Access Print Drivers
Change an administrative group name
Add or remove a user from the administrative group
Create virtual device
Create a printer queue
Change the printer queue status
Work with Printer Aliases
Work with printer classes
Change the printer queue properties
Print from the command line
Manage printer groups
Create a printer group
Print a file from IBM Print Drivers
Print a test page
Print a job on both sides of the paper
Print a multipage document
Print multiple copies of a job
Change the orientation of my print job
Change my Lines Per Page setting
Define the printable area when printing text files
Send a fax through the printer
Use the Print and Hold setting
Create custom banner pages
Find space to install IBM Print Drivers
NFS mount Print Drivers
Access Print Drivers
IBM Print Drivers are available from a Windows Menu Item, or from the command line by typing
ibmprint.
The application has two modes: User and Administrative. If a IBM Print Drivers administrator starts
the program, it opens in administrative mode by default. However, if an administrator wants to start
the program in user mode, they can type ibmprint -n. This lets administrators start a session with
their own personal settings.
Note: User mode is not supported when running the application as a "root" user.
Change an administrative group name
IBM Print Drivers use UNIX groups to separate those who have permission to add and remove
queues from those who do not.
When you install IBM Print Drivers, you are prompted to provide an administrative group name. The
default administrative group on all systems except AIX is bin. The default administrative group on AIX
is printq.
To change the administrative group name, run the following script.
# /opt/ibm/setup.ibmprint
or
# /usr/local/ibm/setup.ibmprint
Add or remove a user from the administrative group
Users who are part of the administrative group can open IBM Print Drivers with permissions and
perform administrative tasks. Users who are not part of this group can only change their personal
settings and maintain their printer groups. User settings are stored in the user's home directory.
Add users to the administrative group by adding the user's name to the Administrative group located
in the /etc/group file. To change the Administrative UNIX group name, see Change an
administrative group name.
Remove the user from the administrative group by removing the user name from the UNIX group.
Create virtual device
Begin by gathering the following information:
-
The connection method for the virtual device
-
For network printers, the hostname or IP address and the SNMP community name
-
For local printers, the connection type (parallel, serial, or USB) and the physical device file
name
Create virtual devices through the Virtual Device Manager
- Click Virtual Device Manager.
- Click Add.
- Click Network Attached Printer or Locally Attached Printer.
- If your printer is locally attached, follow these instructions. If it is a network attached printer,
follow the instructions in step 5.
- Select Parallel, Serial, or USB.
If you are using a parallel connection, specify if the virtual device is a BPP Device.
If you are using a serial connection, specify exact Serial Port Options.
Note: Not all options may be available for your system.
- Type the device name and description.
- Select a physical device from the list of known devices, or select Other and then type the
path to the physical device file.
Note: If you do not know the path, click Browse to look for the path in the file system.
- Click Finish.
- If your printer is a network attached printer:
- Type the device name and description.
- Type the IP Address/Host Name, or click Search to locate the IP address.
If you entered an IP Address/Host Name, go to step h. If you clicked Search to locate an
address, proceed with step c.
- From the Search Network Printer dialog box, search by Subnet or Range.
- Type the appropriate IP Address or Subnet.
- Click Search.
- Select the device from the list.
- Click OK.
- Make any changes necessary to the available options.
- Click Next.
- If you entered an external print server IP Address or Host Name, select the appropriate
port number for your printer.
- Verify the information that appears.
- Click Finish.
Create virtual devices through the command line
- Select a recognizable, but unique, virtual device name.
- To create a virtual device type:
For Physical Devices:
# mkdevice -d name -f device -t type
For Network Devices:
# mkdevice -d name -i host [-c name] [-p port]
Note: Enter mkdevice -h from the command line for more details regarding this
command.
Create a printer queue
There are two ways to create a printer queue:
Create printer queues with the Add Printer Queue Wizard
- From IBM Print Drivers, click Add Printer Queue Wizard.
- Select a device from the list of Available Devices, or click Add Device to create a new device.
