In message <200103160124.KAA17375@ibr1.irm.nara.kindai.ac.jp>, you write:
> > > That works, but you can also just eliminate the :if: entry in your printcap
> > > to not have an input filter at all.
> > 
> > Yes, that works fine. I use it to pass data coming from Windows
> > clients (using samba) directly to the printer. The Windows clients
> 
> Thank you both for your input.  It was VERY helpful.

<snip>

> Is everyone using "samba?"  Are there other solutions?

I used to.  Not any more, at least for printing. I picked up an HP
JetDirect print server that speaks lpr/lpd.  I configre my unix
boxes to print to it like it were a remote lpd and the JD box came
with lpr software for Win9x and for NT/2000, you can use the built
in network printing.

From what I understand, the newer JetDirect boxes speak Windows
protocols natively and don't require the lpr client on the windows
end.

You can get the lower-end boxes for around $100, for a few dollars
more you can get 100Base-T and the ability to server more than one
printer per JD box.  They pass whatever you hand them directly to
their parport, so your print client is required to know how to pre
format their print jobs.

> henry nelson
> 
> Append, `ls -l` output of spool directory:
> -rw-r----x  1 root  daemon        4 Mar 16 08:53 .seq
> -rw-rw----  1 root  daemon   128967 Mar 16 09:02 dfA383wn98
> -rw-rw----  1 root  daemon  1720575 Mar 16 09:23 dfA432wn98
> -rw-rw----  1 root  daemon   298827 Mar 16 09:31 dfA571wn98
> -rw-r--r--  1 root  daemon       16 Mar 16 09:31 lock
> -rw-rw-r--  1 root  daemon       25 Mar 16 09:31 status
> 
> Those "dfAnnnwn98" files are the Windows-processed, raw printer files.
> They never go away, and continue to accumulate until manually erased.

Run a root cron job to wipe the dir periodically.

-- 
Michael Parson
mparson@bl.org