Bypassing the spooler

If you use a printer without the spooler, any stty(C) settings you have specified for use with that printer do not remain in effect. The spooler opens the file and then runs the stty commands as specified in the printer interface script.

To use a printer without the spooler:

1. Log in as root.
   

2. Insert one of the following lines in the initialization file /etc/rc2.d/S80lp before the line that calls /usr/lib/lpsched (the first command is for serial printers; the second for parallel printers):
   
   (stty baud ixon ixoff -ixany ; cat > /dev/null) < /dev/ttyn &

   (stty onlcr; while : ; do sleep 3600; done) < /dev/lpn &

   baud is the baud rate of the printer, ttyn and lpn are the serial and parallel device names, respectively.

   This command sets the stty options and holds the port open for use without the spooler. If you ever need to enable the port, you must kill the stty process first.

   ---

   NOTE: With certain multiport cards, you must add a sleep command after the initialization program supplied with the card, followed by the stty holdopen command:
   
   initprogram &
   sleep 3

   initprogram is the program supplied with your multiport card.

   ---

See also:

• ``Managing print jobs''

• ``About the print service''