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Hello all!
I am trying to set up a printing facility whereby I can format text files
to print in a variety of ways: duplexing, landscape, portrait, various
line counts, various dot-pitch, etc.
I was given a script file which was built for an old system with serial
printers, and using the lp print facility. The operator could issue an lp
command, and feed it any number of options to format the output... the
script was able to parse the options list, and sent various escape codes to
the printer to control the formatting.
The situation now consists of network printers (tcp/ip based) and a DU 4.0a
server. I understand that I cannot send formatting options to a network
printer, and that I need to "fake" a local printer to format the job, and
then send it on to a network printer from there.
I'd like to be able to just create two printcap entries for each printer
(the fake one and the real one) as there are many printers which will need
to be set up. I have all the escape codes for the printers in question,
but I just don't know if I can use them (can I inject them into the print
job somehow?), or if I need another mechanism to control printing.
Am I better off taking the text file, converting it to PS, and then
printing that? If so, how do I manage various options as listed above - a
local queue for each option, or is there a more elegant solution to all of
this?
Cheers!
Jon
---
Jonathan Earle
Technical Architect
HUB Computer Consulting Inc.
Pager: (613)751-4948
Email: jearle_at_hubcc.ca, jearle_at_dmcs.dnd.ca
"You can never burn out as long as you're doing what you enjoy.
When it stops being fun, then you burn out. And I'm still having fun."
-- J. Michael Straczynski, creator Babylon 5
Received on Thu Oct 01 1998 - 14:04:46 NZST