Minimal Configuration

Printer models offer a variety of capabilities. Printer features such as print resolution, paper size, paper trays, and duplexing often vary from model to model. To take advantage of each printer's features, you will need to match your printer with a printer model supported by the Technical Print Service. For some printers an exact match can be made, while for others, you may have to choose the "best" match.

To Configure a Printer

To minimally configure an X printer, complete these steps:

	NOTE: If you have previously started an X print server, and then modify printer configuration files, restart the X print server.

Step 1. Choosing a Printer Model File

The models configuration directory contains a subdirectory for each printer model or class of printers supported by the Technical Print Service. Each directory contains a model-config file supplied by the printer manufacturer. This file specifies initial settings for assorted capabilities of the printer model.

As a system administrator, you choose a printer model file that best matches the printer you are configuring. The model you choose is then specified in the printer attributes file (see "Editing the Printer Attributes File").

Printer model directory names are relatively terse. Because of this, you may need more detailed information than the directory name can provide to make your choice. The easiest way to find a best match is to run the tool, tpsshowmodel. It displays a list of printer model names and associated printer model descriptions. You can also use tpsshowmodel to display information about a specific printer model.

To Run tpsshowmodel

The tpsshowmodel command uses this syntax:

tpsshowmodel {-options} [-display display] [-xpconfigdir directory]

Command line options for tpsshowmodel are:

Example

To display a complete list of printer descriptions and printer model names, enter this command:

/usr/sbin/tpsshowmodel -all | more

Or, to display information about a specific printer use this syntax:

/usr/sbin/tpsshowmodel -model model-identifier

where model-identifier specifies the printer model you want information about. Examples of printer model names (or identifiers) are: HPLJ4V, HPLJ4_4M, or HPLJ3SI-PS.

Example

This command:

/usr/sbin/tpsshowmodel -model HPLJ4Si_4SiMX-PS

reports specific information about the HPLJ4Si_4SiMX-PS model, including a printer description and assorted printer features that are supported.

Step 2. Editing the Printer Attributes File

Model-config files provided by the printer manufacturer are typically not modified. However, certain model-config attributes can be overridden in the printer attributes file.

At a minimum, it is recommended that you define two attributes in the printer attributes file. These are:

	NOTE: The printer attributes file is located in the /etc/X11/LANG/print/attributes directory.

Using tpsedit

The printer attributes file is encoded in COMPOUND_TEXT. Depending on your locale, you may need to use tpsedit — a tool that appropriately stores the contents of the file in COMPOUND_TEXT encoding — to edit the printer file.

You must use tpsedit for any locale that does not encode text using the ISO8859-1 character set.

To Run tpsedit

To run tpsedit, you must have root or superuser permission. The command line syntax is:

/usr/sbin/tpsedit printer

where printer is the printer attribute file.

If you have set the EDITOR environment variable, tpsedit will open the printer file using the specified ASCII editor.

Refer to the tpsedit(1M) and tpsconvert(1M) man pages for additional information.

Specifying the xp-model-identifier Attribute

The xp-model-identifier corresponds to the name of a printer model directory. This attribute identifies which printer model-config file should be used to obtain initial printer attributes for the printer. It also identifies the fonts supported internally to the printer.

Printer model names are restricted to the following characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _, and -. It is recommended, however, that printer model names only use uppercase characters. If a printer model name and printer name are identical, the uppercase format will prevent naming conflicts in attribute definitions.

Examples of printer model names are HPDJ1600C, IBM-4039-161, and HPDESKJ1600C_1600CM-PS.

To assign a printer model in the printers file, use this syntax:

printer_name.xp-model-identifier:printer_model_name

where printer_name is the name assigned when the printer was added with SAM and printer_model_name is the model you have chosen for the printer after running tpsshowmodel.

Example

Suppose you have two Postscript printers, a Deskjet1600C and a LaserJet4si. They are named deskjet and laserjet4si and you have selected these printer models:

HPDESKJ1600C_1600CM-PS and HPLJ4Si_SiMX-PS.

To add this information, insert these lines:

deskjet.xp-model-identifier: HPDESKJ1600C_1600CM-PS
 
laserjet4si.xp-model-identifier: HPLJ4Si_SiMX-PS

This maps each printer with a printer model directory. The X print server will use the model-config file located in that model directory when obtaining information about the printer.

To assign a default printer model for all printers, use this syntax:

*xp-model-identifier:printer_model_name

where printer_model_name is the default printer model.

Specifying the descriptor Attribute

This attribute provides a description for the printer. This text is displayed in the Printer Description field of the Print Setup Dialog box. The description can be be one or more lines, although some applications may truncate multi-line descriptions.

To add this information, use this syntax:

printer_name.descriptor:description

where printer_name is the name assigned when the printer was added with SAM and description provides helpful information such as location.

Example

This entry adds the descriptor attribute for the Deskjet1600 and LaserJet4Si printers given in the previous example.

deskjet.xp-model-identifier: HPDESKJ1600C_1600CM-PS
deskjet.descriptor: Deskjet 1600 (PS) in Demo Room
 
laserjet4si.xp-model-identifier: HPLJ4Si_SiMX-PS
laserjet4si.descriptor: LaserJet4Si (PS) at Post 9