A couple of quick notes on ESP Print...

• Always use the "serial port" definition, even if you're setting the printer up on our parallel port.
• Always set 38400 for our parallell ports, but use the baud rate set at the printer for serial port printing.

Alternatively, if you want to do things manually, via command line...

The main trick to getting parallel printers set up on our ports is to treat them like serial printers. This may sound somewhat odd, but the reason you have to do this, is because all of our ports, be they serial or parallel, look like tty ports to the operating system. This is the only way we could do it under IRIX without requiring the user to load two separate device drivers.

Therefore, the administrative rule is to use your standard serial setup routines regardless of whether it is a serial or parallel device on our unit. Then, simply specify our appropriate node, such as tty[m|d|f](something) for serial, and lp(something) for parallel.

The BSD Spooler

If you're just trying to set up a generic printer using the BSD spooler via printcap entry, make sure to include :fc#0177777:fs#040: in that entry. This sets raw mode, which is the mode you want a printer port to operate in. It basically turns off all character processing.

Here's a couple of working entries for general ASCII printing. Use of filters and such will be covered in their associated documentation.

lp|lp028|Parallel_Printer:\
        :lp=/dev/lp028:ff=\f:sh:fc#0177777:fs#040:mx#0:br#38400:\
        :sd=/var/spool/lq80:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:pl#66:pw#80:
 
lp1|ttyd020|Serial_Printer:\
        :lp=/dev/ttyd020:ff=\f:sh:fc#0177777:fs#040:mx#0:\
        :br#19200:sd=/var/spool/serial_printer:\
        :lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:pl#66:pw#80:

The (recommended) System V Spooler

Let's assume for this test that you have a parallel printer you know operates correctly and is capable of printing plain ASCII text. Make sure it has not been left in some unexpected state by a previous text-processing package.

1. Connect a cable between the parallel port of your scsiServer unit and your parallel printer. Typically, this will be a cable with a Centronics connector on the printer end and a male DB-25 connector on the scsiServer end.

    

2. Make sure your printer is properly set up for parallel operation. Some printers support both serial and parallel interfaces. Refer to the manual for your printer to verify the setup.

    

3. Make sure the printer is powered on, on line, and ready. Also be sure that paper is loaded.

    

4. Make sure a device node exists for the parallel port. Assuming the device node for a parallel port is called /dev/lp020, type the following and press RETURN to test the printer:

   pr /etc/passwd > /dev/lp020

   NOTE: You may have to manually form feed the printer.

   Compare the print to the /etc/passwd file to be sure the printer works.

The IRIX print spooler may be configured to use a scsiTerminal Server parallel device by following these steps. For further details, see the man pages for lpadmin(1m), lpsched(1m), enable(1), and accept(1m).

1. Change to the directory /usr/lib.

    

2. Stop the printer scheduler.

   ./lpshut

    

3. Tell the printer spooler about the device. In this example, "hulett" is used for the printer on /dev/lp020.

   ./lpadmin -phulett -v/dev/lp020 -mdumb

    

4. Activate the printer and allow lp requests by typing

   enable hulett

   ./accept hulett

    

5. Start the print spooler by typing

   ./lpsched

The above IRIX print spooler may be de-configured by following these steps. For further details, see the man pages for lpadmin(1m), lpshut(1m), disable(1), and reject(1m).

1. Stop the scheduler by typing

   lpshut

    

2. De-activate the printer by typing

   reject hulett

   disable -c hulett

    

3. Finally, remove the spool by typing

   ./lpadmin -xhulett