On 13:32:21 Nov 10, Aaron W. Hsu wrote: > There used to be an article on the web about dealing with LPD printcap files > and setting up filters. I used it to set up one of my HP printers. The > process > is really quite simple if you know what your printer's magic incantations > are. > However, that is sometimes hard to discover. All APSFilter does is create the > relevant files and entries, and then has its own script for filtering. This > can be done by hand, as well. > > The easiest way to do all this is probably by have APSFilter make the filter > script for you, but if you just add a filter script for PS files (man > printcap) in your entries, then if you pass a postscript file to the printer, > it's all good. :-) Normally, if you have a non-postscript native printer, you > may have to tell the filter to run some program like Ghostscript on the file > to convert it to the native format for the printer.
Let me throw in my 2 cents of unsolicited comments. :) I have been very happy with the power and flexibility of a2ps. Its capabilities are amazing. Throw in any input file and it can neatly decorate it for you, syntax highlight, put appropriate headers and footers, page numbering, duplex printing, printing 4 pages in 1 sheet and so on. I believe the power comes from the postscript language and most likely the psutils package. Saving paper has been the highest priority for me and being a command line utility a2ps has always appealed to me... Now I only know what you people seem to be saying about PPD files and drivers. I have never used CUPS either. However long ago I have read that postscript is a PCL - printer command language. And most printers these days support printing using postscript and the LPD daemon which listens at TCP port 515 . In fact I have tested $ nc -v <PRINTER_IP> 515 and checked whether the printer supported LPD printing. AIUI LPRng helps you print directly without messing around with /etc/printcap. A simple command line can do the job. Something like $ export [EMAIL PROTECTED] $ lpr foo.ps Here 192.168.1.40 is the IP of the printer and foo.ps is the output generated by a2ps. Note that for the above to work you neither need a printer daemon on your host nor any /etc/printcap entry! Hopefully this does not add to the confusion. :) Please point out if there are any mistakes in the blurb above. Ever willing to learn. Thanks. Have a nice day! regards, Girish
