NAME

lpspr − prepare files for printing on Digital PrintServer printers

SYNOPSIS

lpspr [ −Npages ] [ −Ksides ] [ −Xsheets ] [ −Ddatatype ] [ −Itray ] [ −otray ] [ −Ssize ] [ −showpage ] [ −ecols ] [ −iindent ] [ −l ] [ −wcols ] [ −zlines ] [ −Pprofile ] [ −Mlpsmodel ] [ −Oorientation ] [ −Rresolution ] [ filename ... ]

DESCRIPTION

lpspr prepares one or more input files for special printing on the PrintServer family of PostScript printers by Digital Equipment Corporation.  The formatted output is written to standard output, allowing for redirection to an output file (using standard shell redirection methods), or piping to another program, such as lp(1).  That is, lpspr does not directly queue the resulting output for printing on a spooled printer.  ASCII data, by default, will be automatically converted to PostScript in the output stream. 

In this documentation, the verb “print” implies the preparation process needed to provide the intented printing function. 

An input file can contain either plain ASCII text or PostScript text, or may contain PCL data if the target PrintServer printer is capable of interpreting PCL; see the documentation for the particular printer to determine whether PCL interpretation is available.  lpspr reads from the standard input if no files are specified. 

If the data type is not specified (via the -D option), lpspr will examine the first two characters of each input file to determine if the file requires conversion to PostScript before being written to the standard output. 

To print a PostScript file so as to examine the actual PostScript code (rather than the resulting image), explicitly specify the ASCII data type on the command line using the -D option, for example:

% lpspr −Dascii experiment.ps

If an option is specified more than once, the last option specified is the one used.  For example, in the command:

% lpspr −N2 −N4

the −N4 option overrides the −N2 option.  All options apply to all input files. 

It is important to understand the difference between a “page” and a “sheet” when printing on PostScript printers.  A “page” is the image you want to print, while a “sheet” is a single piece of paper.  It is possible to print multiple pages on a single sheet using the -N option. 
 

OPTIONS

−Ddatatype
Define the input data type, where datatype is one of the following:

ascii ASCII data

post PostScript data

pcl PCL data

image DECadvantage image  data

ansi ANSI data

If you do not use the −D option, lpspr will attempt to determine the the data type of each file by examining the first two characters in the file.  If these characters do not exactly match the character sequence “%!” (the “magic number” for PostScript files), then the input data will be handled as ASCII data.  A data type of “image” is valid only when running SCO UNIX DECadvantage client software. 

−Itray
Select the input paper tray that supplies paper for the print job, one of the following:

top The upper 250-sheet input tray

middle The middle 250-sheet input tray

bottom The large capacity input tray

lcit The large capacity input tray

envelope The LPS17 envelope tray. 

If the −I option is not specified, the −S option selects the input tray.  If the −I option and the −S option are both specified, the input tray must contain the required paper size.  If the −I option is not specified, the default paper tray for the printer is used.  The envelope tray is only valid on the LPS17 PrintServer. 

−Ksides
Print pages on sheets in one of the following the ways:

1 Print on one side of the sheet only. 

2 Print on both sides of the sheet. 

If this option is not specified, printing is done on one side only. 

−Mmodel
Process the input for the lpsmodel PrintServer.  Input and output paper tray options are verified for the specified PrintServer. The following values are recognized:

LPS17 PrintServer 17. 

LPS17/600 PrintServer 17/600

LPS20 PrintServer 20

LPS20+ turbo PrintServer 20

LPS32 PrintServer 32

LPS40 PrintServer 40 and PrintServer 40 Plus

The LPS17 has no middle input tray and supports a special envelope tray.  The LPS32 is capable of supporting an optional mailbox output tray subsystem.  The default model is LPS17. 

−Npages
Print the number of source pages on each sheet side.  If this option is not specified, a single page is printed on each single sheet side printed.  The maximum number of pages on a single sheet side is limited to 100. 

−OOrientation
Select the orientation of the pages as they are to be imaged on each sheet from one of the following:

landscape to select landscape mode

land abbreviation for "landscape"

portrait to select portrait mode

port abbreviation for "portrait"

 

−otray
Select the output tray where the printed output is to be deposited, one of the following:

top Top tray, with face-down stacking. 

side Side tray, with face-down stacking. 

face-up Side tray, with face-up stacking. 

upper Upper tray on top of the printer. 

lower Lower tray on top of the printer. 

lcos Large capacity output stacker. 

If the target PrintServer printer is a model LPS32 with the optional mailbox sorter output option, you can specify an output tray using the form "mbnn" to indicate which of the 20 mailbox slots should be used.  For example, if you want the output to be deposited in the third mailbox slot, then you would specify "mb3" as the argument to the -o option.  Valid mailbox arguments are from "mb1" through "mb20" and are only valid for use with suitably equipped model LPS32 printers. 

If the −o option is not specified, the default paper tray for the printer is used. 

