How to print landscape files from another server via LPD?

[John MacLerran]

> John MacLerran wrote:
>
> > Dear CUPS Forum members
> >
> > I'm trying to set up a queue in CUPS to print landscape all the time. I
> > have searched the documentation and forums, and found several similar
> > questions, but the solutions presented there did not help.
> >
> > The reason I need this is that our ERP system sends its reports in 132
> > column landscape format by default, and I'm trying to set up  a CUPS queue
> > that will accept that output and print it. Alternatively, I'm trying to
> > get a defnintive answer of "no, this can't be done", so that I can present
> > other, better options (like pdf printing and electronic delivery of
> > reports), and still have done due diligence.
> >
> > There are a few wrinkles, however. Our ERP servers are running Solaris 10,
> > using LPD to send the output to a linux box that acts as our print server.
> >
> > On Solaris, the print queue is configured like this (the lines don't
> > wrap):
> >
> > ccenterapp_land:\
> >         :printer-uri-
> supported=lpd\://anaerobic.isu.edu/printers/ccenterapp_land#Solaris:\
> >         :bsdaddr=anaerobic.isu.edu,ccenterapp_land,Solaris:
> >
> > (Anaerobic is our Linux box. It is Red Hat Enterprise 5.5 and cups 1.3.7,
> > patch level 18, the Red Hat default.)
> >
> > On Linux, our lpoptions file for this queue looks like this (again, no
> > wrap in the real file):
> >
> >      Default ccenterapp_land landscape=true cpi=14 lpi=8 page-left=36
> >      page-right=36      page-top=36 page-bottom=36
> >
> >
> > When I send a 132-column text file from Linux, it prints correctly --
> > output is flipped landscape, and extends out to the 132-column mark, using
> > this lp command:
> >
> > lp -d ccenterapp_land testprint.txt
> >
> > However, when I send that exact same test file from the Solaris boxes,
> > using the same lp command, I get output that is partially correct.  It is
> > flipped landscape, but the lines are wrapped into portrait margins -- 101
> > columns, to be exact.
> >
> > I specified various options in the cups-lpd config file (xinitd, I think,
> > I'm not the linux box's sysadmin), but, frankly, I'm not sure what options
> > to try, and neither a search here, nor a google search, turned up a list
> > of what options are valid.
> >
> > The current cups-lpd config entry looks like this:
> >
> >     service printer
> >     {
> >         disable = no
> >         socket_type = stream
> >         protocol = tcp
> >         wait = no
> >         user = lp
> >         server = /usr/lib/cups/daemon/cups-lpd
> >         server_args  = -o job-sheets=none,none
> >      }
> >
> > In the server_args parameter, I've tried the following options:
> >
> >  -o document-format=application/octet-stream  -- as indicated by the man
> >  page
> >  -o document-format=application/vnd.cups-raw  -- from a google search
> >  -o landscape                                 -- a s.w.a.g. on my part
> >
> > Neither of which helped. The vnd.cups-raw one really clobbered the output
> > -- reducing it to one line, portrait, that ran off the right side of the
> > page and was dropped.
> >
> > What am I missing? How can I make the linux queue print landscape, all 132
> > columns, without wrapping, when the file is sent from Solaris?
> >
> > Thank you
> > -John MacLerran
> > macljohn at isu.edu
>
> I think you are using the default system V printing system on your solaris
> box. In that system, every print queue is associated with one or more of the
> following descriptions:
> - printer type
> - content type (ASCII, PostScript, etc)
> - form name (especially for ASCII content type defining cpi, width (chars
> per line, etc.)
>
> Please post how the respective printer on your Solaris box is defined with
> respect to these attributes. Perhaps you only need to modify one of these.
>
> Helge
>
>
------
Thanks Helge.
I'm not sure those attributes are set up for this print queue.

I looked in this directory:
/var/spool/lp/admins/lp/printers/
and saw directories for some of our printers -- the ones that are defined locally on the Solaris box, but the queue in question is not related to a printer that is local on the Solaris box (which is named Poseidon), but is just a 'remote' queue that resides on Anerobic, a completely different server.

I've asked our unix sysadmin if he's aware of another directory where those attributes reside, and we'll check for them.  Do you know if the /var/spool/lp/admins/lp/printers/ directory is the one I should be looking in?
-john
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