This page contains instructions on printing from a public solaris system at LEPP using LPR. The LEPP printers are NOT already known to your system, so you must specify a vms queue on the main print server cups.
The $PRINTER environment variable
You may specify a printer by setting the $PRINTER environment variable. ex. If you are using bash and want lt104_hp_8000 to be your printer, type export PRINTER=cups:lt104_hp_8000. If you are using tcsh, you would type set PRINTER=cups:lt104_hp_8000.
Any changes to your PRINTER environment variable only effect the terminal they are made from (and applications started from that terminal).
Printing from the command line
PLEASE NOTE LPR assumes that all non-postscript files are standard text. Therefore, attempting to print a file from the command line that is neither text nor postscript will result in many pages of garbage.
Type lprfile where file is the text or postscript file you would like to print. Alternatively, if you would like to specify which printer to use, type lpr -Pcups:printer file where printer is your desired printer. Please see PrinterList for the correct printer (or queue) name. ex. To print the file test to lt104_hp_8000, I would type: lpr -P cups:lt104_hp_8000 test
Printing from an X application
Most application files (such as OpenOffice documents) are not in postscript and may not be printed from the command line. However, when printing from X applications, the postscript conversion is done for you. Therefore, to print OpenOffice documents or web pages, you must print from their respective X application.
Click on the File menu item and choose Print
The Print window should appear. If you have set your $PRINTER variable, you can just click on Print to print to your default printer (see PRINTER info above).
If you would like to specify the printer to use, look for a text area labeled Command or Print Command. Clear that text area and enter lpr -Pcups:printer. If there is no Command text area, click on Properties and enter lpr -Pcups:printer in the Command text area of the window that appears. Again, please see PrinterList for the correct printer name.
If you wish to change your default printer before starting the X application, please note that you must start the application from the terminal you used to change your default printer. Any changes to your PRINTER environment variable only effect the terminal they are made from (and applications started from that terminal). Alternatively, from the X application's print window you may choose Print to File to save a postscript version of your current document. You may then print this postscript file from the command line as outlined above.