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How can I get a list of all available OIT UNIX printserver print queues?
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You may view the
OIT UNIX Printserver Print Queue List.
That document displays the primary name, aliases, and details for each of the OIT UNIX printserver print queues.
That document includes the printserver print queues that have been defined
on all public OIT UNIX Systems.
Sometimes the person responsible for a OIT UNIX printserver print
queue wishes to make it available on private or departmental systems,
but does not wish to encourage users of the public OIT UNIX systems to access the queue, so
the queue is not defined on the public OIT UNIX Systems.
OIT UNIX printserver queues that are not defined on the public OIT UNIX Systems are intentionally
omitted from that document, and are not published elsewhere.
It may still be possible to print to those queues from some public OIT UNIX Systems (depending
on the particular operating system running on the particular public OIT UNIX System), if you
know the name of the print queue.
On a public OIT UNIX system, the printers command may also be used
to list all the OIT UNIX printserver print queues defined on that system.
For each queue, it lists the primary name, aliases, and some
(but not all) the details associated with that queue.
(See the UNIX man page for instructions.)
Just as with the
Printserver Print Queue List,
if a print queue is set up on UNIX printserver, but is not defined
on the system on which you execute the printers command (e.g.
a public OIT UNIX system), then the print queue will not be listed.
(Depending on the particular operating system, it may still be possible
to print to that queue, if you know the queue's name.)
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If a print queue exists, may I use it?
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Just because a print queue exists does not mean everyone is welcome to use it.
Many print queues, even those available on public OIT UNIX systems,
are for departmental and private printers.
If you wish to print to a departmental or otherwise private
printer, find the person responsible for the printer and
ask if you may print to it; s/he should also be able to
tell you the print queue name.
OIT makes a number of printers available for use in
public computing facilities and for Dormnet subscribers.
Lists identifying these printers are available among the
documentation published by the
OIT Help Desk
and
Dormnet.
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What UNIX commands do I use to send, query, and remove print jobs?
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On a System V-based UNIX system (such as IRIS and Solaris 2 and later),
you typically use lp to send print
jobs, lpstat to query print queues, and cancel to
remove jobs you have sent.
(On some System V-based UNIX systems, the corresponding BSD-style lpr,
lpq, and lprm commands may also be available, but are usually just
front-ends to the System V commands.
In these cases, using the System V commands sometimes works better.)
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On a BSD-based UNIX system (such as SunOS 4.x), you typically use lpr to send print
jobs, lpq to query print queues, and lprm to
remove jobs you have sent.
Documentation about these commands is available online via man;
for more help, contact the
OIT Help Desk.
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Why can't I remove a print job?
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For security reasons, you may only remove a print job that
you sent.
Therefore, you must issue the command to remove the job from the
same netid, and on the same host, that you issued the
original command to print the job.
This means, for example, that if you send a job from
johndoe at phoenix, you cannot remove it when you
are logged on as johndoe at flagstaff.
We also do not allow the netid root to remove
any print jobs.
If you plan to send print jobs from your own (e.g. private or departmental) UNIX system
to OIT UNIX printserver, you will not be able to remove them
if you send them as root.
If the printing software on your host does not appear to
allow you to remove your print jobs, please contact
the administrator of your host.
(This problem can be caused by printing software on your
host that is buggy, not correctly configured, or improperly
installed.)
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Why doesn't 'lpstat' (or 'lpq') show my Macintosh or PC print jobs?
When you display the jobs in a OIT UNIX printserver queue, you only
see jobs sent to the printer via that queue.
If a job was sent to the printer via a different
mechanism, it won't appear in the printserver queue.
For example:
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Files printed from a Windows PC client to
a printer via a Windows NT
print server do not use the OIT UNIX printserver.
The PC sends the job to a Windows NT server, which
then sends the job to the printer.
- Files printed directly from a Mac to an AppleTalk printer
(e.g. using the Mac's own "Print" command) do not use
the OIT printserver.
The Mac contacts the AppleTalk printer directly, and when it
is available, sends the job.
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Files printed directly from a PC departmental Novell client to a printer that speaks
Novell Netware do not use the OIT UNIX printserver.
The PC contacts the departmental Novell Netware printer directly, and
sends the job.
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Files printed from a PC departmental Novell client to an AppleTalk
printer via a Novell server do not use the OIT UNIX printserver.
The PC sends the job to a departmental Novell server, which
then sends the job to the printer.
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Why do some queue names work on some UNIX systems,
but not on others?
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The operating system on some UNIX systems
limits the length of a print queue name, typically to
14 characters.
Our print queue names are sometimes longer than that.
Whenever we create a print queue with a long name, we always
assign it an alias that is no more than 14 characters.
Use the alias when you need to.
Both the
Printserver Print Queue List
and the UNIX
printers command (described above) display
each print queue's name and all its aliases.
The queue name-length limitation is typically found
on operating systems derived from System V, such as
Solaris 2.x.
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How does filtering work and what file types are supported by OIT UNIX printserver?
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Filtering of files is based upon the type for file that is being printed.
OIT Unix printserver will determine which filter to use based upon the type of
file that is being printed. Currently text, troff, DVI and PDF (Portable Document
Format) files are converted to postscript.
As an example to print a DVI the user would issue the following command
lpr -P queue-name file.dvi or lp -d queue-name file.dvi.
If a filter is specified with the -f option, the option will be ignored.
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Where can I get help with printing from public OIT UNIX systems?
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Assistance in using public OIT UNIX systems is available from the
OIT Help Desk (phone 8-HELP,
email cithelp@princeton.edu).
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Why isn't a particular OIT UNIX printserver print queue available on my
private or departmental computer?
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When we create a OIT UNIX printserver print queue, we define it on
printserve.Princeton.EDU, which is the OIT UNIX printserver.
We also define the queue on all the public OIT UNIX Systems (e.g. arizona, sesamest, hats)
if the person who requested the queue specifies this should be done.
We do not define the queue on any private or departmental computers;
that's a task that may be performed
by the system administrator of your private or
departmental computer.
Advise your computer system administrator to configure your computer,
defining a local print queue that sends jobs
to the host printserver.princeton.edu using BSD LPD (not System 5 lp).
The jobs should be be sent using the appropriate OIT UNIX printserver print queue name.