For help adding a device, see Create virtual device.
- Click Next.
- Type the printer name and description.
- Select the printer type.
- Click Next.
- Select the printer languages the queue will accept.
- Click Properties to change the settings for the printer queue if data will be sent to the printer.
For help, see Change the printer queue properties.
- Click Next.
- Finish creating the printer queue:
-
If you are using Solaris SPARC, HP-UX, or IBM AIX, select Enable Printer Classes to
put this queue in a class. For help with Printer Classes, see Work with printer classes.
-
If you are using Linux, select Enable Printer Aliases to create aliases for this queue. For
help with Printer Aliases, see Work with Printer Aliases.
- Click Finish.
Create printer queues from the command line
- Before you can create the queue, you must gather the following pieces of information: a valid
device name, the printer type, the printer language, and the default printer queue settings
options.
- The device name that will be associated with the printer queue must exist before creating
the queue.
-
You can list the defined virtual devices by running the $ lsdevice -1 command.
-
If the device does not exist, you can create one by running the mkdevice command.
For help adding a device, see Create virtual device.
- The supported printer types and languages are listed in the file:
/usr/ibmprint/etc/printers/printer.list.
- Printer settings options that can be used can be found by running the lsqueue_opts
command.
- Type:
# mkqueue -d device_name -q queue_name -p printer_type -l printer_language
-o printer_options
Note: For more information on the mkqueue comamand, run the command line program
# mkqueue -h.
Change the printer queue status
There are four printer queue states:
-
Enabled: The normal state of operation. Jobs in the queue are actively processed.
-
Disabled: Print job processing stops. New jobs can be submitted, but are not processed.
-
Accepting: Print jobs may be submitted to the queue.
-
Rejecting: No print jobs may be submitted to the queue.
These states are not all mutually exclusive. For example, an enabled queue may reject jobs.
IBM Print Drivers shows these states by placing an icon on the printer queue within the Icon View,
and by changing the color of the text in Detail View.
If you see a red "X" on a printer queue, the printer queue is rejecting print jobs.
If you see a yellow "!" on a printer queue, the printer queue is disabled.
To change the status of a printer queue:
- Right-click the printer queue.
- Select check/uncheck the appropriate enabled/accepting boxes.
Work with Printer Aliases
Use Printer Aliases when you are creating a queue in Linux to provide alternative names for a printer
queue. For example, the real name for the printer queue could be Bldg_4_Room1, but the alias
describes it as duplex. Then users can use either Bldg_4_Room1 or duplex as the printer queue
name when printing.
Note: Printer aliases are only supported on Linux platforms.
To create a printer queue with an alias
- Access the Printer Aliases screen of the Add Printer Queue Wizard.
- Select Enable Printer Aliases.
- Enter the name of the alias in the Alias Name field.
To display a printer queue's aliases
Right-click the printer queue and select Printer Aliases.
Work with printer classes
Printer classes help you to group several printers into one class. Once a printer class is set up, you
can print to a class rather than a specific printer. Because printing resources are pooled within a
class, the first available printer completes your job, providing faster turnaround.
Note: Use of printer classes are optional and should only be used if they are considered
beneficial to users.
Printer classes are only available when you are creating a queue on Solaris SPARC, HP-UX, or IBM
AIX.
You can access printer classes in two ways: the last screen of the Add Printer Queue Wizard, or by
right-clicking a printer queue and then selecting Printer Classes.
To add this printer to a class, select Enable Printer Classes. You have three options:
-
Create a New Class
-
Select Existing Class
-
Remove Existing Class
You cannot remove a queue from a class at the time you create the queue.
Create a class
To add a queue to a new class:
- Access Printer Classes.
- Select Create a New Class.
- Type the name of the new class.
Add to a class
To add a queue to a class:
- Access Printer Classes.
- Select the check box next to the existing class to associate the queue with that class.
To remove a queue from a class:
- Access Printer Classes.
- Clear the check box next to the class that you want to remove the queue from.
