standard --
interface program used by the print service
Syntax
/usr/spool/lp/model/interface_program
/usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces/prt rid user title cp opts files
Description
standard is one of a number of printer interface programs that
may be used by the print service. When a printer is first installed,
lpadmin(ADM)
is used to copy an existing or a customized printer interface
program to the directory /usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces.
The copied program file is given the same name as the printer
(prt).
Several template interface programs are supplied as shell scripts
in the directory /usr/spool/lp/model.
A program may be specified
for use with a printer being installed, or it may be edited into
a more suitable form. Refer to
``Setting up printer interface scripts'' in Administering printers
and
``Creating printer interface scripts'' in Administering printers
for further details about
customizing interface programs.
The LP print service runs a printer interface program to
send a print request to a printer. The print service opens the
printer port as the standard output of the interface program;
the standard input is connected
to /dev/null. The arguments rid
(request-id), user,
and title are typically printed on the banner page.
cp controls the number of
copies of the request to print. opts is a
blank-separated list of arguments
that were specified using the -o option to
lp(C)
or
lpadmin.
The final arguments are the names of files to be printed.
The standard interface program performs the following
actions:
prints the requested files through the filter
lp.cat(ADM)
reports any errors to the print service using
lp.tell(ADM)
The printer interface programs provided are listed
in the following table:
Interface program
Printer
1640
DASI 1640 terminal
5310
AT&T 5310/20 matrix printer
crnlmap
serial or parallel printer requiring <newline> mapped to
<carriage return> <line feed>.
dpq10
DQP-10 matrix printer
dumb
dumb line printer
emulator
Tandy printers in IBM emulation mode
epson
Epson serial or parallel printer
f450
DASI 450 terminal
hp
Hewlett Packard 2631a line printer
HPDeskJet500
Hewlett Packard DeskJet500, DeskJetPlus, Thinkjet, or QuietJet
HPLaserJet
Hewlett Packard LaserJet printers
lqp40
LQP-40 letter quality printer
network
Remote UNIX network printing over TCP/IP, UUCP, MICNET,
or XENIX-Net
network.ps
Remote printing on PostScript printers over UUCP, MICNET,
or XENIX-Net
p9XL
NEC p9XL printer in IBM/Epson mode
ph.daps
Autologic APS-5 phototypesetter
postscript
PostScript printer
proprinter
IBM Proprinter XL
pprx
Parallel Printronix line printer
prx
Printronix line printer
qume1155
Qume Sprint 1155 line printer
standard
Standard printer interface program
TandyDMP
Tandy dot matrix printers
ti800
Texas Instruments 855 printer
The standard options to lp -o and lpadmin -o
that each interface program may recognize are documented on the
lp(C)
manual page. The option will be ignored if the printer is
incapable of satisfying it. Additional options that each
program may recognize are documented in the program files
themselves. These include options to specify special character
sets, to print graphics using special filters, and to alter
print quality.
Exit values
The following table shows the exit values
that printer interface programs should return to the
print service:
Exit value
Reason
0
normal exit after print request completes; any printer
fault is cleared
1-127
an error occurred printing a request; any printer fault is
cleared
129
a problem occurred with the printer; the printer may be
disabled or the print service may be suspended for several
minutes
Examples
Install printer caxton on serial line /dev/tty1a
to use the postscript interface script:
The printer interface programs are not part of any currently
supported standard; they are an extension of AT&T System V
provided by The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
The interface program p9XL was developed by Owen DeLong
and is used with permission.
