UNIX Desktop Questions & Answers

I need to print Unix files on a daily basic. I have a Del 962 Ink Jet printer. Can anyone tell me how to print? I also need to know if Unix can print on an ink printer?

If you did not search the forum, you might want to try doing this, since there are already many topics on printing. If you do not see the printing topics, in this board, set the "Show Threads" to "last year" and you'll see them all.

Depending on which OS your running, and how you need to print, it can be relatively simple to alittle difficult to setup.
Yes, you can print to ink jet printers.
If your printer is hooked up via a parallel port, you can try printing right now. Turn printer on. open a terminal, and as root or su try the command

ls > /dev/lp0

This may work or may not, if it does work then it should print out a directory listing. Though the quality will not be there, it does work quickly.

If you using GNU/Linux or BSD, then you can use either LPRing or CUPS for your print server.
If your using some other UNIX brand, try searching the man pages for printing help.

man -k printing

The Dell printer seem to have problems printing Unix report/files. I can receive them on a HP but not a Dell. I have spent 6 hours with Dell and they do not know anything behond Window applications and were of no help.

I do not have a LPR port on my printer as some have suqquested I try. I am a real Nebie to all of this lingo so be gentle.

As locustfurnace indicates, we need a lot more information before we can start diagnosing the problem.

First things first. Which OS are you using? Please post the output of uname -a.

Also; are you using CUPS or LPR(ing)?
run ps -ef | egrep 'cupsd|lpd' - what's the output?

If you're using Linux or one of the *BSDs, check out http://www.linuxprinting.org/ - is your Dell printer listed? Is it a USB or Parallel printer? If it's parallel did you try ls > /dev/lp0 as locustfurnace suggested?

More information please.

Cheers
ZB

I think I am way over my head. I have no idea what you want. I guess I'll just buy an HP printer as it works well for what I need. Thanks for your attempt to help.

It's not as bad as it sounds, honest!

Just open up a terminal window - how you do this depends on which Operating System you are using. Is it Linux (RedHat, SUSE, Mandrake, Slackware, Debian, etc), FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, OS X, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, etc - which "flavour" of Unix are you using?

You're looking for something called "xterm" - this is a popular terminal emulator (think of the Windows cmd.exe command shell). If you're using SUSE Linux for example, you'll already have a taskbar shortcut to "Konsole" - this is the SUSE terminal emulator.

Once you've got a terminal window open, you should (depending on your OS, shell, etc - don't worry for now) - see a command prompt - probably a dollar ($) or maybe your username, hostname or other information followed by a dollar.

At this prompt, type in
uname -a

This will post your OS version, plus a lot of other useful information - let us know what this command outputs.

After this, try
ps -ef | egrep 'cupsd|lpd'
Don't worry too much about what the command does for now - post the output and we can see which printing subsystem you're using.

Then, at the prompt (if your printer is connected to the parallel port on the back of your laptop/desktop) type
ls > /dev/lp0
the printer should whirr into life and spit out a listing. Let us know if it does just that.

I know it can all be a bit daunting, but stick with it - you'll be pleased you did in the long run

Cheers
ZB