LPINIT(ADM) XENIX System V LPINIT(ADM)
Name
lpinit - Adds, reconfigures and maintains printers.
Syntax
/etc/lpinit
Description
lpinit is a shell script for configuring and adding new
lineprinters to a system, and for maintaining and
reconfiguring existing printers. It should only be executed
by the system manager.
lpinit asks a series of questions for which the default
answers are displayed. You can press RETURN to accept the
default value or type in a new value.
lpinit displays a menu with the following options:
1) Add a new printer
2) Remove a printer
3) Reconfigure an existing printer
4) Assign a system default printer
5) Print lp status information
When reconfiguring an existing printer the following options
are given:
1) Insert a printer into a class
2) Remove a printer from a class
3) Install a new interface program for a printer
4) Associate a new device with a printer
Information which the system manager may be asked to supply
includes:
- The printer device (e.g. /dev/lp0).
- The printer character mode. (The default value
is non-interpretive. See ``Notes'' below for
more information.)
- The printer name (default is printer).
- The pathname of the interface program (several
example programs are supported).
- The name of a class into which to insert or
remove a printer.
- Whether the printer being added or reconfigured
is a parallel, serial, or remote printer.
- Whether the printer being added or reconfigured
requires special handling for carriage returns
and line feeds.
The printer name can be any combination of up to 14
alphanumeric characters or underscores. A printer interface
program can be a shell script, C program, or any executable
program; or the model interface program,
/usr/spool/lp/model/dumb, can be copied and modified. (See
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LPINIT(ADM) XENIX System V LPINIT(ADM)
the ``Models'' section of the lpadmin(ADM) manual page.)
When adding a new printer, lpinit changes the acceptance
status of the new lineprinter to ``accept,'' and enables it
to print files. /etc/lpinit then asks if the new printer
will be the default printing destination. All nonspecific
print requests are routed to the default destination (see
lp(C)).
If the line printer scheduler is running when lpinit is
invoked, the user is reminded that any jobs which are
printing may be interrupted and the user is asked if he
wants to continue. The scheduler is restarted when lpinit
exits only if it was running when lpinit was invoked or if a
new printer was added.
The steps to configure a new printer can be taken
separately, (see lpadmin(ADM), accept(C), enable(C), and
lpsched(ADM) for more information).
Files
/usr/lib/mkdev/lp
Notes
Some printers (principally Tandy) require conversions for
line-feeds, tabs and form-feeds. In interpretive mode, the
system sends line-feeds as carriage-returns, tabs as the
appropriate number of spaces, and form-feeds as the
appropriate number of carriage-returns. In non-interpretive
mode (the default value), the system sends every character
to the printer unmodified.
If you are adding a parallel printer you are asked, after
the menu of interface scripts, if the printer requires
conversions for line-feed, tab and form-feed. If the
printer does not, press RETURN. If the printer does, press
y. This selects interpretive mode and assigns the device
/dev/lp[012]f to the printer.
If you choose interpretive mode, note the following:
You must be sure that the printer's actual top-of-form
corresponds to top-of-form as interpreted by the
printer driver.
If you run a program that does any non-standard line
spacing, such as half-line feeds or 8 lines per inch,
the printer's top-of-form will be out of place in
subsequent output.
If your output contains characters that are not
uniformly spaced, the tab translation may not work
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LPINIT(ADM) XENIX System V LPINIT(ADM)
properly.
Note that if your printer can be set (for example, with dip
switches) to treat line-feed as newline and carriage-return
as carriage-return (without a line-feed), and if the printer
can do its own tabs and form-feeds, you should select non-
interpretive mode. If your printer cannot automatically do
tabs, you can still use non-interpretive mode by using the
-e option of the pr(C) command when printing files that
contain tabs.
See Also
accept(C), enable(C), lp(C), lpadmin(ADM), lpsched(ADM),
pr(C)
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