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System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration

Adding a terminfo Entry for an Unsupported Printer

The LP print service uses an interface program and the terminfo database to initialize each printer and establish a selected page size, character pitch, line pitch, and character set.

Each printer is identified in the terminfo database with a short name. The name required by the terminfo database is identical to the name used to set the TERM shell variable. This name is also the printer type you specify when setting up a printer. For example, the entries for different types of PostScript printers are in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo/P directory. The default entries provided with the SunOS release are PS (for PostScript) and PSR (for PostScript Reverse).

If you cannot find a terminfo entry for your printer, you still might be able to use the printer with the LP print service without the automatic selection of page size, pitch, and character sets. However, you might have trouble keeping the printer set in the correct modes for each print request.

If there is no terminfo entry for your type of printer and you want to keep the printer set in the correct modes, you can either customize the interface program used with the printer or add an entry to the terminfo database. A terminal or printer entry in the terminfo database contains and defines hundreds of items. The LP print service, however, uses fewer than 50 of these items. The following table lists the required terminfo items for a printer.

Table 7–2 Required terminfo Items for a Printer

Item 

 

Meaning 

Booleans: 

 

 

 

cpix

Changing character pitch changes resolution 

 

daisy

Printer requires an operator to change character set 

 

lpix

Changing line pitch changes resolution 

Numbers: 

 

 

 

bufsx

Number of bytes buffered before printing 

 

cols

Number of columns in a line 

 

cps

Average print rate in characters per second 

 

it

Tabs initially every n spaces

 

lines

Number of lines on a page 

 

orc

Horizontal resolution, in units per character 

 

orhi

Horizontal resolution, in units per inch 

 

orl

Vertical resolution, in units per line 

 

orvi

Vertical resolution, in units per inch 

Strings: 

 

 

 

chr

Change horizontal resolution 

 

cpi

Change number of characters per inch 

 

cr

Carriage return 

 

csnm

List of character set names 

 

cudl

Down one line 

 

cud

Move carriage down n lines

 

cuf

Move carriage right n columns

 

cvr

Change vertical resolution 

 

ff

Page eject 

 

hpa

Horizontal position absolute 

 

ht

Tab to next 8-space tab stop 

 

if

Name of initialization file 

 

iprog

Path name of initialization program 

 

is1

Printer initialization string 

 

is2

Printer initialization string 

 

is3

Printer initialization string 

Strings: 

 

 

 

lpi

Change number of lines per inch 

 

mgc

Clear all margins (top, bottom, and sides) 

 

rep

Repeat a character n times

 

rwidm

Disable double-wide printing 

 

scs

Select character set 

 

scsd

Start definition of a character set 

 

slines

Set page length to n lines per page

 

smgl

Set left margin at current column 

 

smglp

Set left margin 

 

smgr

Set right margin at current column 

 

smgrp

Set right margin 

 

smglr

Set both left and right margins 

 

msgt

Set top margin at current line 

 

smgtp

Set top margin 

 

smgb

Set bottom margin at current line 

 

smgbp

Set bottom margin 

 

smgtb

Set both top and bottom margins 

 

swidm

Enable double-wide printing 

 

vpa

Vertical position absolute 

How to Add a terminfo Entry for an Unsupported Printer

Note –

Before you create a terminfo entry for a printer, you should first make sure none of the existing terminfo entries will support the printer. To do so, try to set up the printer with an entry for a similar printer, if there is one.

  1. Log in as superuser, lp, or assume an equivalent role on the print server.

  2. Determine a terminfo entry name for the printer.

    The directories in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo directory contain all the valid terminfo entries. Use them as a guide for choosing a name for the printer.

  3. Create a terminfo entry file for the printer.

    Table 7–2 shows the items you must define in the terminfo entry to add a new printer to the LP print service. For more details about the structure of the terminfo database, see terminfo(4).

    To help you start writing a new terminfo entry, use the infocmp command to save an existing terminfo entry to a file. This is helpful if there is a terminfo entry that is similar to one you want to create. For example, the following command saves the ps entry to the ps_cust file, which will become the new terminfo entry.

    infocmp ps > ps_cust

  4. Compile the terminfo entry file into the terminfo database.


    # tic terminfo_entry

    terminfo_entry

    The terminfo entry file you created.

  5. Check for the new terminfo entry file in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo directory.