Note: A class exists as long as it contains queues.
Change the printer queue properties
- Open IBM Print Drivers.
- Right-click the printer queue icon.
- Select the appropriate properties menu item.
- Change the settings.
- Click OK.
How you change the properties determines what print jobs are affected.
-
If you open IBM Print Drivers as a normal user, your changes are saved in your home
directory and apply to all print jobs that you send to the printer queue. A special icon appears
on the printer icon to indicate that the properties are your personal printer queue properties.
To delete your personalized settings and go back to the system settings, right-click the printer
queue and select Default Settings.
-
If you open IBM Print Drivers as an administrator, your changes apply to every user who has
not saved personal printer queue properties for that printer queue.
-
If you change the settings through Print File or ibmlp, your changes affect the properties for
that specific print job. The changes do not affect any other jobs sent to that printer queue.
Note: Application settings override any properties you set up for the printer queue.
The settings shown in the Properties dialog box include all possible properties options for that
specific printer type. However, your printer may not have all of the available options installed. If you
select an option that the printer does not support, the printer ignores the unsupported settings.
For example, the Printer Type may support an optional duplex unit. However, if a duplex unit is not
connected to the printer, your print job prints on one side of the paper.
Print from the command line
There are different ways to print from the command line.
-
Print without making changes in the printer queue properties screen.
- Type:
# lp -d queue_name file_name
Linux users type:
# lpr -P queue_name file_name
-
Print with overrides to the printer queue properties that you select from the properties screen.
- Type:
# ibmlp -d queue_name file_name
Linux users type:
# ibmlp -P queue_name file_name
- Change the appropriate settings.
- Click OK.
-
Print with overrides to the properties that you enter from the command line.
- Access a list of the current properties by typing:
# lsqueue_opts -d queue_name
Linux users type:
# lsqueue_opts -P queue_name
- Find the name of the property you want to change and the value it can be changed to.
- Type the command to change the properties.
- If you are printing from Solaris, HP-AIX, or IBM AIX, use the following command to
change properties:
# lp -d queue_name -o property_name=property_value file_name
If you are printing from Linux, use the following command to change properties:
# lpr -P queue_name -C "lexopts:property_name=property_value"
file_name
For example, if you have a printer queue (lab_printer) that is currently set to print only single-sided
pages, and you need to print a two-sided report, you can specify the change on the command line.
- Determine if the printer queue supports the feature(s) you want to use (in this case, two-sided
or duplex printing), and enter the appropriate command. For this example, you would type:
# lsqueue_opts -P lab_printer
The screen would then read:
duplex
|
none (default)
|
|
short_edge
|
|
long_edge
|
|
current
|
- Find the property name and value that controls duplexing:
duplex=long_edge
- Type:
# lp -d lab_printer -o duplex=long_edge my_report.ps
Linux users type:
# lpr -P lab_printer -C "lexopts:duplex=long_edge" my_report.ps
Manage printer groups
Printer groups help you select a small group of printer queues from the available printer queues on a
UNIX system. You can use the Group Manager tool to add or remove printer queues in groups.
Add a printer queue to My Printers or another printer group
You can add a printer queue to My Printers or another printer group by either dragging a printer from
the main window onto a printer group, or by using the Group Manager tool.
To add a printer queue to My Printers or any other group using the Group Manager tool:
- Right-click a group name and select Group Manager.
- From the All column, select the print queues that you want to add to the group.
- Click the right arrow button (>) to add the print queues to the group.
Note: Remove a printer queue from a printer group by selecting the printer queue from
the groups list, and then clicking the left arrow (<).
Removing a printer group
-
To delete a specific group, right-click the group name, and then click Delete.
-
To delete multiple groups, right-click All Printers, and then select Delete Group. Select the
groups to be deleted, and then click Remove.
Note: You cannot remove the My Printers or All Printers groups.
Create a printer group
You can create a printer group using the Group Manager tool. You can access the new group
manager dialog box by right-clicking All Printers and selecting New Group.
