WYNTK: UNIX System Admininistrator

Chapter 5. What you need to know about printing

Printing is a multistep process for the computer.

Most of the time, printing happens automatically in the background, at the click of a Print button, or with a simple print command. When printing doesn’t work, however, any part of the process could be broken. A few basic concepts and tools let you do most of your own troubleshooting on printing.

If a file doesn’t print, don’t just send it again

	Even though I know better, if a file doesn’t print when I send it, I sometimes run the same print command again. This is akin to speaking LOUDER to someone who doesn’t speak your language; the volume doesn’t help.
	--Arsenio Santos

Regardless of what you’re printing, the print process has the same series of steps:

• A file is translated into a language that printers recognize (e.g., PostScript).

• The file is queued to a target printer.

• The job moves to the top of the queue of print jobs.

• The printer prints the file.

This chapter first gives you background on printing on UNIX, describes file formats and how to convert to PostScript, and then gets into troubleshooting what can go wrong.

Most printers on UNIX are PostScript printers

PC and Macintosh users may be puzzled by talk of printer formats. On a Macintosh or PC running Microsoft Windows, you just press a Print button and away you go. You don’t have to think about what language the printer uses. Programs ...