Chapter 5. Printing

Once the Administrator or a Privileged User has used the Printer Manager to set up a printer for your system (choose System > Printer Manager from the Toolchest, use the Printer Manager Help menu for instructions), you can print files from your desktop. These are the methods you can use:

This chapter contains these sections:

Summary of the Printing Environment and Tools

The graphical printing environment provides all the tools you need to set up printing software, and to print files and monitor print jobs. Click a topic for summary information.

About the Printer Manager

The Printer Manager lets a Privileged User access printers that are connected to either the user's own system or another system on the network. Once a printer is set up, you can drag its icon from the Printer Manager onto your desktop for use (see “Placing Available Printers on Your Desktop” and “About Desktop Printer Icons”).

You can start the Printer Manager in two ways:

  • Choose Printer Manager from the System toolchest.

  • Choose Printer Manager from the Other Tools menu in Print Status (see “About Print Status”).

For detailed information on using the Printer Manager, use the Printer Manager Help menu.

About Desktop Printer Icons

Once you place a printer icon on your desktop (see “Placing Available Printers on Your Desktop”), you can:

If the printer is an Impressario printer (see “About Impressario”), you can also visually monitor the icon; it changes when the printer has jobs in its queue or when it is experiencing any problems.

Idle printer 

The printer icon has no paper emerging from it. The printer may be printing jobs that belong to other users, but it is not printing any jobs for you.

Busy printer 

The printer icon has paper emerging from it. It is printing one or more jobs for you.

Broken printer 

The printer icon has smoke emerging from it, and appears to be squashed. The printer cannot print for some reason (for example, it is jammed or out of paper). For more information on the problem, double-click this printer to see the Print Status window.

About Print Status

Print Status lets any User view a printer's queue, and cancel jobs submitted by that person. A Privileged User can cancel jobs submitted by any user, and can also enable or disable the printer's queue. The administrator (root) can also forward print jobs from one printer to another.

You can start Print Status in several ways:

  • Double-click a printer icon on the desktop (see “About Desktop Printer Icons”).

  • In Printer Manager, select a printer and choose Show Queue from the Printer menu (see “About the Printer Manager ”).

  • Choose a printer in the Print Status for rollover menu in the Other Tools menu in Print Status (this works only if you have more than one printer available).

For more details on Print Status, see “Using Print Status to Monitor Print Jobs and Printers ”.

About Print Panel

Print Panel lets you customize print jobs. For example, you can specify the number of copies you want to print, or customize the banner page of a particular print job. If the system to which a printer is physically connected has the Impressario software installed, you can set many more advanced, printer-specific printing options. (For more information, see “About Impressario” and “Setting Printer-Specific Options”.)

For convenience, place the Print Panel icon on your desktop by following these steps:

  1. Choose File QuickFind from the Find toolchest.

  2. In the File QuickFind text field, type:

    /usr/sbin/PrintPanel

  3. When the Print Panel icon appears in the drop pocket, drag the icon onto the desktop.

You can start Print Panel in several ways:

  • Double-click the Print Panel icon on the desktop.

  • Drag a file onto the Print Panel icon on the desktop.

  • Choose Printer Panel from the Other Tools menu in Print Status.

For detailed information on using Print Panel, see “Customizing Print Jobs With Print Panel”.

About File Format Filters

The system does not supply any standard file format filters. This means that when you send a file to a printer by dragging it onto either a printer icon or the Print Panel icon, or by selecting the file and choosing Print from the Selected menu, the system sends the file directly to the printer without changing its format. Depending on the file type and printer type, the printer may not be able to print the file.

In general, you can print by dragging files in these cases:

  • Drag a PostScript or ASCII file on a PostScript printer

  • Drag an ASCII file on an ASCII or dumb printer

  • Drag an SGI Image file on a dumb raster or dumb color printer

Many applications include file format filters. When you give a print command within an application, it often converts the file to a standard format (such as PostScript) before sending it to a printer. Or, it may give you the option of saving a file as PostScript or as text. Once you have done this, you may be able to drag the resulting file onto a printer icon (if the printer supports that format).

If the system to which a printer is physically connected has the optional Impressario software, you can print many additional file types. For more information, see “About Impressario”.