To enter a new group:
- Enter the group name in the Group Name field.
- Select the printer queues that you want to add to the group from the Available Print Queues
column.
- Click the right arrow button (>) to add the print queues to the selected print queues column.
Use the double arrow button (>>) to move all queues to the selected print queues column.
- Click OK.
Note: To remove a print queue from the selected print queue column, select the print
queues to be removed, and then click the left arrow (<).
Print a file from IBM Print Drivers
You can select a file to print to a queue from within IBM Print Drivers.
- Right-click the queue, and select Print File from the menu.
- Select your file from the browser box.
- If you want to change the printing preferences for this specific job only, select the
Preferences button.
Note: Unless you have an ImageQuick card (or SIMM) or WebSIMM; only PostScript,
PCL, and ASCII text files can be printed in this manner.
- Click Print.
Print a test page
Printing a test page sends a job through the printer queue to verify that the queue is working
correctly. The test page includes information such as queue name, device name, printer type, and so
on.
To print a test page:
- Right-click the printer queue icon.
- Select Print Test Page.
Print a job on both sides of the paper
Duplex printing is printing on both sides of the paper. If you have installed an optional duplex unit,
your printer can print on both sides of the paper. Check the documentation that came with your
printer to determine if this option is supported.
Installed optional duplex unit
If you have an optional duplex unit installed on your printer, you can specify duplex printing by
indicating the binding edge you want to use from the Duplex options.
If you select Long-edge, the pages of your document turn like the pages of a magazine. If you select
Short-edge, the pages turn like the pages of a legal pad.
Note: The Duplex options are available only if your printer supports these options.
Print a multipage document
The multipage printing option lets you print images of multiple pages on one form. You can specify
the direction the multiple images fit on the page and whether images are separated by a border.
When you make a selection, the graphic to the right of the option changes to show how the printed
page will look.
To print mulitple pages on the same sheet of paper:
- From the Properties dialog box, click Setup.
- Choose the number of page images you want to print on the same sheet of paper.
- Click OK.
Note: Not all printers support the multipage feature. Refer to you printer's documentation
to see if your printer supports this feature.
Print multiple copies of a job
Use the Copies option to print more than one copy of your document at a time. The Copies box on
the Setup tab is independent of a Copies option that may be available in the Print dialog box of your
program. Your program settings usually override the settings on the Setup tab.
Specifying the number of copies on the Setup tab usually prints uncollated copies faster. Specifying
a multiple number of copies on both the Setup tab and in a program Print dialog box may produce
unpredictable results.
To print multiple copies:
- From the Properties dialog box, click Setup.
- Enter the number of copies.
- Click OK.
Collating copies:
By default, multiple copies of a document are not collated. The full number of copies for each page
print in succession (all of the copies of page 1, followed by all of the copies of page 2, and so on). If
you want to print collated copies, select the Collate Copies check box. This enables the printer to
print copies in sequence (one copy of page 1, page 2, page 3, followed by another copy of page 1,
page 2, and so on).
Note: If your printer does not have enough memory to collate a large document, it prints
collated pages of part of the document, then it prints collated pages of the
remainder of the document.
Change the orientation of my print job
You can specify the orientation that you want to use for printing your documents in the printer queue's
properties dialog boxes.
-
Select Portrait if you want your document taller than it is wide.
-
Select Landscape if you want your document wider than it is tall.
-
Select Reverse Landscape or Reverse Portrait to rotate the document 180 degrees. This
rotates the document "upside down."
-
Select Printer Setting to let the printer determine orientation.
Note: These settings are only supported by PCL printer language.
Change my Lines Per Page setting
Some applications do not have page settings or print settings capability, or do not let you change the
number of printed lines on a sheet of paper. You can adjust the number of printed lines on a single
page, or the number of printed lines in an inch from the PCL Properties of a printer queue.
- Access the printer queue properties of the printer queue. For help, see Change the printer
queue properties.
- Click Page Layout.
- Change the number of Lines Per Page.
