commands section.

Then there's setting options and creating instances with the lpoptions command. Let's say that your default printer is 109, and you always like certain features (options) set. You could set the defaults with something like “lpoptions -p 109 -o 'opt1=val1 opt2=val2 ...'”. Then, when you print to “lp -d 109”, your default options will automatically be used. If you also want a printer queue that has an alternative option, say you want simplex instead of duplex, you could create an instance with “lpoptions -p 109/sx -o 'duplex=none opt1=val1 opt2=val2 ...'”. You could then select this queue using “lp -d 109/sx”.

To get more information about the options available on a particular printer, use “lpoptions -l -d printername”, or contact the Lab Staff.

Additional options are available via lpr's -Z flag. As with printer “modes”, availability of these options depends on a particular printer's capabilities.

Some of the options that are available on the HP4050N printers are:

Additional options on appropriate printers:

Multiple Z options can be selected by separating them with commas, for example:

	lpr -Z300,landscape,duplex somefile

It is impractical to try to list all options for all printers here. Using an option not applicable to a printer simply causes that option to be ignored, so it doesn't hurt to experiment. For information on particular printers, try checking the web site for that printer manufacturer, or contact the Lab Staff.

Our printing system can handle quite a few types of data conversions automatically. Give it a try. If it can't print your document, you will usually get an error message, or in the case of LPRng, receive an e-mail letting you know what happened. For example:

	lpr -P312-dx FinalReport.pdf.gz

NOTE: Currently, Microsoft formats (e.g., Word documents) are not supported; you will need to first convert (export) to a supported format such as PS or PDF.

Unfortunately, printing PDF's with page sizes other than letter will not usually transpire transparently; additional steps will probably be required. For example, to print a legal size file.pdf to printer 211,

	acroread -toPostScript -size legal < file.pdf > file.ps
	lpr -P211-mf -Zlegal,duplex file.ps

For more information on acroread options, type acroread -help.

In addition to printing in duplex mode (see above), you can save lots of paper and wear-and-tear on the printers by printing “N-up”. This means that you reformat the print job to print 2 (2-up) or more reduced-size pages per physical page. For text files, this can be done with the enscript command, for example:

	enscript -2r -P211-dx joesfile

For PostScript, use either of mpage or psnup.

	psnup -2 {filename} | lpr -P020
	{some command} | mpage -2Sto -P128-dx

(mpage can also handle plain text.) For all of these commands, please see the man pages for more information.

Also, when making multiple copies of a document, please use one of the copy machines. Each page printed on a printer costs around twice as much as a page printed on a copier.

If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please contact the Lab Staff.