 

−Rresolution
Select imaging resolution from one of:

300 to image at 300 dpi

400 to image at 400 dpi

600 to image at 600 dpi

Note that inorder for a given resolution option to be effective the target PrintServer must support that resolution, otherwise the printing software will default to an appropriate resolution. 

 

−Ssize
Select the physical size of the sheets to be printed, one of the following:

letter or a 8.5 x 11 inches, 216 x 279 mm

ledger or b 11 x 17 inches, 279 x 432 mm

legal 8.5 x 14 inches, 216 x 356 mm

executive 7.5 x 10.5 inches, 191 x 254 mm

a5 5.8 x 8.3 inches, 148 x 210 mm

a4 8.3 x 11.7 inches, 210 x 297 mm

a3 11.7 x 16.5 inches, 297 x 420 mm

b5 7.2 x 10.1 inches, 176 x 250 mm

b4 10.1 x 14.3 inches, 250 x 353 mm

dl 4.3 x 8.7 inches, 110 x 220 mm

business_envelope
4.125 x 9.5 inches, 105 x 241 mm

7_envelope 3.875 x 7.5 inches, 99 x 191 mm

If the sheet size is not specified, the size is assumed to be letter (8.5 x 11 inches). 

−showpage
Append a PostScript “showpage” operator to the output.  This is useful for obtaining proof copies of  Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files.

−Xsheets
Print each sheet n times.  The output is uncollated; for a collated output, you must specify the input files as many times as you desire copies.  If the −X option is not specified, each sheet is printed once. 

The following options are for use with ASCII data only; if one of these options is specified with PostScript data, the option is ignored. 

−ecols
Expand tab characters to use cols spaces.  If this option is not specified, a tab width value of 8 spaces is used. 

−iindent
Indent each page in the output by indent number of spaces. 

−lPrint the file literally, with non-printing characters imaged in a printable manner. 

−Pprofile
Use the PostScript profile file specified by the profile path for converting plain text files to PostScript.  If this option is not specified, a standard profile is used (see ENVIRONMENT below). 

−wcols
Print the output using a page width of cols characters.  If this option is not specified, a page width of 80 columns is used. 

−zlines
Print the job using a page length of lines.  If this option is not specified, a page length of 66 lines is used. 

EXAMPLES

The following examples frequently illustrate the piping of output from lpspr to the lp(1) command to cause the output to be submitted to a print queue.  Note that your system may provide the lpr(1) command instead of the lp(1) command. 

Create a file containing ready-to-print PostScript, in which two input files are printed with two pages imaged per sheet, then print that file:

% lpspr −N2 file1 file2 > files.ps
% lp files.ps

Do the same thing, but instead of creating a file, send the output directly to a PrintServer printer associated with the default line printer queue:

% lpspr −N2 file1 file2 | lp

Do the same thing, but send the output directly to a PrintServer printer associated with the fast20 queue:

% lpspr −N2 file1 file2 | lp -dfast20

A favorite among software developers, print a source code program edited with four column tab stops, two pages per sheet:

% lpspr −e4 −N2 module.c | lp

Print a large source code file for long-term retention, with the file creation date and page number at the top of each page, four pages printed per side, on both sides of each sheet (resulting in an eight-fold decrease in paper costs):

% pr mondo.c | lpspr −N4 −K2 | lp

Print 400 copies of an image of your new baby in a wallet-size format for cutting up and mailing to friends and family:

% lpspr −N16 −X25 oscar.ps | lp

Print the text of PostScript program using the three-hole punched paper loaded in the middle tray:

% lpspr −Dascii −Imiddle prog.ps | lp

Print a proposal presentation using the transparencies loaded in the top tray, and output to the side tray:

% lpspr −Imiddle -oside proposal.ps | lp

RESTRICTIONS

The output produced by lpspr is designed to work specifically for Digital PrintServer printers.  The PostScript code generated to effect the above functions may not work on non-Digital printers. 

Whether the output is ultimately printed in the desired fashion depends in large part on the configuration of the target PrintServer printer.  For example, if the -K2 option is specified, and the output is directed to a PrintServer printer incapable of two-sided printing, then the printing will fail. 

ENVIRONMENT

Conversion to PostScript of file data containing ASCII text requires a special PostScript “profile” file.  This file is called lpsasc2ps.psh and resides in the standard LPS library directory as configured for your machine.  An alternative profile may be used either by specifying the path to the profile with the “-P” command line option. 

FILES

$LPSLIB/lpsasc2ps.psh Default PostScript profile used for text-to-PostScript conversion. 

SEE ALSO

pr(1), lp(1), lpr(1), lpstat(1), cancel(1)

DIAGNOSTICS

lpspr: unable to read the PostScript profile path: reason
The process does not have the proper permissions to access to the indicated PostScript profile, or the profile does not exist.

lpspr: invalid PostScript profile path
The indicated PostScript profile contains invalid or missing information. Other messages describing the exact nature of the problem typically precede this message.

AUTHOR

Digital Equipment Corporation. 

NOTES

PostScript(TM) is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. 

  —  LPS V5.1  —  17 Jun 1995