Subject: Re: Ugh! printing? Still no action...
To: Martin Joseph <mjoecups@home.com>
From: Frederick Bruckman <fb@enteract.com>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 05/07/2001 21:44:03
On Mon, 7 May 2001, Martin Joseph wrote:

> Now when I use lpr i get lpd[368]: cannot execv
> /usr/local/libexec/lpr/stc-if
>
> The file "stc-if" is there, and looks the same as yours

As already pointed out by Paul Goyette, it needs to be executable.

> I forced Ghostscript to produce garbage with a gs -sDEVICE=st800
> -sOutputFile=tty01 myfile.ps.
>
> It was kind of reassuring to see the printer do SOMETHING.

You were in /dev? Otherwise tty01 would simply be a file. When you
print directly to the device like that it uses the default speed and
serial port settings (usually 9600, software handshaking), and does
some other funny stuff with tabs and carriage returns. That usually
works only if you're printing plain text. Once you put the printer
into ESC/P mode, it needs a transparent connection.

> Can I eliminate the script portion of your config Frederick if I want
> Postscript printing only?

Not exactly sure what you mean, here. You could use ghostscript to
render to a file, and then use a comm program (like kermit) to set up
the serial port and upload the file.

-sDEVICE=st800 invokes the old driver, by the way. The new, "universal
drivers" are in "/usr/pkg/share/ghostscript/6.01vflib/lib" (with
ghostscript-6.01). In the filter, try

 /usr/pkg/bin/gs -q -sOutputFile=- "@stc800pl.upp" /dev/stdin -c quit

or, to generate a file you can upload to the printer...

 gs -sOutputFile=testfile "@stc800pl.upp" testpage.ps

I honestly can't figure out how to upload the result with "kermit"
right now, but I just tried "lpr -l testfile", and it printed the test
page nicely enough, considering it's for the wrong printer. [All the
"-l" argument does is invoke the input filter with a "-c" argument.]


Frederick