Printing with Terminal-Attached Printers

Many asynchronous ASCII terminals have an auxiliary (AUX) port that can be used to connect a printer. Terminal-attached printing is supported for terminals attached directly to a host machine or attached remotely by modem to a host machine.

This section discusses configuration, maintenance, and problem determination for terminal-attached printers as well as the following topics:

• Supported hardware
• Installing a terminal-attached printer
• Terminfo database
• Printer backend commands

Supported Hardware

The following hardware is supported for terminal-attached printing.

• Cables
  • RS-232
  • RS-422
• Terminal Devices
  • IBM 3151, 3161, 3162, 3163, 3164
  • DEC VT100, VT220, VT320, VT330
  • WYSE 30, 50, 60, 350
• Printers
  • IBM 2380 Personal Printer II
  • IBM 2381 Personal Printer II
  • IBM 2390 Personal Printer II
  • IBM 2391 Personal Printer II
  • IBM 2380 Personal Printer II (Model 2)
  • IBM 2381 Personal Printer II (Model 2)
  • IBM 2390 Personal Printer II (Model 2)
  • IBM 2391 Personal Printer II (Model 2)
  • IBM 3112 Page Printer
  • IBM 3116 Page Printer
  • IBM 3130 LaserPrinter
  • IBM 4019 LaserPrinter
  • IBM 4029 LaserPrinter
  • IBM 4037 LaserPrinter
  • IBM 4039 LaserPrinter
  • IBM 4076 InkJet Printer
  • IBM 4201 Model 3 Proprinter III
  • IBM 4202 Model 3 Proprinter III XL
  • IBM 4207 Model 2 Proprinter X24E
  • IBM 4208 Model 2 Proprinter XL24E
  • IBM 4247 Printer
  • IBM 5204 Quickwriter
  • IBM 6400 Printer
  • IBM Network Color Printer
  • IBM Network Printer 12
  • IBM Network Printer 17
  • IBM Network Printer 24
  • Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II
  • Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet IIISi
  • Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4Si
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4 Plus
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet 4V
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5Si/5Si MX
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5Si Mopier
  • Hewlett Packard LaserJet Color
  • Lexmark Optra LaserPrinter
  • Lexmark Optra Plus LaserPrinter
  • Lexmark Optra C Color LaserPrinter
  • Lexmark Optra E LaserPrinter
  • Lexmark Optra N LaserPrinter
  • Lexmark ExecJet IIc
  • Lexmark ValueWriter 600
  • Lexmark 2380 Plus Printer (Model 3)
  • Lexmark 2381 Plus Printer (Model 3)
  • Lexmark 2390 Plus Printer (Model 3)
  • Lexmark 2391 Plus Printer (Model 3)
  • Lexmark 4039 Plus LaserPrinter
  • Lexmark 4079 Color JetPrinter Plus
  • Lexmark 4227 Forms Printer
• Asynchronous Communications Adapters
  • Native serial port controller
  • 8-port controller
  • 16-port controller
  • 64-port controller
  • 128-port controller
  • Third-party controller

    Note: Third-party asynchronous controllers are also supported. When AIX detects that an ASCII terminal was configured with a third-party controller, the terminal-attached printer will be configured as thoug h it was connected to the native port controller. See "Native, 8-Port, 16-Port, and Third-party Controllers" for more information.

Installing a Terminal-Attached Printer

To install a new terminal-attached printer and configure it into the print spooling subsystem, you must:

• Install the physical ASCII terminal (tty) device and connect it to the system.
• Configure a tty device driver for the ASCII terminal.
• Connect the serial printer to the AUX or PRINT port of your ASCII terminal.
• Configure a virtual printer and print queue.

Installing the Physical ASCII Terminal

1. Review all relevant installation planning information and the terminal's documentation to ensure that you have the components required for installation.
2. Review your system's configuration and select the serial port.
3. Ensure that the communications port is not in use.
4. Connect the terminal to the serial communications port. Be sure to use proper cabling. Consult your documentation for cabling instructions.
5. Configure the terminal according to the documentation provided with it. Be sure to record the settings you choose for baud rate, stop bits, bits per character, and flow control. You will need this information to configure the AIX tty device driver.

Configuring the Terminal Device Driver (tty)

1. Log on as the root user.
2. At the system prompt type:

   Devices

   In the Web-based System Manager Devices container, use the menus to complete the steps to configure the terminal device driver.
3. Select the Add a TTY option and the tty type.
4. Provide additional information as prompted such as the configuration settings you made on your terminal at installation. If you are not sure of the port number IDs, press the F4 key to display a list of available I Ds. Be sure to enter the correct TERMINAL type. When you have entered all configuration information, press Enter.

You can also perform this task with the SMIT fastpath smit tty .

Verifying Terminal Output

After you have configured the terminal device, enter the following to verify that the terminal is working and send output directly to the terminal screen:

cat /etc/qconfig > /dev/ttynn

where nn is the appropriate tty device number. The contents of the /etc/qconfig file should appear on the terminal screen.

Installing the Physical Printer

1. Review all relevant installation planning information and the printer's documentation to ensure that you have the required components and information to install the printer.
2. Review the terminal documentation for information on connecting printers to the auxiliary port.
3. Verify that the AUX port on the terminal is configured with the same settings as your printer such as baud rate, parity, data bits, stop bits, and XON/XOFF.
   • For information about setting values for the AUX port, consult your terminal documentation.
   • For information about configuring the printer's serial interface, consult your printer documentation.
4. Connect the printer to the terminal's AUX port. Be sure to use the proper cabling. Consult your documentation for cabling instructions.

Configuring a Virtual Printer and Print Queue

Perform the following steps to configure your terminal-attached printer into the print spooling subsystem.

1. At the system prompt, type:

   Devices

   In the Web-based System Manager Devices container, use the menus to complete the steps to configure a virtual printer and print queue.
2. Select the ascii attachment type, manufacturer, and printer model.
3. Provide additional information as prompted.

You can also perform this procedure with the /usr/lib/lpd/pio/etc/piomkpq command or with the SMIT fastpath smit mkpq .

Modem Connections

Terminal-attached printing can also be supported by establishing a queue for a modem line instead of creating the queue for a specific terminal. Since the terminal type of a dial-in terminal cannot be guaranteed, set t he PIOTERM environment variable to the terminal type of the dial-in terminal by entering the following command:

export PIOTERM=Dialin-Terminal-Type