Because the additional Impressario filters are available only on the system to which the printer is physically connected, you cannot drag files of these types onto a printer or Print Panel icon on your own desktop to print them. Instead, you must follow these steps:

  1. On your own system, choose Open Unix Shell from the Desktop toolchest.

  2. In the window that appears, type:

    lp filename -dprintername 

    Where filename is the name of your file, and printername is the name of the printer.

  3. To close the window, type:

    logout
    

About Impressario

Impressario provides a full range of tools and drivers for printing, viewing, and scanning a variety of image types. The product includes:

  • Sophisticated printer drivers that let you control the printers' advanced capabilities through a software options panel, and report up-to-the-minute status on the printers and print jobs

  • scanners, a tool that lets you configure new scanners, gscan, a tool that lets you scan images from an IRIS screen, an image file, or a scanner bed, and several scanner drivers

  • vstiff, a Stream TIFF viewer that lets you view any file type that your system can print

  • Behind-the-scenes filters that can convert most file types to a format that you can view or print (see also “About File Format Filters”)

To check whether a printer is connected to a system that has Impressario software, double-click the printer icon to start Print Status, and check the message in the Current Printer Status area. If it is an Impressario printer, you see a message similar to this:

Impressario 2.0 LaserWriter driver, version 1.10

Also, when you use Print Panel to customize a job for the printer, the More Options button will be available so you can set advanced, printer-specific Impressario printing options. (For more information, see “Setting Printer-Specific Options”.)

If you have Impressario installed, you can find detailed information about it in the online Impressario User's Guide. To access this book, choose “On-line Books” from the Help toolchest, then double-click the Impressario User's Guide icon in the SGI_EndUser bookshelf.

Placing Available Printers on Your Desktop

When a Privileged User sets up the system to access a printer that is connected to either your own system or another system on the network, an icon for that printer appears in the Printer Manager. Users can then place the icon onto their desktop for easy access to the printer's queue and for drag and drop printing. (See also “About Desktop Printer Icons”.)

 To place a printer on your desktop, follow these steps:

  1. Start the Printer Manager by clicking the words Printer Manager , or by choosing Printer Manager from the System toolchest

  2. Drag the icon onto the desktop.

  3. Close the Printer Manager by choosing Exit from the Printer menu.

A Privileged User can also use the Find Remote Resources form to locate printers that are connected to other systems on the network, and to drag those icons onto the desktop for use. This has the same effect as using the Printer Manager to install a network printer; that is, once the printer is dragged onto the desktop, it also appears in the Printer Manager window.

To use the Find Remote Resources form to locate a printer:

  1. Choose Desktop > Shared Resources > On a Remote Workstation.

    The Find Remote Resources form appears.

  2. Type the name of the remote system into the field at the top of the form.

    A list of all the system's shared directories, media devices, and printers appears in the display.


    Note: If the remote system's resources do not include a printer, but you know that the remote system is connected to a printer, the remote system probably does not have the printer marked as shared. To remedy this, choose Desktop > Shared Resources > On This Workstation from the remote system's Toolchest, then use the window that appears to make the printer(s) shared.


  3. Drag the printer icon you want onto your desktop for easy access. Dragging it onto your desktop lets you use the device as if it existed on your own system.

  4. Click the Close button to close the form.

To remove a printer icon from your desktop but keep it available in the Printer Manager, any user can select the icon and choose Remove from the Selected toolchest.

A Privileged User can remove a printer from all desktops and from the Printer Manager by following these steps:

  1. Choose Printer Manager from the System toolchest.

  2. Select the printer and choose Delete from the Printer menu. Users on your system can no longer access the printer.

Printing Files

You can print files from the desktop or from within an application. Click a topic for more information.

Printing by Dragging Icons Onto Printers or Print Panel

If no printer icons appear on your desktop, see “Placing Available Printers on Your Desktop”. You can then print many types of files (see “About File Format Filters”) by following these steps:

  1. Drag the file icon onto the printer icon.

    If you drag a folder icon onto the printer icon, you print a list of all the files and directories within the directory.

  2. To check on the progress of your print job, double-click the printer icon. It shows a queue of jobs waiting to be printed.

