athena% lpq
  MULCH.MIT.EDU...  no entries in fiber

  athena% setenv PRINTER printername

  athena% man more

  athena% xdvi filename &

Quit	Ends the xdvi session.
Shrink2	Enlarges the screen greatly from the default.
Shrink4	Enlarges the screen slightly from the default.
Shrink6	Makes the page the default size.
Shrink8	Reduces the screen from the default.
Page-10	Goes back ten pages.
Page-5	Goes back five pages.
Prev	Goes to the previous page.
Next	Goes to the next page.
Page+5	Goes forward five pages.
Page+10	Goes forward ten pages.

If you need to edit your .tex file and run LaTeX again, you do not need to exit from xdvi every time you want to preview a new version. After you have created a revised .dvi file, type R in the xdvi window to load the new version of the .dvi file.

xdvi is not able to display all the fonts that LaTeX can produce. If it can't find a font, it gives you a warning and substitutes a similar font.

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Previewing EZ Documents

The EZ editor comes with a built-in previewer for viewing your formatted file. To preview your file, select the Preview option from the File menu. The mouse pointer changes into a clock and the following message appears in the message box:

  Processing preview request.

After a few moments, the mouse pointer returns to normal and a new message appears in the message box:

  Preview window should appear soon.

The preview window has its own set of menus that are used for moving from page to page, printing specific pages, and scaling the text displayed on the previewer. Keep in mind that files are loaded into the previewer page by page; therefore, later pages of your document are not immediately ready for viewing when the viewer first pops up. Note that the Quit option in the viewer closes the viewer window, not the original EZ window.

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Previewing Plain Text Files: more

If you want to view a plain text (ASCII) file, use the more command to display the file's contents one screen at a time. It displays one screeful of text, then pauses to let you read it. To look at a file with more, type:

  athena% more filename

When more has filled up the screen, you must give it a subcommand to tell it to continue. There are many such subcommands. Here are the most common ones:

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Previewing PostScript Files with ghostview

ghostview is a program which allows you to preview PostScript files without having to print them. To run ghostview:

  athena% ghostview filename &

The ghostview window will immediately appear; your document will appear as ghostview loads it in. (Sometimes this takes a little while.) There are bars on the right and bottom of the document; click on these to maneuver about the page. The file name will appear in the upper left corner. Below that is the time it was last edited; below that, there are five choices.

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Basic Printing Commands

This section covers the commands for:

• printing files (lpr)
• checking the print queue (lpq)
• removing a job from the print queue (lprm)

All of these printing commands have more options than are described here. To see the full set, type a command of the form man commandname at the Athena prompt. For example, to see the full list of options for the lpr command, you would type the following command:

  athena% man lpr

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The Basic Printing Command: lpr

To print a file to your default printer, type:

  athena% lpr filename

If you wish to use a different printer than the default:

  athena% lpr -Pprintername filename

For printername, use the name of the printer to which you want to send the file (look at the printer if you are uncertain of the name). For filename, use the name of the file (or files) you want to print. For example, to print the file mydoc to the printer ajax, type the following:

  athena% lpr -Pajax mydoc

You can also use the lpr command to send the output from another command directly to the printer without having to create a file. To do this, "pipe" the output of the command through lpr:

  athena% program_name | lpr -Pprintername

The | is a vertical bar, also known as a "pipe" (Shift-\ on most keyboards). A pipe takes the output from one program and sends it as the input to another program. You can use this method for any program whose output normally goes to "standard output" (i.e., your screen). For example, if you want a printed copy of the list of files in your directory, send the output from the ls command directly to the printer of your choice by typing:

  athena% ls | lpr -Pprintername

and to print out the manual page for a command, type:

  athena% man command | lpr

The lpr command acknowledges a number of other useful switches in addition to the -P option, including the following (type man lpr for the complete list):

• lpr with the -z switch causes the printing service to zephyr you to notify you of the progress of your print job, particularly whether there are any printer problems while your job is being processed (e.g., the system alerts you if the printer runs out of paper, etc.) This can be especially useful if the printer to which you are sending your file is not nearby.

• lpr with the -h switch suppresses printing of the header page (the page with the name of the document and your computer), saving time and paper.

