Printer Setup

We have several printers - at least one in each of the 2nd floor hallways, room 2088 and room 2093. There is a color printer in dh2093 as well. In Unix, the name of these printers are: dh2088, dh2088-duplex, dh2093, dh2093-duplex and dh2093c. dh2088 and dh2088-duplex refer to the same printer but dh2088-duplex will print in duplex mode. (front and back printing, which saves paper.)

You can invoke these printers by typing commands like:

lpr -Pdh2093 report.ps 
lpr -Pdh2088-duplex file.txt

where -P option is used to specify which printer to print. Note that you can only use lpr command print postscript (ps) file or plain text file such as S-Plus source code. Sending a .pdf or .jpg file directly to the printer will generate hundreds of pages of trash printouts.

You can also specify a default printer so that you do not have to use -P option all the time. To do this, just add the following two lines to your .cshrc^3.1 file:

setenv PRINTER dh2088-duplex  
setenv LPDEST dh2088-duplex

If you have a windows PC, the easiest way to set up your printer is to apply for an engineering account and then click start -> Run and type in one or some of the following commands:

\\engrpdc\dh2093  
\\engrpdc\dh2093d 
\\engrpdc\dh2088  
\\engrpdc\dh2088d  
\\engrpdc\dh2093c

If you set up multiple printers, you can right-click one of them and choose set as default printer to set it as your default printer.

If you have a laptop (Windows or Linux) or a self-maintained desktop, you will have to do more to set up your printer. The terminology involved here are printer server and LPR port. The most important thing to remember here is that you have to use ``generic postscript'' printer driver to print to the LPR port.

If you are using Linux, you will most possibly use CUPS printing system. Please refer to the CUPS help of your Linux distribution and use the following parameters when requested:

printer server: dh2088(or dh2093)-server.stat.rice.edu
queue name: dh2088, dh2088-duplex, dh2093 or dh2093-duplex
printer: generic PS printer.

If you are using Windows system, you can either apply for an engineering account or use Windows LPR ports. Windows help system gives derailed description about how to set up a LPR port (Start -> Help -> Index -> search LPR port, print service for Unix) and here is how to do it under windows 2000:

1. Go to Adobe website http://www.adobe.com, search for printer driver, download "Generic Postscript Driver"
2. Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Dial-up Connections -> Advanced -> Optional Networking Components. Select Other network file and Print Services and press OK. You will probably need win2k installation CD.
3. Install the ``generic postscript driver'' and set up your printer. When prompted for a printing port, choose LPR port and use the parameters above.

There is a more detailed description about windows printing in the how-to section of helpdesk website.