You can customize a print job. For example, to specify how many copies to print or to customize the banner page, you can drag a file onto the Print Panel icon. (For details on placing the Print Panel icon on the desktop and using Print Panel, see “Customizing Print Jobs With Print Panel”.)

Printing From Icon Views or the Desktop

The Print command is available in the Selected menu of each Icon View, from the Selected menu on the Toolchest. You can print many types of files using this command. (See “About File Format Filters”.) Follow these steps to use the Print command:

  1. Select the icon that you want to print.

    Select a folder icon if you want to print a list of all the files and directories within that directory.

  2. Choose Print from the Selected menu on the window that contains the icon. If the icon is on the desktop, choose Print from the Selected toolchest.

    The file is sent to your default printer. To specify a default printer, see “Designating a Default Printer”.

    To monitor the progress of the job, you may want to drag the printer icon onto your desktop; see “Placing Available Printers on Your Desktop”.

Printing From an Application

Many applications include print commands. Typically, when you give the print command, the application looks for a specific printer. Consult the documentation that came with the application to learn how to specify which printer the application should use.

Customizing Print Jobs With Print Panel

Use Print Panel to customize your printing jobs. If the Print Panel icon is not on your desktop, you can place it there by following these steps:

  1. Choose File QuickFind from the Find toolchest.

  2. In the File QuickFind text field, type:

    PrintPanel 
    

  3. When the Print Panel icon appears in the drop pocket, drag the icon onto the desktop.

Overview of Print Panel

Print Panel lets you customize print jobs. For example, you can specify the number of copies you want to print, or customize the banner page of a particular print job.

To use Print Panel, follow these general steps:

  1. Specify the file in the Files to print field.

  2. Click a printer in the Available printers list to select one.

  3. Set printing options in the Options area.

    If the More Options button is not greyed out, the selected printer is an Impressario printer. (See “About Impressario”.) You can click this button to further customize the job.

  4. If you want these options to apply to future print jobs, click the Save Options button.

  5. Send the file to the printer by clicking the Print button.

About the Print Panel Menus

The File menu contains these choices:

  • Print sends the selected file to the highlighted printer. (The filename appears in the Files to print field; the printer name is highlighted in the Available printers list specified in the Options area.) Choosing Print is the same as clicking the Print button.

  • Open... brings up the File Open window, which lets you browse through the filesystem for a file.

  • More Options... is available only if the Impressario software is installed on the system to which the printer is connected. (See “About Impressario”.) This option brings up an advanced, printer-specific options window. It is identical to clicking the More Options button.

  • Save Options... saves all the options that you set in both the Options area and in the window that appears when you choose More Options. It is identical to clicking the Save Options button.

  • Exit stops Print Panel, and closes the window.

The Other Tools menu contains one choice, Print Status for. Choose a printer in the Available printers list, then choose Print Status to see the printer's queue and status information. You can also double-click a printer name in the list to see its Print Status window.

The Help menu contains a list of help topics. Choose a topic to see online help.

Selecting Files to Print From the Print Panel

You can select a file to print in three ways:

  • Drag the file onto the Print Panel icon.

  • Type the full pathname of the file in the Files to print field.

    You can print several files at once by typing in more than one pathname. Be sure to separate each pathname with a space.

  • Choose Open... from the File menu to see the File Open window. It lets you browse through the filesystem and select a file.

    In this window, you can double-click a directory to open it, and its name will appear in the Selection field. You can also type a pathname directly into the field. When the file you want to open appears in the field, click the OK button.

    Click the Filter button to search for a specific set of files. By default, the system looks for all directories and files, noted with a filter of * (the wildcard character). To search instead for all files that end in .doc, enter *.doc in the Filter window.

Selecting a Printer in Print Panel

The Available printers list shows all printers that a Privileged User has installed using the Printer Manager.

Click a printer to select it. If you want more information about a printer, double-click it to see its Print Status window.

When you choose “Print” from the File menu or click the Print button, the job goes to the printer that you selected.

Using Print Panel to Specify the Number of Copies to Print

Specify the number of copies you want to print by highlighting the number in the Number of copies field, and typing a new number. You can also click the up or down arrows next to this field to increase or decrease the number.