These options (as can most options) can be used in conjunction with each other. To make lpr -hz your default command (i.e. what actually happens when you type lpr), type setup save at your Athena prompt.

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Printing Two-Sided Documents

The HP LaserJets support "duplex printing," the ability to print on both sides of a page (double-sided). This is implemented on all public Athena printers.

To print a document double-sided, add a numeral 2 to the regular printername in the print command. For example, to print file mydoc in duplex mode on the printer ajax, type:

  athena% lpr -Pajax2 mydoc

This sends the job to ajax's duplex queue (ajax2), which adds the necessary PostScript code to enable duplex mode.

You can also use the 2 appendix to specify double-sided output with all other printing commands. For example:

  athena% setenv PRINTER ajax2
  athena% ls | lpr -Pajax2
  athena% ezprint -Pajax2 mydoc.ez
  athena% dvips -Pajax2 mydoc.dvi 

Printing Duplex or Tumble

By default, when duplex mode is activated, the text is read by flipping the page about a vertical axis, i.e., the top of side one and the top of side two are along the same edge. If you want this to be inverted, so that you would flip the page about a horizontal axis, this is called tumble mode. (Tumble mode is useful if you're printing in landscape orientation - that is, sideways on the paper.) Options for either of these modes are given below.

To print normal text or a PostScript file, you can use the lpr2 command in the consult locker. To do so, type:

  athena% add consult
  athena% lpr2 -d -Pprinter filename

The -d option turns on duplex mode for the given files. You may also use any other options associated with lpr, such as -h or -z.

For tumble mode, use -m instead of -d.

lpr2 does not work with standard input. This means that you cannot pipe things through lpr2 in the fashion that you can pipe them through lpr.

For more information, type man lpr2 after adding the consult locker.

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Checking the Printer Queue: lpq

The lpr command sends a copy of your job to a print server, a machine that keeps track of printing requests in a list called a print queue. Because you share a printer with other people, the print server takes the jobs submitted to it and sends them out to the printer one by one in order.

If your file does not print right away, it might be waiting in line for the printer. To find out what print jobs are waiting to be printed, type lpq at your Athena prompt. For a printer different from your default, use:

  athena% lpq -Pprintername

For example:

  athena% lpq -Pajax
  PAPER-PUSHER.MIT.EDU...  ajax is ready and printing
  Rank   Owner      Job  Files                        Total Size
  active joeuser    2    report.abstract.PS           8069 bytes
  1st    janeuser   3    letter.PS                    12841 bytes
  2nd    joeuser    3    lab.report.PS                19942 bytes

Specifying ajax or ajax2 shows all the jobs in line for that printer. The lpq command also gives limited information about the physical status of the printer. For example, typing lpq -Pbob might give back:

  IO.MIT.EDU...  bob is ready and printing

or:

  IO.MIT.EDU...  Warning: bob is down: 
  Warning: bob queue is turned off
  no entries in bob

You might also receive Zephyr windowgrams from the print server telling you about problems. For example, if the printer runs out of paper while your job is printing, you may receive a zephyr telling you so.

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Removing Jobs from the Printer Queue: lprm

If you want to send your file to a different printer (e.g., if the printer is down or the queue is too long), or if you sent the wrong file or no longer want the printout, you can remove your job from the queue. To remove an entry from the queue:

  athena% lprm jobnumber

Here, jobnumber is the number in the "Job" column of the lpq information. For example, to remove the file lab.report.PS from the print queue for ajax, jruser would type the following command:

  athena% lprm -Pajax 3

It doesn't matter whether jruser specifies ajax or ajax2; the job numbers are unique. If you want to remove all of your jobs on the printer, type:

  athena% lprm -

The final dash is important.

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Printing Special Files and Output from Software Packages

This section details how to print from some of the most common software packages on Athena. For help printing from many software packages, or for a more in-depth look at printing, you can consult the help for the individual package, On-Line Consulting, or Athena On-Line Help's documentation on that package.

