Setting Up Directly Attached Printers by Using LP Print Commands

The following table describes each of the printer definitions that you can define when setting up a new printer or modifying an existing printer by using the lpadmin command.

Specifying a PPD File When Setting Up a Printer

To specify a PPD file when adding or modifying a printer by using LP print commands, use the lpadmin command with the -n option. For example, to add a print queue named foobar for a Lexmark printer, you would type the following command:

# lpadmin -p foobar -v device -I postscript -m standard_foomatic \ -n /path/Lexmark-Optra_E312-Postscript.ppd.gz

When using the lpadmin -n command to specify a PPD file, you must provide the full path to the PPD file.

If you use the lpadmin -n command to add a PPD file, and the repository that you specify in the PPD file path does not exist on the system, a copy of the PPD file is stored in the user label directory, within the user repository. This directory is located at /var/lp/ppd/user/manufacturer/ppd-file. The Oracle Solaris Print Manager cache is then updated to reflect the printer information from the recently added PPD file. For more information, see the ppdmgr(1M) man page.

How to Add a New Directly Attached Printer by Using LP Print Commands

This procedure describes how to add a new attached printer specifying a PPD file by using the lpadmin command with the -n option. Two examples follow this procedure. The first example illustrates how to add a new attached printer that is associated with a PPD file. The second example shows how to add a new attached printer that is not associated with a PPD file.

1. Connect the printer to the system, then turn on the power to the printer.

   Consult the printer vendor's installation documentation for information about the hardware switches and cabling requirements.

2. Log in to the print server and become superuser.
3. Collect the information that is required to configure an attached printer with PPD files.

   • Printer name and port device

   • File content type

   • PPD file

   To determine the PPD file that the printer will use, first define the printer make, model, and driver.

   For overview information about using PPD files when adding a new printer or modifying an existing printer by using LP print commands, see What's New in Printing?.

4. Define the printer name, port device, file content type, and PPD file that the printer will use.

   When using PPD files, the file content type is typically PostScript.

   1. Specify the printer name and the port device that the printer will use.

      # lpadmin -p printer-name -v /dev/printers/0

      The device to use is /dev/printers/0.

      You can now use the -s option with the lpadmin command to specify the print service host name as localhost. For more information, see How to Add a Print Queue With localhost Specified as the Host Name (LP Print Commands).

   2. Specify the interface script that the printer will use.

      # lpadmin -p printer-name -m standard_foomatic

   3. Specify the file content type and the PPD file that the printer will use.

      # lpadmin -p printer-name -I content-type -n /path/ppdfile

      The PPD file that you supply is located in the /path directory.

   4. Specify the printer description.

      # lpadmin -p printer-name -D "printer-description"

   For more information, see the lpadmin(1M) man page.

5. (Optional) Add filters to the print server.

   # cd /etc/lp/fd
   # for filter in *.fd;do
       > name=`basename $filter .fd`
       > lpfilter -f $ name-F $ filter
       > done

6. Enable the printer to accept print requests and to print those requests.

   # accept printer-name
   # enable printer-name

7. Verify that the printer is correctly configured.

   # lpstat -p printer-name -l

   The output of the lpstat command will list the PPD file that you used.

Example 6-1 Adding a New Directly Attached Printer by Specifying a PPD File

This example shows how to add a new attached printer with PPD files. Using the -n option with the lpadmin command enables you to add a new print queue by specifying PPD files. The following information is used as an example only.

• Printer name: paper

• Port device: /dev/printers/0

• File content type: postscript

• PPD file: /path/Lexmark-Optra_E312-Postscript.ppd.gz

# lpadmin -p paper -v /dev/printers/0 (1)
# lpadmin -p paper -I postscript (2)
# lpadmin -p paper -m standard_footmatic (3)
# lpadmin -p paper -n /path/Lexmark-Optra_E312-Postscript.ppd.gz(4)
# lpadmin -p paper -D "Color printer on third floor, rm 3003" (5)
# cd /etc/lp/fd

# accept paper
    destination “paper” now accepting requests 
# enable paper    (6) 
printer “paper” now enabled 
# lpstat -p paper (7)
printer paper is idle. enabled since Feb 28 11:21 2004...

