Printing Over a Network (Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition) 45.8. Printing Over a Network Sometimes you'd like to be able to print to a printer that's physically attached to another Unix machine. lpd, the print spool daemon, supports this easily. lpd is configured using the printcap printer capabilities database, generally stored in /etc/printcap. Generally, a local printer is given a line that looks something like this: lp|local line printer:\ :lp=/dev/lpt0:\ :sd=/var/spool/output/lpd:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs: The first line sets the printer name, in this case lp, and gives it a more descriptive name (local line printer) as well. The rest of the lines define various parameters for this printer using a parameter=value format. lp specifies the printer device -- in this case, /dev/lpt0. sd specifies the local spool directory, that is, where lpd will store spooled files while it's working with them. lf specifies the log file, where lpd will write error messages and the like for this printer. To set up a remote printer, all you have to do is provide a remote machine (rm) and a remote printer (rp) instead of a printer device: rlp|printhost|remote line printer:\ :rm=printhost.domain.com:rp=lp:\ :sd=/var/spool/output/printhost:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs: Note that we added another name; since this is the default printer for the host printhost, either rlp or printhost will work as printer names. We also used a different spool directory, to keep files spooled for printhost separate from local files; this isn't strictly necessary, but it's handy. Don't forget to create this spool directory before trying to spool anything to this printer! Some network connected printers have lpd-compatible spoolers built in. Talking to one of these printers is just as easy; just provide the printer's hostname for rm. Generally you won't have to provide rp unless the printer supports different printing modes by using different remote printer names, since the default name lp is almost always supported by these sorts of printers. -- DJPH 45.7. Formatting Plain Text: enscript45.9. Printing Over Samba Copyright © 2003 O'Reilly & Associates. All rights reserved.