Defining Printers on BSD UNIX Systems

Before using LPR to print files, you must define each printer on the host. The procedure for defining printers depends on the type of host.

To define printers on generic BSD systems such as ULTRIX, Sun OS 4.x and BSDI, edit the printcap file in the host's /etc directory. You must have root access on the host to edit the printcap file. If you do not have root access, consult your system administrator.

To define a printer:

1. Ensure your host is running the Inetd LPD daemon.
2. Open the /etc/printcap file in a text editor.
3. Define your printer using the syntax shown below. For more information, see the sample entries.

   Note:

   The “\” indicates line continuation. Do not include it in your printer definition.

printername|local printer:\

:lp=/dev/localdevicename:sd=/var/spool/spooldirectory:

where:

1. • printername is the queue name you want to assign the printer on the BSD host.
   • localdevicename is the name of the printer device file.
   • spooldirectory is the directory where the host stores printer output files. If you do not know the spool directory name, consult your system administrator.
4. Save the changes to the /etc/printcap file.
5. Create the spool directory with read, write, and execute permissions for the user id of the LPD process.
6. Repeat the above steps for each printer you want to define.

Related Topics

Creating a Remote Printer -- Windows 98/Me

Creating a Remote Printer -- Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003

Creating a Remote Printer Using LPR

Printing Files on a Remote Printer