1. Defines the printer name and the port device that the printer will use

2. Sets the file content types to which the printer can print to directly

3. Specifies the interface script for utilizing PPD files

   ---

   Note - This command also copies the PPD file to the user label in the user PPD file repository, if /path is not in an existing PPD file repository on the system.

   ---

4. Specifies the path to the PPD file and the PPD file name

5. Adds a description for the printer

6. Accepts print requests for the printer and enables the printer

7. Verifies that the printer is ready for printing

Example 6-2 Adding a New Directly Attached Printer Without Specifying a PPD File

This example shows how to add a new attached printer without associating it with a PPD file. The commands in this example must be executed on the print server where the printer is connected. The following information is used as an example only.

• Printer name: luna

• Port device: /dev/term/b

• Printer type: PS

• File content type: postscript

  # chown lp /dev/term/b
  # chmod 600 /dev/term/b (1)
  # lpadmin -p luna -v /dev/term/b (2)
  # lpadmin -p luna -T PS (3)
  # lpadmin -p luna -I postscript (4)
  # lpadmin -p luna -D "Room 1954 ps" (5)
  # cd /etc/lp/fd
  
  # accept luna
  destination “luna” now accepting requests 
  # enable luna (6) 
  printer “luna” now enabled 
  # lpstat -p luna (7)
  printer luna is idle.enabled since Feb 28 11:21 2003.available

1. Gives lp ownership and sole access to a port device

2. Defines the printer name and the port device that the printer will use

3. Sets the printer type of the printer

4. Specifies the file content types to which the printer can print directly

5. Adds a description for the printer

6. Accepts print requests for the printer and enables the printer

7. Verifies that the printer is ready for printing

See Also

• How to Add Printer Access by Using Oracle Solaris Print Manager to add printer access on a print client.

• How to Set Up a .printers File to allow users to customize printer aliases.

How to Add a Print Queue With localhost Specified as the Host Name (LP Print Commands)

This procedure shows how to use LP print commands to add a local print queue with the localhost option specified as the host name in the print system databases. Note that you can also modify a configured print queue to use localhost as the host name.

1. Become superuser.
2. Set the print host name to localhost.

   # lpadmin -p new-print-queue -s localhost -v device

3. Check the entry in the /etc/printers.conf file.

   # lpget new-print-queue
   new-print-queue:
           bsdaddr=abc,new-print-queue,Solaris

   If the print queue was created or modified successfully, the output of the lpget command returns the name of the new or modified print queue.

Example 6-3 Adding a Print Queue With localhost Specified as the Host Name

This example shows how to add a new print queue, paper, by using the lpadmin command with the -s option to specify localhost as the host name.

$ su - root
# lpadmin -p paper -s localhost -v /dev/ecpp0

# lpget paper
paper:
        bsdaddr=localhost,paper,Solaris

Example 6-4 Adding a Print Queue by Using the Default Behavior of lpadmin to Specify the Host Name

This example shows the default behavior of the lpadmin command for using system host name, abc, when adding a new print queue.

$ su - root
# lpadmin -p newspaper -v /dev/printers/0

# lpget newspaper
fargo:
        bsdaddr=abc,newspaper,Solaris

Example 6-5 Modifying a Print Queue to Use localhost as the Host Name

This example shows how to modify an existing print queue, newspaper, and specify localhost as the new print server name.

$ su - root
# lpadmin -p newspaper -s localhost

# lpget newspaper
newspaper:
        bsdaddr=localhost,newspaper,Solaris

See Also

For information about specifying localhost as the print server's host name when adding or modifying a print queue with Oracle Solaris Print Manager, see How to Add a Print Queue With localhost Specified as the Host Name (Oracle Solaris Print Manager).