Using Print Panel to Set the Banner Page Title Options

By default, the printer prints a banner page before printing your job. The banner page includes your login name and system name. To change the title that appears at the top of the page, click the box next to Custom under Banner page title, then type a new title in the field.

If the More Options button is available, you can eliminate the banner page. See “Setting Printer-Specific Options”.

Using Print Panel to Set Job Completion Options

Print Panel reports when the job is finished by either sending a message to your console window or sending you electronic mail. Click the box next to Send mail or Send message to console to specify how you would like to be notified. If you do not want to be notified, leave both check boxes empty.

Setting Job Handling Options

To keep Print Panel from creating a temporary copy of the job (and from using up disk space), under Print file handling choose Link in spool directory. To have Print Panel create the copy so you can safely edit or delete the original file while it is being printed, choose Copy to spool directory.

Setting Printer-Specific Options

The Printer-specific options field is filled in automatically when you set advanced printing options using the More Options button or menu choice. If you are familiar with the IRIX lp command, you may enter lp command line options in this field.

To change advanced, printer-specific settings and print a file with the new settings, follow these steps:

  1. Drag the file onto the Print Panel icon; or start Print Panel by clicking the words Print Panel now, then typing a file name in the Files to print field.

  2. Select a printer by clicking it in the Available printers list, then click the More Options button.

    You see an Options window. There is a scroll bar on the right side of the display area that you must slide down to reveal all options.

  3. Change the settings.

    For details, see “Changing Printer Settings for All File Types”“Changing Printer Settings for PostScript Files ”“Changing Printer Settings for Image Files ”, and “Changing Printer Settings for ASCII Text Files ”.

  4. Confirm or cancel the new settings.

    • To confirm that the settings are correct and to make the Options window disappear, click OK.

    • To confirm that the settings are correct and to keep the Options window displayed, click Apply.

    • To cancel the new settings and to make the Options window disappear, click Cancel.

  5. To save these settings so they become your default settings for the printer that is selected, and to save the settings on the Print Panel so they are the default settings for all printers, click Save in the main Print Panel. See also “Saving Printing Options”.

    Note the Printer-specific options field on the main Print Panel; it contains command line arguments that represent the settings that you changed in the Options window.


    Note: The Administrator can specify default printer settings for all users, but individual users can override them for their own print jobs; for details, see chapter 6 of the online Impressario User's Guide.


  6. To print the file using the new settings, click Print on the main Print Panel. Print Panel sends the job to the printer and the Print Panel window disappears.

Changing Printer Settings for All File Types

General printing settings apply to all three file formats that Impressario supports. They often include:

Paper Size  

Specify the size of paper in the printer's paper tray by clicking the box next to A ( 8.5x11-inch), A4 (European A-size) or Legal (8.5x14-inch).

Printer Resolution 

Some printers can print at a range of resolutions. The lower the resolution, the poorer the quality of the printed image.

Print Banner Page  

Specify whether to print a banner page as page one of the job. Click in the Yes box if you want a banner page; click in the No box if you do not.

Verbose Logging  

Specify whether to report the details of all printing activity in the /var/spool/lp/log file. Click in the On box to activate verbose logging; click in the Off box to eliminate it.

Depending on the printer's type and model, more general options may be available; for example, you may be able to specify whether to print in color or in black and white.

Changing Printer Settings for PostScript Files

PostScript printing options apply only to PostScript files that conform to the Adobe structuring conventions; they do not apply to Image files or to ASCII text files. (See “Changing Printer Settings for ASCII Text Files ” for information on processing ASCII text files as if they were PostScript.)

PostScript printing options include:

Page Ordering  

Normal prints so that page one is the first page of the job; Reversed makes page one the last page. Click the box next to the option that you prefer.

Page Range 

Lets you print all pages or a subset of pages and, within the range you select, lets you print only even or only odd pages.To print all pages, click the box next to All.

To print all odd pages in the file, click the boxes next to All and Odd Pages Only; to print all even pages, click the boxes next to All and Even Pages Only.

To print a subset of pages, click the box next to From, then type the starting page and ending page in the fields.

