Solaris Printer Configuration


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Solaris Printer Configuration Solaris Printer Configuration

How do I configure a basic printer?

The information below is by no means authoritative, but gives a pretty decent example of how to configure a printer in Solaris 2.x. There is a lot of good information in the man pages for lpadmin, lpshut, lpsched, lprm, lpmove, lpstat, enable, accept, lp, lpr, lpq, lpsystem, and others.

From Admintool

To configure an HP LaserJet for postscript and ASCII, load the admintool, go to the "Browse" menu and click on "Printers". Next, click on "Edit", then "Add", then "Local Printer". Enter the information as needed. The only thing that might not be obvious is that you have to select "Other..." in the "Printer Port" menu. This will bring up a requester, where you can type in the full path to the device file, such as /dev/dty/a001s. For the rest of the options, set them up as shown below (again, assuming a device name of a001s):



    printer name: lj4
    printer server: your_host_name
    comment: HP LaserJet 4
    printer port: /dev/dty/a001s
    printer type: hplaser
    file contents: both postscript and ascii
    fault notice: write to superuser
    print server: System V
    system default: yes
    printer banner: not required
    enable queue: yes
    accept jobs: yes

If you have a serial printer, the operating system figures this out automatically, but from within the "model" or "interface" script. By default, 9600,8,N,1 is selected, but you can change it to whatever you want. The default model script (unless you select another) is /usr/lib/lp/model/standard. When you create a printer, that gets copied to /etc/lp/interfaces/. In other words, for the example above, it would be /etc/lp/interfaces/lj4. Simply edit the script, do a search for 9600, and you will be in the place where these settings exist. Make any changes you like.

From the Command Line:

To create a print spool by the name "lj4" for ASCII and Postscript printing based on the parallel port addressed by /dev/dty/a001s:

Shut down print services first:

# lpshut

Add the new printer:

# lpadmin -p lj4 -T hplaser -I postscript,simple -v /dev/dty/a001s

For serial ports, simply specify the appropriate baud rate and line settings for your printer using the stty parameter, and use the correct device name. For example:

# lpadmin -p lj4 -o stty='19200' -T hplaser -I any -v /dev/dty/a001s

The 8 bit character setting is the default, with no parity and one stop bit. If your printer needs different settings, just place them in the single quotes with the baud rate (separated by spaces), such as '19200 cs7'.

Assigning a Default Printer (lp):

# lpadmin -d lj4

Restart the scheduler:

# /usr/lib/lp/lpsched

Next, enable the queue and printing, and check the status:

Let the queue accept jobs:

# accept lj4
# enable lj4

Check the status:

# lpstat -t

lpstat should yield something like:


    scheduler is running
    system default destination: lj4
    device for lj4: /dev/sts/lpc58
    lj4 accepting requests since Wed Apr  5 14:13:24 CDT 1995
    printer lj4 is idle. enabled since Wed Apr  5 14:13:24 CDT 1995.  available.

You can also get a more detailed output from lpstat for a specific printer by using the command:

# lpstat -l -p lj4

This would yield something like:


printer lj4 is idle. enabled since Wed Apr  5 14:13:24 CDT 1995. available.
	Form mounted: 
	Content types: postscript, simple
	Printer types: hplaser
	Description: HP LaserJet 4
	Connection: direct
	Interface: /usr/lib/lp/model/standard
	On fault: write to root once
	After fault: continue
	Users allowed:
		(all)
	Forms allowed:
		(none)
	Banner not required
	Character sets:
		(none)
	Default pitch: 10 CPI 6 LPI
	Default page size: 80 wide 60 long
	Default port settings:

To disable and remove the printer setup above, run these commands:

Don't allow any new queue entries:

# reject lj4

Disable the queue:

# disable lj4

Completely remove the printer definition:

# lpadmin -x lj4 Shut down printer services

# /usr/lib/lpshut

Restart printer services:

# /usr/lib/lpsched