AIX Printer Tips: Adding Serial Printers at AIX 4

Contents

About This Document

NOTE: If you only want to configure a printer without adding a print queue, do not use this procedure. See the section "Configuring a Printer without Adding a Queue" in this document.

This document applies to AIX Version 4.x.

Prerequisites

1. Read the documentation for your printer. Printer-specific information may be needed to connect and configure the printer.
2. A serial port must be available on the system.

# lsdev -Cc printer will show the configured printer devices.
3. You must have root authority.

Configuring a Local Printer and Adding a Queue

1. Determine communications parameters for baud rate, stop bits, parity, bits per character, and flow control. Hardware or DTR flow control is highly recommended if at all possible. Set up the printer using these characterstics based on the printer documentation.
2. Connect the printer to the local host by performing the following steps:
• Use the shutdown command to halt the system.
• Turn off the system and any external devices.
• Connect the printer to the appropriate serial port.
• Set up your printer as described in the printer documentation.
• Restart the system.
3. Enter the SMIT fastpath:
• smit mkpq
4. Select the attachment type local.
5. Select the manufacturer of the printer.

If the manufacturer of your printer is not listed,
• select a supported printer with similar characteristics or
• select Other to use a generic printer definition.
6. Select the printer model.

If your printer model is not listed,
• select a supported printer with similar characteristics or
• select Other to use a generic printer definition.

If you select a generic printer definition, you will get a no printer initialization string generated before a print job. As a result, print flags such as setting pitch and page orientation will have no effect.
7. If prompted, select the Add NEW Printer option.

If you already have a printer added, select the device to which you want to add the queue.
• lp0 IBM 4029 LaserPrinter
8. Select the type of printer interface.
• rs232
• rs422, if using rs422 adapter board
9. Select the parent adapter. Choices will look something like this:
• sa0 Available 00-00-S1 Standard I/O Serial Port 1
• sa1 Available 00-00-S2 Standard I/O Serial Port 2
• sa2 Available 00-01 8-Port Asynchronous Adapter EIA-232
• sa4 Available 00-07 64-Port Asynchronous Controller
• sa6 Available 00-04-12 16-Port RAN EIA-232 for 128-Port Adapter
• cns01 Available NW-00-01 Serial Communications Network Server (IBM 7318)
10. Fill in queue names in the following screen (number and type of emulation will vary based on printer type selected). Print queue names that are six characters or less in length are suggested because this is the queue length displayed with the queue status commands.

The communication parameters must match those previously set up on the printer.

                               Add a Print Queue

Type or select values in entry fields.
Press Enter AFTER making all desired changes.
  
                                                        [Entry Fields]        
  Description                                         IBM 4029 LaserPrinter   
  
  Names of NEW print queues to add
     ASCII                                           [ascp0]
     GL Emulation                                    [gllp0]                       
     PCL Emulation                                   [pclp0]                       
     PostScript                                      [pslp0]                       
     IBM 5587 G01 Japanese Data Stream Emulation by  []
  4029
  
  Printer connection characteristics
*    PORT number                                     [s2]      
     BAUD rate                                       [9600]   
     PARITY                                          [none]  
     BITS per character                              [8]    
     Number of STOP BITS                             [1]   
     FLOW CONTROL to be used                         [dtr]
     Printer TIME OUT period (seconds)               [600] 
     STATE to be configured at boot time              available 

NOTE: If the printer supports more than one type of print data, such as PostScript and ASCII, enter a print queue name for each print data type.
11. Review and change the remaining attributes as necessary.
12. Select Do or hit the Enter key to add the printer.
13. When the printer and print queues have been created successfully their names are displayed. Be sure to note any error messages.
14. Select Exit and then enter the SMIT fastpath to customize the new printer attributes.

Testing the Print Queue

• lptest 10 10 | qprt -P <queue>
• enq -P<qutue> /etc/motd
• lptest 10 10 > /dev/lp2 (use correct lp number)

If you are testing a printer that prints only PostScript or HPGL, print a known good file or use the following commands:

• lptest 10 10 | enscript -d<psqueue>
• qprt -Ban -P<ps_queue> /usr/lib/lpd/pio/burst/H.ps

This will produce a page that contains rows of ### and lines with percent signs, but will print a banner page and only one other page.

With HPGL it is best to use a known good file.

Troubleshooting Serial Port Problems

Some common problems when printing to serial attached printers are:

1. Defective serial cable
2. Missing interposer
3. Serial cable longer than 50 feet (200 for rs232 adapters and printers)
4. Printer set up for parallel rather than serial-common on proprinters and HPLJ III
5. Serial parameter mismatch between printer and RS/6000 settings
-incorrect baud rate often prints upside down question marks
6. Mismatched flow control settings-prints fine for a moment then data is lost
7. Queue goes down or cannot create indicates that the CTS signal on AIX is not being asserted from the printer or that the signal is toggling

Files Changed When Adding an AIX 4 Local Queue
File	Description
/etc/qconfig	New queue stanza and queue device stanza is added
/etc/qconfig.bin	Digested binary version of /etc/qconfig
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/custom/<queue:quedev>	ASCII editable version of virtual printer colon file definitions
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/ddi/<queue:quedev>	Digested binary version of virtual printer colon file definitions
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/smit/<odm files>	ODM database of attribute limits and smit panel information
/dev/lp/device_number>	Special Device File

Configuring a Printer without Adding a Queue

The procedure for adding a printer without adding an AIX print queue differs slightly from the preceding discussion. This is the case, for example, if you are using a third party print spooler or if you are using applications that print directly to a device file.

Following are the steps to add a printer without adding a print queue.

1. Use the smitty mkprt fastpath.

2. Choose Add a Printer/Plotter.

3. Select the Printer/Plotter Type.

4. Choose the Printer/Plotter Interface.

5. Choose the PORT number.

6. Modify any serial attributes.

7. Press the Enter key to add the printer.

This will add a device file in /dev such as /dev/lp24.

Testing

Example:

  lptest 10 10 > /dev/lp24
  cat /etc/hosts > /dev/lp24

To look at the configurations or make temporary changes to the device configuration use:

# splp lp24

device = /dev/lp24      (+ yes     ! no)
CURRENT FORMATTING PARAMETERS (ignored by qprt, lpr, and lp commands)
Note: -p + causes the other formatting parameters to be ignored.
-p !    pass-through?                   -c +    send carriage returns?        
-l 64   page length (lines)             -n +    send line feeds?              
-w 80   page width (columns)            -r +    carriage rtn after line feed? 
-i 0    indentation (columns)           -t !    suppress tab expansion?       
-W !    wrap long lines?                -b +    send backspaces?              
-C !    convert to upper case?          -f +    send form feeds?              
CURRENT ERROR PROCESSING PARAMETERS
-T 30   timeout value (seconds)         -e !    return on error?              

To print postscript to this file you may need to set the printer to passthrough mode using:

splp -p+