To print all odd pages within this subset of pages, click the box next to Odd Pages Only; to print all even pages within the subset, click the box next to Even Pages Only.

Changing Printer Settings for Image Files

The options for printing Image files let you control the orientation, lightness, and size of the printed image. These options apply only to files in the Image format; they do not apply to PostScript or ASCII text files.

To change the orientation of the image on the page, change one or more of these settings:

Mirror Image 

Click Yes to flip the image horizontally.

Rotate 

Click the box next to Best Fit to automatically rotate and scale the image so that it is printed as large as possible on the page.
 
Click the box next to Angle and type in the number of degrees you would like to rotate the image. The image rotates in a counter-clockwise direction, so typing 90 in this field rotates the image 90 degrees to the left.

To change the size of the image, change one or more of these scaling settings:

None 

Click this box to make the image on the page contain the same number of dots as the image on the screen. This makes the image on the page appear smaller than the image on the screen, since most printers print smaller dots (that is, print with higher resolution) than the screen can display. If the image is larger than the page, only the portion of the image that fits on the page will be printed.

Resolution 

The resolution of an image is the number of dots per inch (dpi) that are in the image. The larger this number is, the smaller the dots are in the image. By default, the resolution of your printer appears in this field.  To make the printed image the same size as the image on your screen, enter the resolution of your screen in this field. To find the resolution of your screen, type the following command in a shell window: 
/usr/bin/X11/xdpyinfo | grep resolution
 
If your screen's resolution is 72 dpi, you see this message:
 
72x72 dots per inch
 

 

If your screen's resolution is 96 dpi, you see this message: 
96x96 dots per inch
 
When printing an image that you originally scanned in, you can match the size of the image to the original by entering the resolution at which you scanned in the original.

Page Fill 

Specify what percentage of the printed page your image should occupy. Impressario scales and centers the image to fit.

Changing Printer Settings for ASCII Text Files

The Options window lets you change a plain ASCII text file into a formatted PostScript file. Click the Yes box next to Format Text and several options become available.


Note: Only the settings that you change under Text File Options in the Options window affect ASCII text files. The PostScript File Options that appear earlier in the window (Page Ordering and Page Range) affect only those files whose native format is PostScript.

To change the layout of the text on the page, change these settings:

Orientation 

Click Portrait to orient your text vertically (the way the text of this document is oriented); click Landscape to orient it horizontally.

Columns Per Page  

Click the box next to the number of columns you would like; all columns are the same width, with approximately a 1/8" margin between them. Your text will flow from one column to the next.

Margins 

Type a number in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right fields to change the page margins.

To change the font style and size, change these settings:

Font 

Click any font that appears in the scrolling list (the fonts listed are those installed on the printer host).

Size 

Click any font size.

To include page numbers or change the order in which the pages are printed, change these settings:

Page Ordering 

Normal prints so that page one is the first page of the job; Reversed makes page one the last page. Click the box next to the option that you prefer.

Page Numbering 

Lets you include a page number on each printed page. Choose where you want the page number to appear by selecting an item from the Page Numbering menu button. Enter the number you want to begin with in the field labeled Start numbers at.

Saving Printing Options

The Save Options button in the Print Panel window saves two groups of settings:

  • The settings in the main Print Panel window, which apply to all printers shown in the list of available printers; this information is saved in the .glprc file in your home directory.

  • The settings that you change in the Options window for the selected printer (the printer whose name is highlighted in the Available printers list); these settings are saved in a file named /var/spool/lp/settings/<printername>/<username>.


    Note: This second group of settings is available only for Impressario printers; see “About Impressario”.


When you save these settings, they apply only to jobs that you submit to the printer; they do not apply to jobs that other users submit. The Administrator can change system default settings for a printer, but any user can override these settings for their own jobs.

To save printer-specific settings (available only for Impressario printers), follow these steps:

  1. When the settings in the Options window are correct, click the OK or Apply button.

  2. In the Print Panel window, click the Save button.

    You see the Save Settings window, which shows a list of all printers whose settings you have changed during this session with Print Panel.

  3. In the Save Settings window, select the printer(s) whose settings you want to save, then click the Save button.


    Note: If you are a Privileged User, you see two buttons for saving: Save-Personal saves the settings only for you; Save-All Users saves the settings for all users.