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Printing All or Part of LaTeX .dvi Files

The latex program processes a file ending in .tex and produces a file ending in .dvi. It is not possible to print .dvi files directly on Athena printers (as in lpr myfile.dvi, for example). Instead, use the dvips program to convert the .dvi file to PostScript and print it, as follows:

  athena% dvips filename.dvi 

To print selected pages of LaTeX .dvi files, use the -p (page) and -l (last) options to dvips. For example, to print the first 7 pages of a .dvi file to the printer bob, type:

  athena% dvips -l =7 -Pbob filename 

Use the = sign before the number to specify a sequence number rather than a real number, so that you print the first 7 pages regardless of how the pages are actually numbered.

To print out pages 22 to 31:

  athena% dvips -p 22 -l 31 -Pprintername filename 

To print a .dvi file two-sided with dvips, use the -h option, located in the sipb locker:

  athena% add sipb
  athena% dvips -h duplex -Pprinter file.dvi

For tumble mode, the command would read:

  athena% dvips -h tumble -Pprinter file.dvi

For more information about duplex and tumble mode, see the section Printing Two-Sided Documents.

dvips has many other useful options. Type man dvips for more information.

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Printing EZ Files

There are two methods of printing EZ files. The first is to use the pull-down menus from within EZ; the second is from the Athena prompt. (In this case, you do not need to have an EZ window open.)

Printing EZ Files from Within EZ (Using the Menus)

This tends to be the faster and more reliable of the two methods. If you do not already have a default printer chosen (see Specifying a Default Printer), you first need to tell EZ which printer to use. To do this, select the EZ menu option Printer Setup from the File menu. A window appears asking you for the name of the printer (with the default printer, if any, filled in). You can also make choices in the window about printing the table of contents, enumerating the table of contents, putting footnotes at the end of each page or the end of the document, and swapping right and left headers on even-numbered pages. After you have chosen a printer and verified your other choices, click on Done.

You must set the printer name for each EZ window before you select Print from that window's File menu.

You can now select the Print menu option from the File menu. This sends the current version of your document to the printer you specified with the Printer Setup command.

To print selected pages of EZ documents, you need to use the EZ previewer. Set a printer as noted above, then open the preview window by choosing Preview from the File menu. When the document is loaded in, view the page of interest and choose Print Page from the front menu card of the preview window. (EZ has no way to print a selected range of pages; it prints the entire document or only one page at a time.)

Printing EZ Files from the Athena System Prompt

To print EZ documents without having to open an EZ window, tell your workstation where to send your file (to which printer) and then specify which file to send. You can do this all on one command line by typing:

  athena% ezprint -Pprintername filename

The Athena prompt returns after a short pause indicating that your file has been sent to the printer.

If you are printing out a large number of files, you can avoid specifying the printer on each ezprint command line by making a certain printer your default printer for the duration of your login session. To do this, use the setenv command explained in Specifying a Default Printer.

  athena% setenv PRINTER printername

The prompt should return almost immediately. You need to execute this command only once in each of the xterm windows you will use for sending files to the printer. Now to send an EZ file to the printer, type:

  athena% ezprint filename

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Printing Plain Text Files in PostScript: enscript

The enscript program takes plain text files and converts them to PostScript. For example, to convert the plain-text file myfile to PostScript and save the output in a file newfile, type:

  athena% enscript -pnewfile myfile

To send output from enscript directly to the printer, type:

  athena% enscript -Pprintername filename

or simply:

  athena% enscript filename

Note that the option for sending a file to a printer is a capital P; use a lowercase p for sending output to a file.

The enscript command offers options to scale, rotate, and change the font of the text, as well as to produce two-columned text and add headers to a page. For example, you can print a plain text file rotated (landscape, -r) in two columns (-2) mode by typing:

  athena% enscript -2r -Pprintername filename

This is often done with code, for instance. For more information about enscript and its options, type man enscript at your Athena prompt.

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Printing Mail Messages

Printing Mail Messages from the Athena System Prompt

To print a mail message from your Athena prompt, combine the MH show command and the lpr print command:

  athena% show message-number | lpr

For example, to print message number 10 on the printer ajax:

  athena% show 10 | lpr -Pajax

Because this command involves a pipe, the header page of the printed file is labeled with the filename stdin, which means "standard input".

You can print the files containing your messages directly (i.e., without the pipe). The files are stored in the ~/Mail/inbox directory, by default. So, if you type:

  athena% lpr ~/Mail/inbox/1

your first mail message is sent to your default printer.

