10. Printing in the FNAL NT Domain

In this chapter we include NT-specific printing information, and refer you to existing documentation. Information on printing facilities at Fermilab is maintained in a series of Computing Division Web pages. For general printing information, select Printing from the Computing Division Home Page.

10.1 Printer Queue Naming Conventions

The printer queues available on your NT server are generally named according to the printer's location and the printer type, however there is some variation. A few examples should illustrate the naming conventions used:

FCC2E_HP5SI is located in the Feynman Computing Center (FCC), second floor, east side. It is an HP LaserJet 5SiMX.
FCC3E_COLORPS is located at FCC, third floor, east side. It is a color PostScript Laser Printer.
WH8X_HP5SI is an HP LaserJet 5SiMX located on the Wilson Hall (WH) eighth floor crossover (8X).

10.2 How to Configure Your Machine to Print

Your NT server should have some printer drivers installed (some or all of which may be maintained on the Fermilab print server FNPRT), and you can configure your client machine to print to one or more of them. To find a printer that is convenient for you, consult the directory listing under your NT server. For instructions on finding a printer and configuring your machine to print to it, consult the document Printing on NT through the Network Neighborhood.

To configure your workstation to print directly to a network printer, see Adding a TCP/IP printer in NT4.0.

10.3 How to Print PostScript Files

From most applications that generate PostScript output, you can print directly from the application. To print PostScript files that have been created externally by applications unknown to NT or to which you don't have access, you can either use a specialized print utility or you can go to the command prompt and execute a print command.

We encourage you to use two-sided (duplex) printing whenever possible to save paper. Most of the PostScript printers on-site support this feature. Duplex printing is an option on the printing setup screen for most Windows applications, for example:

10.3.1 PrintFile Utility

The print utility PrintFile is available from Pckits (see section 7.2: What Software is Available and Where Can You Find It? or our Web page Software Products for Windows NT ). PrintFile can be used for plain text, EPS and binary formats in addition to PostScript.

10.3.2 DOS copy Command

If you have a local or remote printer attached to lpt1: , for example, the following command should work:

 
U:\your_ps_dir> copy /b filename.ps lpt1:

The use of this command and your printing configuration is discussed in the document Printing PostScript from a Windows based PC .