    The settings that apply to all printers and the printer-specific options are now saved. These settings will be in effect the next time you print a job from the desktop or from an application program.

Now you can either print the file that is specified in the Files to print field by clicking the Print button, or you can dismiss the Print Panel window by choosing Exit from the File menu.

Using Print Status to Monitor Print Jobs and Printers

Print Status allows you to monitor print jobs and printers. You can start Print Status in several ways:

  • Double-click a printer icon on the desktop (see “About Desktop Printer Icons”).

  • Select a printer and choose Print Status for from the Other Tools menu in Print Panel (see “About Print Panel”).

  • Select a printer and choose Show Queue from the Printer menu in the Printer Manager (see “About the Printer Manager ”).

  • Choose a printer in the Print Status for rollover menu in the Other Tools menu in Print Status. (This works only if you have more than one printer available.)

Overview of Print Status

Print Status lets any User view a printer's queue, and cancel jobs that the user has submitted. A Privileged User can cancel jobs submitted by any user and can also enable or disable the printer's queue. The Administrator can forward a selected job to another printer.

The top portion of the Print Status window shows the printer's model, location code and location description, and the system to which it is physically connected.

The Current Printer Status is active only for Impressario printers (see “About Impressario”). It displays messages about the physical printer itself. It shows what the printer is currently doing, gives detailed information about any printer problems, and reports the version of the printer driver.

The Printer Request Queue area shows the list of all jobs that are waiting to be printed. It lists the job's title, its owner (the person who sent the job), its size (in kilobytes), and its ID number. When the top job in the queue disappears, that job has been printed.

About the Menus

The Printer menu offers these choices:

  • Send Test Page sends a one-page test file to the printer.

  • Update Printer Status checks the printer and displays its current status in the Current Printer Status area (only for Impressario printers; see “About Impressario”).

  • Exit dismisses the Print Status window.

 The Queue menu offers these choices:

  • Cancel Selected Job removes the job that you have selected from the queue.

  • Move Print Job to Another Printer is a rollover menu. The Administrator can forward the selected job to one of the printers on the rollover menu.

  • Printer Accepting Your Jobs and Printing Your Queued Jobs shows whether the printer is able to accept jobs into its queue and/or print them. Only the Administrator can disable the printer through this menu.


    Note: If you check the queue of a remote printer and see that jobs are not disappearing from the queue, the Administrator of the system to which the printer is connected may have disabled the printer using this menu choice.


 The Other Tools menu offers these choices:

  • Printer Panel starts Print Panel with no file specified for printing. Print Panel has help available through its Help menu.

  • Printer Manager starts the Printer Manager that you usually start from the System toolchest. The Printer Manager has help available through its Help menu.

  • Print Status for starts Print Status for another printer. A menu of printers appears to the right of the arrow; choose a printer to see its Print Status window.

Viewing the Queue of Print Jobs

You can start Print Status to check a printer's queue in several ways:

  • Double-click a printer icon on the desktop (see “About Desktop Printer Icons”).

  • Select a printer and choose Print Status from the Other Tools menu in Print Panel (see “About Print Panel”).

  • Select a printer and choose Show Queue from the Printer menu in the Printer Manager (see “About the Printer Manager ”).

  • Choose a printer in the Print Status for rollover menu in the Other Tools menu in Print Status. (This works only if you have more than one printer available.)

The Printer Request Queue area shows the list of all jobs that are waiting to be printed. It lists the job ID number, the owner (the person who sent the job), and the size (in kilobytes). When the top job in the queue disappears, that job has been printed.

Cancelling a Print Job

Any User can cancel their own print job by using Print Status. Follow these steps:

  1. Double-click the printer icon to open its Print Status window (or use one of the other methods for starting Print Status described in “Viewing the Queue of Print Jobs”.)

  2. Click on a job in the Printer Request Queue to select it.

  3. Choose Cancel Selected Job from the Queue menu.

A Privileged User can cancel any job in the same way.

Forwarding a Print Job

The Adminstrator can forward a job to a different printer.

