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Advanced printer configuration

Supporting non-PostScript print requests

Because PostScript is a language and PostScript printers are expecting print requests written in that language, some applications may produce standard print requests that may not be intelligible to PostScript printers. The following are examples of print requests that may not be interpreted by some PostScript printers.

Non-PostScript content types

Content Type Type of Print Request
simple Print an ASCII (``simple'') text file.
troff Print output from the troff command.
daisy Print files intended for a Diablo 630 (``daisy-wheel'') printer.
dmd Print the contents of a bit-mapped display from a terminal.
tek4014 Print files formatted for a Tektronix 4014 device.
plot Print plot-formatted files.

Filters are provided with the print service to translate print requests with these formats to the PostScript language. For example, to convert a file containing ASCII text to PostScript code, the filter takes that text and writes a program around it, specifying printing parameters such as fonts and the layout of the text on a page.

Once the PostScript filters are installed, they will be invoked automatically by the print service when a user specifies a content type for a print request with the -T option. For example, if a user enters the command

lp -d psprinter -T simple report2

the ASCII file report2 (a file with an ``ASCII'' or ``simple'' format) will be converted to PostScript automatically, as long as the destination printer (psprinter) has been defined to the system as a PostScript printer.


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© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 22 April 2004