Printing

This section describes how to set up and administer printers after you install Solaris 7 software. This chapter also describes the changes to printer commands that have taken place between the SunOS release 4 and the Solaris 7 release environments.

Summary of Printing Differences

The SunOS release 5.7 LP print service replaces the SunOS release 4 printing facilities, which were provided by the lpd daemon and lpr, lpq, lprm, and lpc commands. Admintool enables youto set up and administer printers through a graphical user interface. You can also use a command-line interface for the LP print service to administer SunOS release 5.7 printers. For detailed information about Admintool and the command-line interface to the LP service, see System Administration Guide, Volume II.

The services provided by the /etc/printcap file in the SunOS release 4 software are handled in the Solaris 7 operating environment by the terminfo database and by the files in the /etc/lp directory.

Print Commands and the Compatibility Package

You can still use many SunOS release 4 print commands if the system is running the SunOS/BSD Source Compatibility Package. Compatibility mode uses SunOS release 4 command names as an interface to underlying Solaris 7 LP print services and does not actually run them the way a SunOS release 4 system would. When a user types SunOS release 4 commands to set up printing or to print files from a Solaris 7 system, the commands create message files that are handled by the SunOS release 5.7 LP print service scheduler.

Solaris 7 printing provides additional capabilities not available in SunOS release 4 systems. These capabilities enable you to control forms, print wheels, and interface programs, and to set up network print services.

Using Printer Commands

As discussed in a previous section, you can continue to use SunOS release 4 print commands if you have the SunOS/BSD Source Compatibility Package. Table 11-1 shows the basic user print command equivalents.

Using SunOS Release 5.7 Printer Administration Commands

This section describes differences between printer setup and administration on SunOS release 4 and Solaris 7 systems. All the underlying system services described are available only in the Solaris 7 operating environment. The SunOS release 4 counterparts are not available even in compatibility mode.

You must use the System V printer administration commands lpadmin(1M) and lpsystem(1M) , the terminfo database, and the configuration files in the /etc/lp directory. See System Administration Guide, Volume II for details.

Table 11-2 shows the command equivalents for setting up printing.

Printing troff

In the SunOS release 4 software, you need the following command to send a troff file to the default printer.

% troff filename

In the Solaris 7 operating environment, you must specify that you want the file printed by piping (|) the output to the lp command. Table 11-3 shows the SunOS release 5.7 troff commands.