  1. Double-click the printer icon to open its Print Status window. (You can also use one of the other methods for starting Print Status described in “Viewing the Queue of Print Jobs”.)

  2. Click on a job in the Printer Request Queue to select it.

  3. Open the Queue menu, then choose a printer from the Move Print Job to Another Printer rollover menu.

Disabling or Enabling a Printer's Queue

A Privileged User can stop a printer from accepting new print jobs into its queue, and can stop the printer from printing jobs that are already in the queue.

  1. Double-click the printer icon to open its Print Status window. (You can also use one of the other methods for starting Print Status described in “Viewing the Queue of Print Jobs”.)

  2. To keep new jobs from entering the queue, choose Printer Accepting Your Jobs from the Queue menu to make the check mark in the box next to this choice disappear. To accept jobs, choose Printer Accepting Your Jobs again to make the check box appear.

  3. To keep jobs that are already in the queue from being printed, choose Printer Printing Your Queued Jobs from the Queue menu to make the check mark in the box next to this choice disappear. To allow jobs to be printed, choose Printer Printing Your Queued Jobs again to make the check box appear.


    Note: If you are checking the queue of a remote printer and jobs are not disappearing from the queue, the Administrator of the system to which the printer is connected may have disabled the printer using either of these menu choices.


Checking the Status of a Printer

Only Impressario printers can report printer status (see “About Impressario”). With these printers, you can check a printer's status in two ways:

  • Double-click the printer icon to open its Print Status window. (You can also use one of the other methods for starting Print Status described in “Viewing the Queue of Print Jobs”.)

    If the window has been open for a while, you can update the status information by choosing Update Printer Status from the Printer menu.

    For printers that do not use Impressario, the Current Printer Status area is empty.

  • Monitor the printer's desktop icon; it changes to show when a printer is idle, busy, or broken (see “About Desktop Printer Icons” ).

    Icons representing printers that do not use Impressario do not change.

Testing a Printer

To send a test page to a printer, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click the printer icon to open its Print Status window. (You can also use one of the other methods for starting Print Status described in “Viewing the Queue of Print Jobs”.)

  2. Choose Send Test Page from the Printer menu.

If the jobs that are ahead of the test page in the queue do not exit from the queue in a reasonable period of time, there may be a problem with the printer. Cancel the jobs in the queue, and resend the test page. If you still have problems, see “Troubleshooting Printing”.

Designating a Default Printer

From the desktop, users can send files to a particular printer in two ways:

  • Select a file and choose Print from the Selected toolchest or menu. The system sends the file to the printer that a Privileged User has designated as the default printer for the system.

  • Drag a file onto a specific printer, or drag a file onto Print Panel and specify a printer. The system sends the file to that printer.

If only one printer appears in your Printer Manager, it is automatically the default printer. If several printers appear, a Privileged User can designate a default printer for all users on the system by following these steps:

  1. Start the Printer Manager by clicking the words Printer Manager now, or by choosing Printer Manager from the System toolchest.

  2. Select the printer icon, then choose Set Default from the Printer menu or click the Default button. A label appears above the list of printers that indicates which printer is the system default.

Troubleshooting Printing

If your job reached the printer's queue but is not printing, follow these steps:

  1. Cancel the job (see “Cancelling a Print Job ”).

  2. Start the Printer Manager by clicking the words Printer Manager now, or by choosing Printer Manager from the System toolchest.

  3. Select the printer icon, then choose Send Test Page from the Printer menu.

  4. If the printer does not print the test job, see the section on troubleshooting printer problems in the Personal System Administration Guide

When you drag a file onto a remote Impressario printer (see also “About Impressario”) you may see an error message that says:

Cannot print. No convert rule for: filename of type: type, resubmit from the shell.

This means your system does not have the correct filter to print the file, but the system to which the printer is connected does have the filter (see also “About File Format Filters”). To submit the job again, follow these steps:

  1. On your own system, choose Open Unix Shell from the Desktop toolchest.

  2. In the window that appears, type:

    lp filename -dprintername 

    where filename is the name of your file, and printername is the name of the printer.

  3. To close the window, type:

    logout 
    

If you encounter other problems printing, see the detailed troubleshooting information in the online book, Personal System Administration Guide.