Printing

This section describes:

Setting up a print client or server

Setting up a print client or server is easy and quick with Red Hat Linux: Click on the Red Hat in the lower left-hand corner, then System Settings-->Printing. This window will come up:
linux print example

Then click on the New icon.

You will be asked what your want to name the printer, whether it is locally connected or remote via the network, etc. If the printer is "Networked UNIX (LPD)", for Server enter the hostname of where the printer is connected, and a Queue name of lp is standard.

printer type example

Next select the printer model: click on Generic (click to select manufacturer):

hp1100 linux printer example

Printing to a Microsoft Windows system: An example

When printing to a Microsoft Windows Print Queue, will be able to browse local sysetms for printers available. Alternatively, you can click on Specify... and enter the workgroup, name of the share, user and password:

microsoft windows printer example

In the above example, we didn't need to specify a Host IP because the name of the Share specified where the print jobs should be sent.

Fancy printing

There are a number of ways to print plain text files in a fancy, formatted format, using text-to-PostScript formatting tools.

The a2ps program is similar to the enscript program that formats text files for printing. (A public domain version of enscript is also available).

a2ps can be used to automatically format and print. Some examples: 

     To print source code for C, C++, Java, python, etc. nicely
     and send it to the printer:
% a2ps pysrc.py
[pysrc.py (Python): 12 pages on 6 sheets]
request id is joeuser@summer+26
[Total: 12 pages on 6 sheets] sent to the default printer



    To print 4 "virtual" pages on each physical page (shrink
    down 4 pages to fit onto 1 page):
% a2ps -4 design.txt
    ...

    To print using a tiny font:
% a2ps -1 --font-size=5 cards
    ...

    Print rotated (in landscape orientation) using a an 8 point-size font):
% a2ps -r --font-size=8 phonelist
    ...

    To print to a file (-o filename), one virtual page per page (-1):
% a2ps -1 report.txt -o report.ps
[Total: 1 page on 1 sheet] saved into the file `report.ps'

Where to get more information

Linux Quick Reference Home
Linux Migration Home