Solaris provides support for PostScript printers. Custom print filters are available to convert localized text to PostScript. See mp(1)and postprint(1)postprintman pages for further details. The ability to download fonts onto a printer is also present.
For more details see the download(1)download man pages. This support is configured for PostScript printers.
No internationalization-specific changes were made to printing in the Solaris 7 product. Look for printing information in the AnswerBook; the System Administration Guide has several chapters that discuss printing.
For European locales based on character sets that are not ISO-8859, such as Greek and Russian, prolog.ps files are supplied. The files are located in /usr/openwin/lib/locale/print.
When you print in one of these locales, the files are automatically downloaded to the printer. These fonts are PostScript Type 1 and include Times, Helvetica, and Courier.
These are in normal, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles.
This allows printing on PostScript printers from both CDE and OpenWindows desktops. From a command line, use /usr/openwin/bin/mp <filename> | lp in each locale that is not based on ISO 8859-1 character sets.
For the Eastern European locales such as Russian, non iso-8859-1 encoded, prolog.ps files are supplied. The files are located in:
/usr/openwin/lib/locale/locale/directories/print/prolog.ps
for each relevant locale. At directories, insert one of the following
/iso8859-2/
/iso8859-4/
/iso8859-5/
/iso8859-7/
/iso8859-9/
/iso8859-10/
The files are downloaded automatically when you print in one of the Eastern European locales. A minimum set of fonts allow printing.
The fonts in the prolog.ps files are defined in Table 9-1 below.
Table 9-1 prolog.ps Fonts
/LC_Courier /LC_Courier-Italic /LC_Courier-Bold /LC_Courier-BoldOblique |
CourierCyr AliasFont CourierCyr Inclined AliasFont CourierCyr Bold AliasFont CourierCyr BoldInclined AliasFont |
/LC_Times-Roman /LC_Times-Italic /LC_Times-Bold /LC_Times-BoldOblique |
TimesNewRomanCyr TimesNewRomanCyr-Inclined Aliasfont TimesNewRomanCyr-Bold AliasFont TimesNewRomanCyr-BoldIncl AliasFont |
/LC_Helvetica
/LC_Helvetica-Italic
/LC_Helvetica-Bold
/LC_Helvetica-BoldOblique |
LucidaSansCyr AliasFont LucidaSansCyr ItalicFont LucidaSansCyr-Bold AliasFont LucidaSansCyr-BoldItalic AliasFont |
The xetops and xutops utilities convert Asian text into a bitmapped graphics printed image. This allows you to print Asian characters on PostScript-based printers even without Asian fonts resident on the printers.
A typical command line for printing such a file would be as follows:
system% pr <filename> | xetops |lp |
or
system% pr <filename> | xutops |lp (for the ko.UTF-8 locale) |
Japanese Solaris 7 supports the following Japanese-specific printers:
Japanese PostScript printer
Epson VP-5085 (based on ESC/P)
NEC PC-PR201 (based on 201PL)
Canon LASERSHOT (based on LIPS)
Japanese texts can be printed with these printers through the LP print service. Table 9-2 shows the relation between these printers and user components. See JFP User's Guide for further details.
Table 9-2 Japanese Printer Support
Printer |
terminfo(-T) |
interface(-i) |
content(-I) |
filter |
---|---|---|---|---|
Japanese PS |
PS |
jstandard |
postscript |
jpostprint |
Epson VP-5085 |
epson-vp5085 |
jstandard |
None |
jprconv |
NEC PC-PR201 |
nec-pr201 |
jstandard |
None |
jprconv |
Canon LASERSHOT |
canon-ls-a408 |
jstandard |
None |
jprconv |
Use the following to set up a Japanese PostScript printer.
In the following example, the PostScript printer name is lw. The /dev/lp1 is the device that is associated with the printer. For more information, see thelpadmin(1M)lpadmin man page.
# lpadmin -p lw -v /dev/lp1 -T PS -I postscript # lpadmin -p lw -i /usr/lib/lp/model/jstandard # cd /etc/lp/fd # lpfilter -x -f postprint # lpfilter -f jpostprint -F jpostprint.fd # accept lw # enable lw # /etc/init.d/lp stop # /etc/init.d/lp start |
To print, use the following operation:
% lp -d lw Japanese Text File |
These features are supported only on Japanese Solaris. Input codesets to a printer depend on the system locale.
PostScript printers connected to a Solaris host may each have different sets of resident fonts. Users can purchase additional fonts and install them on the host or they can remove fonts. There are a number of different ways to accomplish this task. Note, however, that there is no user-level command to manage fonts on a PostScript printer.
Font Downloader is a CDE application for managing fonts on PostScript printers. Specifically it will provide the following functionality:
Download PostScript fonts to a Postscript printer
Download TrueType fonts to a PostScript printer
Remove previously downloaded font from a printer
Check printer memory
List all fonts available on the printer
Print character samples
Reformat hard disk on the printer
Font downloader/manager program code is reused for the DT Font Downloader. In addition, the following functionality is provided:
GUI front end
Support of generic PostScript printers
Support TrueType font downloading as type 42 fonts
Support TrueType - PostScript type 3 font conversion
Change the encoding vectors of the fonts
As a result, DT Font Downloader supports type 1, type 3, type 9 (CID 0), type 10 (CID 1), type 11 (CID 2), and type 42 fonts.
If the printer doesn't support TrueType glyph procedures (font types 11 and 42) fonts are converted to one of the supported formats before downloading.
TrueType binary font files located on the host cannot be used in the printer without converting them to a different format. Some printers may support TrueType glyph procedures. Downloading fonts to such printers requires translating single byte TrueType fonts to Type 42 fonts and double byte TrueType font to Type 11 fonts.
Printers with no support for TrueType glyph procedures do not interpret Type 42 or Type 11 fonts. In this case more complex translation is required.
Single-byte TrueType fonts can be translated to Type 3 fonts with loss of quality because of interpolation and hint conversion involved in such a translation. Double-byte TrueType fonts can be translated to Type 10 fonts.
PostScript Language Reference Manual, Adobe Systems. - 2nd ed. ISBN 0-201-18127-4 - defines PostScript language and fonts
PostScript Language Extension for CID-Keyed Fonts. PostScriptTMSoftware Version 2015 Adobe Systems 29 June 1995
The Type 42 Font Format Specification. Adobe Systems Technical Note #5012 1 March 1993
Fontadmin Functional Specification - 12/04/95 - documents font downloader
TrueType Font File Version 1.00 Microsoft Corporation --available from ftp.microsoft.com - documents TrueType fonts