Unix Printing

A Unix print job is normally sent to a queue, which is a staging area with certain properties on a print server. For example, one queue might be set up to print the job double-sided in black and white, while another queue might print single-sided on a color printer.

In JILA the primary print server is jilau1.colorado.edu, which provides queues to the following public printers:

Black-and-white laser printers: 

     JILA S240, HP-8100DN   
        [single-sided mode]    (queue=hp)
	[double-sided mode]    (queue=hpdbl) 
        [special paper tray]   (queue=thesis) 
     JILA A818, HP-8100DN
        [single-sided mode]    (queue=hp2)
	[double-sided mode]    (queue=hpdbl) 
        [special paper tray]   (queue=thesis2)
Color laser printer: 
     
     JILA S240, HP-5500dtn
        [single-sided mode]    (queue=jilacolor)
	[double-sided mode]    (queue=jilacolordbl)
	[transparency tray]    (queue=jilacolortrans)
Large-format (poster) printer: 
     
     JILA S240, HP DesignJet 1055CM

Basic Unix print commands
To print an ASCII, PostScript, or PDF file directly from the command line, just type "lpr -Pqueuename filename". If you want to print to your default queue, you can leave out the -Pqueuename. Note that it's best to print other file formats (such as JPEG or HTML) from an application like display or Mozilla.

To define a default print queue, put the following line in the .cshrc file in your home directory

setenv PRINTER queuename
(If your shell is bash rather than tcsh, put
export PRINTER=queuename
in your .bashrc file.)

To check what is your default printer, run

printenv PRINTER

To check the status of a queue, run

lpq -Pqueuename

Jobs from another platform, such as OpenVMS or WindowsNT, which are currently executing or in the printer buffer will not appear in the UNIX queue and will not be shown with the lpq commands above. Also, once a print job has been spooled from a system to jilau1, lpq on that system may no longer show it. In this case, run lpq directly on jilau1 to see the job's status.

Poster printing from Unix
JILA's large-format printer works best with PostScript files of A0 size, which is 2382 by 3368 points (33.06 by 46.78 inches.) Once you have created an A0-sized PS file, we recommend copying it to one of the Windows PCs in S240 and printing it from there. Please don't send files directly to the large-format printer using the "lpr" command.

In order to facilitate creating posters with teTeX, we have provided a TeX class file called jilaposter.cls which can be used to generate either an A0-sized PS file (for printing) or an A4-sized file (for viewing.) For an example of how to use jilaposter.cls, have a look at the template called /apps2/teTeX/jilatex/tex/jilatex/jilaposter/poster_template.tex.

Other printing-related commands
Useful commands for manipulating and printing ASCII, PostScript, and PDF files include enscript, a2ps, psnup, psresize, psselect, ps2pdf, pdf2ps, dvips, dvipdf, display, and mpage. Read the respective man pages for more info.

Printing from Windows
Windows PCs can use jilau1's queues to access the laser printers, and in fact jilau1 is the preferred Windows print server. In Windows 2000, Windows XP, and higher versions, use LPR printing and set up a printer for hp, hp2, and jilacolor. The Windows print driver will handle double-sided printing and tray selection so using the "dbl" and "thesis" queues isn't necessary. For detailed instructions, see this page.

Save a tree!
Please check this page for hints on saving paper and toner when using JILA's printers.

Reporting problems
Problems with the physical printers (paper jams, low toner, etc.) should be emailed to printing@jila.colorado.edu. Issues concerning UNIX software and commands, aliases, ~/.login and ~/.cshrc files should be addressed to unix@jila.colorado.edu.

Updated: Mon Oct 30 12:26:41 MST 2006