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From: ben@rex.uokhsc.edu (Benjamin Z. Goldsteen)
Subject: Re: 386BSD: lpr does not work.
Message-ID: <CqL285.8ro@rex.uokhsc.edu>
Date: Sun, 29 May 1994 21:26:29 GMT
Reply-To: benjamin-goldsteen@uokhsc.edu
References: <2s52m3$9s8@debbie.cc.nctu.edu.tw>
Organization: Health Sciences Center, University of Oklahoma
Lines: 63
u8123555@cc.nctu.edu.tw (I-Fei Tsai) writes:
>Hi:
> I have a 386BSD installed on my 386DX, but the "lpr" doesn't work:
You really ought to be using FreeBSD or NetBSD...
> (*) I have no mouse, modem ... installed, only a line printer.
> (*) When I boot from the DOS partition, I can "COPY <filename> PRN"
> to print my file.
> (*) If I boot from the 386BSD partition, when I type "lpr <filename>"
> I find that the file is queued in the printer queue, "lpc" shows
> the printer is ready and printing. But nothing comes out from the
> printer.
> I have tried "ln -s /dev/com1 /dev/lp", doesn't work ..., is it
> the correct way ? Is there any thing to do with the com driver ?
> Thank you in advance.
There is a little more to it then that...
1.You need to know what port your printer is on: DOS's "PRN" device
defaults to a parallel port unless you use MODE to change it.
386BSD's "/dev/com1" device is a serial port.
2.You need to make sure that the device is working at all: You need to
get "cat SOME_FILE > /dev/MY_PRINTER" working before "lpr" is going
to work. I am not sure what the MY_PRINTER should be for 386BSD on
your computer. My printer is on DOS's LPT1 which is FreeBSD 1.1's
/dev/lpt0 (getting this right for 386BSD on your computer may require
rebuilding the kernel)
3.You probably ought to look in/understand "/etc/printcap". You may
need to play with some parameters (if you are using a serial printer,
you may need to configure the serial ports in /etc/printcap; you may
want to turn off burst pages; etc). I would recommend giving your
printer a name (maybe "myepson"), and then give it the "lp" alias to
make it the default. I would also recommend setting the "lp" string
to the actual device rather than making the symbolic link
("lp=/dev/lpt0" or "lp=/dev/tty00"). For example:
myepson|lp|My Epson LX-80:\
:lp=/dev/lpt0:\
:sh:\
:pw=80:pl=66:\
:sd=/usr/spool/lpd/myepson:\
:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:
[I assume this works...I am doing this off the top of my head]
You might then get fancy and setup filters, accounting, and so
forth...
After you get #2 working, it should all fall into place -- the defaults
in /etc/printcap may be correct and if anything is wrong it should be
easy to determine and fix.
Good Luck!
--
Benjamin Z. Goldsteen