Printing Mail Messages from xmh

To print a mail message from the xmh mail program, select the printer before you start xmh (you cannot specify a printer from within xmh). From the Athena prompt, type:

  athena% setenv PRINTER printername

If you do not do this, xmh will assume your default printer. Then start xmh from the same window. You can select one message or a range of messages, then use the Print command on the Message pull-down menu, and the selected message or messages are sent to the printer.

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Printing an Emacs Buffer

To print the contents of an Emacs buffer, you must first set a printer, unless you have set a default printer. From the Emacs window, type:

  M-x set-variable

(The notation used here is the same as in the Emacs documentation: M-x stands for Meta-x, which means holding down the Meta key -- i.e., Alt, Esc, or a black diamond, depending on your workstation type -- while pressing the x.)

When prompted, type the variable and its value in the minibuffer at the bottom of the Emacs screen:

  Set variable:  lpr-switches
  Set lpr-switches to value: '("-Pajax")

To print the contents of the current buffer, use the print buffer command. From the Tools menu in Emacs, choose Print Buffer, or type:

  M-x print-buffer

You will get messages like:

  Loading lpr...
  Spooling...
  Spooling...done

You can also choose Postscript Print Buffer from the Tools menu. This option adds a header to each page of the printout with the filename, date, and page number.

Additionally, you can simply lpr or enscript the file at your Athena prompt.

If you have a default printer, you can use any version of the print buffer command without setting the variable first.

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Printing FrameMaker Files

To print a file from FrameMaker, select Print from the File menu. Specify the pages you wish to print, and select the other options accordingly.

To print in modes other than normal single-sided printing, use the following entries in place of the printer name:

duplex	duplex:printername
tumble	tumble:printername
draft	draft:printername

The draft option places the word "draft" diagonally across the page behind the text of the document.

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Printing an OLC Conversation

As you ask a question in OLC, everything you and the consultants send to each other is saved as a log. To print out this conversation, type:

  olc> !olc replay | lpr

This sends the entire replay of the OLC conversation to the default printer. You can use the -P option to lpr to specify a printer. See Specifying a Default Printer and The Basic Printing Command for more information.

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Printing MATLAB Graphs

The simple way to print a graph created with MATLAB is to use the print command. To send an image of the current graphics window to the printer called ajax, type:

  >> print -Pajax

Just typing print will send the image to the default printer.

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Printing Netscape Files

To print a web page in Netscape, select Print from the File menu. (If you are printing a frame, follow the same steps after clicking on the frame.) You will be given a list of options. In the print command box, type the name of your desired print command, along with any options you want. (For instance, to use lpr and sent the job to ajax, type lpr -Pajax.) To print to a file, click on the "File" button at the top and type in the filename. When the options are as you like them, hit the "print" button at the bottom and Netscape will do as you wish.

Occasionally, when printing a file from Netscape, you will get a "lpr: copy file is too large" error; often, webpages can get very large with graphics and such. To circumvent this error, try removing the graphics if you can; if you cannot, try cutting and pasting portions of the page (with the Copy and Paste commands in the Edit menu) into an Emacs buffer, and printing these as plaintext.

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Printing Lynx Files

To print a page in Lynx, go to the page you wish to print and type p. From there, you can email the page to youself by selecting "Mail the file". Print out the mail message once it arrives (see our section on Printing Mail Messages); you cannot efficiently print directly from Lynx.

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Printing Xess Files

Printing out a spreadsheet in Xess (Athena's default spreadsheet program) can be done by first setting the printing options, then sending the document to the printer.

Selecting options can be done by selecting Printer Options from the Options menu. Here, you can specify whether you want to send the printout to a printer, file, or both; specify a print area (if you do not highlight one); or dictate a print command. You can also select a printer here; if you do not do so, Xess assumes your default printer.

To actually print, select Print or Print As from the File menu. Print As allows you to access the above options; Print prints with the most current settings.

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Printing rn Files

From rn, the standard command-based news reader on Athena, you can print a message by using the # key, which prints the last article. This is done on the article level - i.e. you do this when you are reading the article that you wish to print.

