[tech] Wierd printing things

[Nick Bannon]

On Fri, Dec 31, 1999 at 05:10:16PM +0800, Grahame Bowland wrote:
[...]
> form of PCL for the thing. It would simplify getting this going with
> lpr if there was a way of creating a /dev/ entry that forwards data
> sent to it to a port on a remote host. Is there any way of doing this,
> or is IHG doomed to another strange script?
[...]

Aha - your trouble is that lpr will only filter for local printers. (eg
/dev/lp0)

The basic idea is to remove lpr and replace it with lprng, then follow
the HOWTO, using a filtered bounce queue. Rather than run ghostscript
directly, you might want to use a "magicfilter" script to filter it.

Your /etc/printcap might then look something like ;

hp1|hp1 (HPIIIsi in Computer Section)
        :lp=hp1 at lpr
        :bq=text at printer.some.domain.com.au
        :sd=/var/spool/lpd/hp1
        :if=/usr/local/filters/magic-hpIIIsi

There's also a dedicated print filter for HP/PCL printers which might
be better - ifhp. I think it pokes data into the printer via TCP port
9100 rather than LPR protocol.

Nick.

-- 
  Nick Bannon  | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick at it.net.au | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal