AppleTalk Printers

[Alexander Holst]

Hi Joe,

First of all, a Happy New Year!!!

Am Freitag, 03.01.03, um 16:20 Uhr (Europe/Berlin) schrieb Joe Villari:

> Hi Alex
>
> I read a post from you in the YDL archives from this past summer  
> requesting information on setting up an AppleTalk printer with YDL  
> 2.3. I'm inn the same position now, Ti PowerBook connected to an HP  
> 4MP via ethernet, and was wondering if you could get me pointed to any  
> documentation or solutions you found.

Have you solved the solution yet? I have seen your various  
postings/attempts on the YDL-List.

I haven't gotten printing to an AppleTalk printer to work under CUPS  
yet, but I got it to work under traditional lpr-style printing.

the secret lies in /etc/printcap. Mine looks as follows:

# /etc/printcap
#
# DO NOT EDIT! MANUAL CHANGES WILL BE LOST!
# This file is autogenerated by printconf-backend during lpd init.
#
# Hand edited changes can be put in /etc/printcap.local, and will be  
included.

MyAppleTalkPrinter|lp:\
     :sd=/var/spool/lpd/MyAppleTalkPrinter:\
     :lp=/dev/null:\
     :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs:pw#80:hl:\
     :of=/usr/sbin/ofpap:\
     :if=/usr/sbin/ifpap:\
     :tf=/usr/sbin/tfpap:

######################################################################## 
#######
## Everything below here is included verbatim from /etc/printcap.local   
      ##
######################################################################## 
#######
# printcap.local
#
# This file is included by printconf's generated printcap,
# and can be used to specify custom hand edited printers.

I am running YDL 2.2 on the host in question, and the /etc/printcap  
does not get overwritten at system initialization, but it might be wise  
to follow the warning in /etc/printcap and place the above lines in  
/etc/printcap.local.

There is one more important thing still missing: a file in the  
/var/spool/lpd/MyAppleTalkPrinter/ directory, named .paprc, containing  
just the AppleTalk-Name of the printer you want to print to [in your  
case "HP LaserJet 4MP", or whatever you changed it to]. In case the  
name has spaces, you may need to place single or double quotes around  
it.

After all the changes, restart lpd and try printing as usual to the  
standard printer lp or the printer MyAppleTalkPrinter. [It sure worked  
for me this way!]

For more info, read the man pages for psf and pap.


Hope that helped.



Alexander Holst
Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences
<holst@fh-pforzheim.de>
ph: +49 [0]7231 28-6837
fx: +49 [0]7231 28-6040