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Printing Non-Athena Files on Athena

Programs that run on other machines than Athena (e.g., WordPerfect, which runs on IBM-PCs and Apple Macintoshes) may use formatting commands or fonts that are not compatible with Athena printers. To print these files, save the file in text, ASCII, or PostScript format, then copy the files to Athena via modem or zip disk. See Working on Athena for details about using zip disks.

On Athena, you can use EZ, LaTeX, or FrameMaker to format the file if you want to print more than plain text. You can then process the file appropriately and print it on any Athena printer.

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Printing Pictures

Athena's printers have graphical capabilities as well as text capabilities. In this section, we explain how to print out pictures on Athena.

When printing complicated images (such as photographs, not simple graphs), keep in mind that these take large amounts of time and printer resources such as toner. If you have to print these, please try to do so when the cluster is not busy out of consideration for other users.

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Printing Screen and Window Dumps

You can send an image of a window or of the entire workstation screen to a printer. There are two ways to do this.

• Use xdpr to send or dump a window on the screen directly to the printer. For example, to send a window dump to the printer ajax, type:

    athena% xdpr -Pajax
  

  When the mouse cursor changes into a plus sign ("+"), move the cursor to the window you wish to print and click any mouse button. To print the whole screen, click on the root window (the background). You will hear a beep as xdpr begins and two beeps when it has finished sending the window dump to the printer.

• Save the window and screen dumps into files using the command xwd. You can then send these files directly to the printer, or display them on the screen. To save a window dump into a file, type:

    athena% xwd -out filename
  

  Again, when the mouse cursor changes into a plus sign ("+"), move the cursor to the window you wish to save and click any mouse button. If you wish to save an image of the whole screen, click on the root window (the background). You will hear a beep as xwd begins and two beeps when it has finished writing to the file. To redisplay that window, use the command xwud (type man xwud for details). To print a window dump file, type:

    athena% xpr -device ps window_dump_filename | lpr -Pprintername
  

  See the man pages for other options to xpr, xdpr, and xwd.

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Printing Bitmaps

The following commands give you a PostScript file containing your bitmap image:

  athena% add consult
  athena% showbitmap mybitmap &
  athena% xwd -out mybitmap.dump

When the cursor changes into a plus sign, click on the bitmap window and it will be saved to file mybitmap.dump. To save this X dump file to a PostScript file named mybitmap.ps, type:

  athena% xpr -device ps -output mybitmap.ps mybitmap.dump

You now have a PostScript file, mybitmap.ps, containing the bitmap. You can print this file as any other PostScript file, or you can include it in larger PostScript documents. To get rid of the bitmap window, click on it again.

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Printing from xv

xv is a graphics editing program which can be found in the graphics locker on Athena. To print a picture from xv, click with the right mouse button to bring up the menu. From the menu, click with the left mouse button on "Print". It will ask you for a command to read a PostScript file and print it to the desired printer (the default is lpr). After entering the command, click on your choice of color, grayscale, and black and white (although Athena printers cannot print in color; there is a color printer in Copy Tech, 11-004; consult them for details of its use), and it will print your document.

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Printing from xfig

Printing an image from xfig (a drawing program on Athena) can be done by clicking on the Print button in the upper right of the xfig window. Here, you are given a choice of printer, orientation, and magnification. When you have selected the choices you like, click on "Print FIGURE to Printer" to send the file to a printer.

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Troubleshooting

Printing on Athena can sometimes give you problems. Often, however, the problems that arise are easily and quickly solved without having to go to olc (the On-Line Consulting program) or the Athena Hardware Hotline. (For instance, the printer will often send you a zephyr telling you what is wrong.) This section reviews some of those situations, giving you a possible solution for each problem.

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Checking the Queue

One of the first things to check if you think there is trouble with a printer is the print queue. Sometimes, lpq can give you useful information that will help in the diagnosis of the problem (see Checking the Printer Queue: lpq). Most error messages are self-explanatory. However, if you need help figuring out what's wrong, call the Athena Consulting Hotline (x3-4435), ask a question in olc (type olc at the Athena prompt), or call the Athena Hardware Hotline (x3-1410).

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Physical Problems and Adding Paper

Many times a printer appears to be stopped when it is actually receiving data to be printed. Pages that contain a lot of detail (and graphics) may take some time for the printer to process and print. Check the indicator panel on the printer for error messages before assuming a printer is broken. Flashing On Line and Form Feed lights indicate the printer is printing.

