UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi!

The shell account (HP UX v11) that our sysadmin created for me has no default printer queue set.

Is there a way for me to know whether LPDEST has been set as some "global" environment variable and use it in my .profile????

I am not sure if it matters but here what I discovered so far:

-doing >echo $LPDEST returns nothing at my prompt
-I do not have access to 'lpadmin' or 'sam'
-our sysadmin seems to have a GOD complex and refuses to be bothered with my questions.

Help, please???

Al.

Hi Alan,

First of all, Fire your admin, no time. Everybody should have time for it's customers. That's the reason he gets paid every month.

By adding "export LPDEST=printer1" in your .profile will solve your issue. Of course you need to know the name of the printer (and replace it with printer1).

lpstat -p could gives you the possible printers.


Regs David

It is not unusual for LPDEST to be not set. You can establish a systemwide default printer when you setup spooling. To see this sytemwide default (if it exists) use:
lpstat -d

The system wide default should be the best possible choice for the highest number of users. But if it doesn't work for you, then you set LPDEST to something that works for you in your own login scripts.

The .profile file is the right choice for many shells, but not all shells. If it doesn't work for you, let us know which shell you are using.

Thanks to all of you guys for your help!!

I just wish I had `lpadmin` privileges so I could set up a printer that's closer to my cubicle. The default one is WAY across where I am....oh well.

Thanks for taking the time to help me.

Al.