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INTERNAL: Printing to the color postscript laserjet from Mac OS X or Linux

Anonym
INTERNAL ONLY! This TechTip describes how to print to the Tech Support color PostScript laserjet system from either tekmactest01(Mac OS X) or woody(Linux).

System Configuration

Setting up the printer on either system requires root permissions. Note that these directions work for pretty much any RSI networked printer, in case you need to use the plotter or other laser printer.

On the Mac System, the workflow is as follows:

  • Open the "System Preferences" control panel and select "Print & Fax."
  • Select "Setup Printer."
  • Select "Add."
  • Select "Socket/HP Direct printing" from the type combobox.
  • Click the "Manual" button.
  • Enter in the IP address
  • Select Generic or Generic PostScript, depending on the availability.

For Linux

  • Run redhat-config-printer.
  • Select "New."
  • Follow the prompts in the setup wizard until you get to the "Queue Types" screen.
  • Select "Networked/JetDirect"
  • Enter the printer's IP address
  • Follow the rest of the wizard prompts

Configuring IDL to print to a new printer Both Mac OS X and pretty much all newer Linux distributions use the same printing subsystem, called CUPS (http://www.cups.org). CUPS autogenerates the PPD file for you, which makes your life much easier.

Step 1: Put a symbolic link for the ppd file into the IDL xprinter resources directory. The PPD file will be named QUEUENAME.ppd. For woody, this is /etc/cups/ppd/lp.ppd; for the Mac this is /etc/cups.ppd/_10.17.1.202.ppd. The command to creat the link is (as root):

ln -s /etc/cups/ppd/QUEUENAME.ppd /usr/local/rsi/idl/resource/xprinter/ppds/QUEUENAME.ps

Notice that the extension must be changed from ppd to ps!

Step 2: Start IDL and go to the XPrinter dialog.

  • Go to the print dialog and click the "Printer Specific" Output Format radio button.
  • Click "Add Printer..."
  • Select "HP Color LaserJet PS" from the "Printer Devices" section (MAC) or for Woody "Generic Postscript, Foomatic + PostScript", then "local-lp -p &QUEUENAME -t$XPDOCNAME" in the "Current Port Definitions" section. If you manually edit the PPD file to use a different name, then make sure that name is the one selected as the "Printer Devices" selection.
  • Click "Add Selected" then "Dismiss"
  • Click "Dismiss" again
  • Click "Options" and make sure that the DPI is set to 300. Any higher values seem to generate invalid jobs.
  • Click "OK to print"