When there is something physically wrong with a printer, the message on the front panel should be self-explanatory. If a printer needs a toner cartridge or a service call, please phone the Athena Hardware Hotline (x3-1410) and let them know the name of the printer, its location, and the error.

When the Paper Tray is Empty

The HPs print from the first of the three paper trays by default. When that tray is empty, printing automatically switches to the second tray, then the third. If you notice that one tray is empty, it is courteous to load more paper, even if another is still full, to avoid delays in printing. The control panel messages indicating empty trays will tell you which tray is empty. If a paper tray isn't inserted completely, the control panel still displays a TRAY EMPTY message.

To insert more paper into a printer:

1. Remove the tray from the printer by lifting up and pulling it out.

2. Remove the cover, if there is one.

3. Load the paper. Paper should be located near the printer. Make sure that you insert it with the correct side up. The wrapper around the paper has an arrow indicating which side is up. The paper trays hold 500 sheets of 20 pound paper (one pack). Please put a whole pack in at a time -- don't put a partial pack in if you see the paper running low.

4. Make sure the paper is flat at all four corners of the tray.

5. Replace the cover if there is one, and replace the tray.

Always insert the paper right side up. Adding paper upside down can potentially jam the printer, and the print quality will not be as good as if the paper were inserted correctly. The paper has been treated on one side so that the toner adheres to the paper more easily. Substituting other kinds of paper can jam the printer. Never re-insert paper that has already been through the printer.

If there is no paper located near the printer, or when supplies begin to run very low, please call the Athena Hardware Hotline (x3-1410) to have more delivered to that site.

"79 Service Error"

This is another correctable printer error. To fix this, you will need to turn off the printer; the on/off switch is located on the bottom of the printer. Once you have done this, count to 10. Only after counting should you turn the printer back on. Once the printer goes through its warm-up, it should be ready to print.

Paper Jams

When a piece of paper is stuck in the printer, you can report it to the Athena Hardware Hotline at x3-1410. Alternatively, if you are feeling adventurous, you can attempt to fix the jam yourself. Open the panels of the printer and attempt to remove the paper if you can find it; do not force the paper out of the printer, as this is likely to cause it to tear.

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Errors from lpr

Sometimes, when trying to print a file, you will receive an error message immediately, and the file will not be sent to the printer. Some common errors and their causes are listed below. If you need further help, ask a consultant for help (Athena Consulting Hotline x3-4435, or type olc for On-Line Help).

unknown printer

The name of the printer was incorrect. Check the name and the spelling of the name and try again.

cannot stat filename

The filename was incorrect or the permissions on the directory make the file unreadable by you:

• If the filename was incorrect, the filename may have been misspelled, or the file specified does not exist, or exists in a different directory. You can check which directory you are in by typing pwd and change to the correct directory by using cd directory. Type ls to see if the file exists in that directory.

• If you were denied permission, and if the file is in one of your directories, you can change the permissions with fs sa. See Working on Athena for more information about fs sa and changing directory permissions.

filename is an empty file

The file specified was empty, or the program you used to generate the output sent no data. Type ls -l to make sure that the file is not zero-length; if it is zero-length, you may be over quota, and the file was not written out by whatever program you were using. To find out how to check your quota, see the document Working on Athena. Also, check to make sure that you are using the correct commands to generate output from that program (read the section Printing Special Files and Output from Software Packages).

You may also receive the following error printed on a page when you look for your printout:

spooled binary file rejected

Either you have tried to send a file to a printer that is not equipped to handle it, or there is something wrong with your PostScript file.

If you try to print out a PostScript file and instead get a printout of the PostScript commands, check to make sure that you are sending the file to a PostScript printer. (All Athena printers are PostScript printers.) Also, all PostScript files should begin with the characters %!. There cannot be any blank lines or spaces before these two characters. The percent sign and exclamation point tell a PostScript printer to execute the commands in that file rather than print out the text of those commands. If your file is missing these two characters, you can edit the file with Emacs and insert them; or, if the PostScript file was generated by a software package, try generating the file again.

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Comments and feedback to olh-suggest@mit.edu