Setting Definitions for Printers

Establishing definitions for the printers on your network is an ongoing task that lets you provide a more effective print environment for users. For example, you can assign parameters for all your site's printers to help users find where a printer is located. Or, you can define a class of printers to provide the fastest turnaround for print requests.

The lpadmin command lets you set all of the printer definitions, while Solaris Print Manager lets you set only some of them when you install or modify a printer. The following table lists the printer definitions and shows whether you can assign the definition with Solaris Print Manager.

Printer Name

When adding a printer to a system, you specify a printer name for the printer. A printer name must meet the following requirements:

• Unique among all printers within the bounds of an administrative domain

• A maximum of 14 alphanumeric characters, which can include dashes and underscores

• Easy to remember and can identify the type of printer, its location, or the print server name

Establish a naming convention that works for your site. For example, if you have different types of printers on the network, including the printer type as part of the printer name can help users choose an appropriate printer. For instance, you could identify PostScript^TM printers with the letters PS. If, however, all of the printers at your site are PostScript printers, you would not need to include the initials PS as part of the printer name.

Printer Description

You can assign a description to a printer by using the lpadmin -D command or Solaris Print Manager. The printer's description should contain information to help users identify the printer. You might include the room number where the printer is located, the type of printer, the manufacturer, or the name of the person to call if printing problems occur.

Users can look at a printer description by using the following command:

$ lpstat -D -p printer-name

Printer Port

When you install a printer or later change its setup, you can specify the device, or the printer port, to which the printer is connected, by using Solaris Print Manager or the lpadmin -p printer-name -v device-name command.

Most systems have two serial ports and a parallel port or USB ports. Unless you add ports, you cannot directly connect more than two serial printers and a parallel printer or two USB printers to one system.

You can select the following printer port types with Solaris Print Manager. These options give you as much flexibility as the lpadmin command.

The LP print service initializes the printer port by using the settings from the standard printer interface program. For more information about printer interface programs, see Managing Print Filters. If you have a parallel printer or a serial printer for which the default settings do not work, see Adjusting Printer Port Characteristics for information about customizing the port settings.

If you use multiple ports on an x86 based system, only the first port is enabled by default. The second and any subsequent ports are disabled by default. To use more than one port, you must manually edit the device driver port configuration file for each additional asy (serial) port or lp (parallel) port. The pathnames for the x86 port configuration files are:

/platform/i86pc/kernel/drv/asy.conf

/platform/i86pc/kernel/drv/lp.conf

Printer Make

The printer make is the name of the manufacturer of the printer. The printer make is found on the printer itself, and on the packaging materials and documentation that is shipped with the printer.

The following are examples of printer makes that are available in this release:

• Lexmark

• Epson

• Canon

• QMS

• Xerox

Printer Model

Printer manufacturers produce several types and models of printers. The printer model defines the printer precisely. The model is usually stamped on the front or top of the printer. This information is also displayed on the packaging materials and documentation that is shipped with the printer.

The following are examples of printer models that are available in this release:

• Lexmark Optra E312

• Lexmark Z32

• Lexmark 1000

Printer Driver

The printer driver selects the driver to use when printing to the printer. The printer driver is determined when you select the PPD file for the specified printer make and printer model

Printer Type

In this release, you can no longer assign printer type with Solaris Print Manager. Instead, you must select the printer make, model, and driver when adding a new printer or modifying an existing printer by using Solaris Printer Manager. For information about using the printer definitions previously assigned by Solaris Print Manager, see Reverting to Previous Solaris Print Manager Printer Definition Screens.

The printer type is a generic name for a type of printer. Printer type identifies the terminfo database entry that contains various control sequences for the printer. By convention, printer type is usually derived from the manufacturer's model name. For example, the printer type name for the DECwriter printer is decwriter. However, the common printer type PS does not follow this convention. PS is used as the printer type for many models of PostScript printers.

You can specify the printer type by using the lpadmin -T command.

Printer Names in the terminfo Database

Information about each printer type is stored in the terminfo database (/usr/share/lib/terminfo). This information includes the printer capabilities and initialization control data. The printer you install must correspond to an entry in the terminfo database.

$ pwd
/usr/share/lib/terminfo
$ ls
1  3  5  7  9  B  H  P  a  c  e  g  i  k  m  o  q  s  u  w  y
2  4  6  8  A  G  M  S  b  d  f  h  j  l  n  p  r  t  v  x  z
$ 

Each subdirectory contains compiled database entries for terminals or printers. The entries are organized by the first letter of the printer or terminal type. For example, if you have an Epson printer, look in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo/e directory to find your particular model of Epson printer.

$ cd /usr/share/lib/terminfo/e
$ ls
emots           ep2500+high   ep48            ergo4000      exidy2500
env230          ep2500+low    epson2500       esprit
envision230     ep40          epson2500-80    ethernet
ep2500+basic    ep4000        epson2500-hi    ex3000
ep2500+color    ep4080        epson2500-hi80  exidy
$ 

The entries for Epson printers are included in the preceding example.

If you have a NEC printer, look in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo/n directory for your NEC printer model.

$ cd /usr/share/lib/terminfo/n
$ ls
ncr7900        ncr7900iv      netronics      network        nuc
ncr7900-na     ncr7901        netty          netx           nucterm
ncr7900i       nec            netty-Tabs     newhp
ncr7900i-na    net            netty-vi       newhpkeyboard
$ 

The entry in this directory for NEC is included in the preceding example.