How to set up printers on Solaris 8

(This information was extracted from the Solaris Administation Guide, Volume II.)

How to set up a local printer

This example shows how to make a local PostScript printer available for printing on a print server.  The commands in this example must be executed on the print server where the printer is connected.  The following information is used as an example.  The information you provide will vary:

• Printer name:  luna
  
• Port device:  /dev/term/b
  
• Printer type:  PS
  
• File content type:  postscript
  

Local Printer Setup - Step by Step Directions

The following commands will set up printing for a local printer:

# chown lp /dev/term/b
# chmod 600 /dev/term/b 1
# lpadmin -p luna -v /dev/term/b 2
# lpadmin -p luna -T PS 3
# lpadmin -p luna -I postscript 4
# cd /etc/lp/fd
# for filter in *.fd;do
> name=basename $filter .fd
> lpfilter -f $name -F $filter
> done 5
# accept luna
destination luna now accepting requests
# enable luna 6
printer luna now enabled
# lpadmin -p luna -D "Room 1954 ps" 7
# lpstat -p luna 8
printer luna is idle. enabled since Jul 12 11:17 1999. available.

Explanation

These commands perform the following tasks:

1. Gives lp ownership and sole access to a port device.
   
2. Defines the printer name and the port device the printer will use.
   
3. Sets the printer type of the printer.
   
4. Specifies the file content types to which the printer can print directly.
   
5. Adds print filters to the print server.
   
6. Accepts print requests for the printer and enables the printer.
   
7. Adds a description for the printer.
   
8. Verifies that the printer is ready.
   

How to set up access to a remote printer

This example shows how to make a remotePostScript printer available for printing on a print server.  The commands in this example must be executed on the print server where the printer is used.  The following information is used as an example.  The information you provide will vary:

• Printer name:  luna1
  
• Server:  saturn
  
• Network printer access name:  nimquat:9100
  
• Protocol:  tcp
  
• Timeout:  5
  
• Interface:  /usr/lib/lp/model/netstandard
  
• Printer type:  PS
  
• Content types:  postscript
  
• Device:  /dev/null
  

Remote Printer Setup - Step by Step Directions

The following commands will set up printing for to a remote printer:

# lpadmin -p luna1 -v /dev/null 1
# lpadmin -p luna1 -m netstandard 2
# lpadmin -p luna1 -o dest=nimquat:9100 -o protocol=tcp -o timeout=5 3
# lpadmin -p luna1 -I postscript -T PS 4
# cd /etc/lp/fd
# for filter in *.fd;do
> name=basename $filter .fd
> lpfilter -f $name -F $filter
> done 5
# accept luna1
destination "luna1" now accepting requests
# enable luna1 6
printer "luna1" now enabled
# lpadmin -p luna1 -D "Room 1954 ps" 7
# lpstat -p luna1 8
printer luna1 is idle. enabled since Jul 12 11:17 1999. available.

Explanation

These commands perform the following tasks:

1. Defines printer name and sets the device to /dev/null.
   
2. Defines the interface script for network printers.
   
3. Sets the destination, protocol and timeout.
   
4. Specifies the file content types to which the printer can print directly, and the printer type.
   
5. Adds print filters to the print server.
   
6. Accepts print requests for the printer and enables the printer.
   
7. Adds a description for the printer.
   
8. Verifies that the printer is ready.
   

Send comments and questions to pollock@acm.org.