- Change the number of Lines Per Inch.
- Click OK.
Notes:
-
This feature is only supported by the PCL language.
-
The lines per page and lines per inch numbers work together. If you are printing on letter size
paper with the default as 60 lines per page and 6 lines per inch, you will fill 10 inches of the
paper and have a half inch margin at the top and bottom of the paper. However, if you print on
legal size paper, you must increase the lines per page setting to 78 so that you do not have a
3.5 inch margin at the bottom of the paper.
-
You can select 66 Lines Per Page, which deactivates the Lines Per Page and Lines Per Inch
settings and prints 66 lines on a letter size piece of paper.
Define the printable area when printing text files
To define the printable area for a printer queue:
- Open Print Drivers.
- Click Page Layout.
- In the Page Layout dialog box, click the arrows (>) next to the text boxes to select (in lines)
your margin size, indentation, and page width.
- Select Text Wrap if you want lines to wrap when they reach the printing area margins.
- Select Auto CR if you want carriage returns when a line feed is encountered. This is
commonly used by UNIX users to fix ASCII text printing iussues.
- Select the orientation that you want the job to be printed.
- Click OK.
Note: These settings are only available for Automatic or PCL print queues.
Send a fax through the printer
-
If your printer has a print server with fax capability, PostScript queues can be set up to send a
fax.
-
If you want to send many faxes to the same number, you can set up a queue with faxing
enabled and the fax number already entered.
-
If you send faxes infrequently or to different numbers, use ibmlp to set up the fax at the time
you send the job.
To send a print job as a fax using ibmlp:
- Type ibmlp -d queue_name file_name.
- Click Print and Hold.
- In Fax Page, select On.
- Enter the fax number.
- Click OK.
To send a fax from the command line of a Solaris, HP-UX, or IBM AIX system, type:
# lp -d queue_name -o fax_page=on -o fax_no=number file_name
To send a print job from the command line of a Linux system, type:
# lpr -P queue_name -C "ibmopts:fax_page=on fax_no=number" file_name
Use the Print and Hold setting
When sending a job to the printer, you can hold a job in the printer memory using IBM Print Drivers.
When you are ready to print the job, access the printer operator panel menus to select the held job
you want to print.
To print and hold a job:
- Access your printer queue properties. For help, see Change the printer queue
properties.
- Click Print and Hold.
- Select the type of print and hold setting you want to apply:
-
Select Off if you do not want to hold your print jobs.
-
Select Confidential if you want to hold your jobs in the buffer of the printer until a
personal identification number (PIN) is entered from the operator panel. There is a
default PIN for the driver; it appears in the Job Information to the right of the Print and
Hold Options. The PIN must be four digits, using the numbers 1 through 6. This
ensures that the job does not print until you are ready to retrieve it, and ensures that
no one else using the printer can print the job.
-
Select Verify to print one copy and hold all remaining copies in the printer memory.
For example, you may want to make sure the first copy is satisfactory before printing
the remaining copies. After you print all of the copies, the Verify job is deleted from
printer memory.
-
Select Repeat to print the originally requested copies of the print job, and then store it
in memory so you can print additional copies later. You can print additional copies as
long as the job remains stored in memory.
-
Select Reserve if you do not want to print the job immediately, but want to store the
job in memory so you can print it later. The job is held in memory until you delete it
from the Held Jobs menu.
Note: Reserve and Repeat print jobs may be deleted if the printer requires extra memory
to process additional held jobs.
- Click OK.
To use the confidential Print and Hold function from the command line of a Solaris, HP-UX, or IBM
AIX system, type:
# lp -d queue_name -o print_hold=confidential -o pin_no=pin file_name
To use the confidential Print and Hold function from the command line of a Linux system, type:
# lpr -P queue_name -C "ibmopts:print_hold=confidential pin_no=pin"
file_name
Note: Not all printers support the Print and Hold feature. See your printer's
documentation to see if your printer supports this feature.
Create custom banner pages
You can write a program that generates customized banner pages from your printer queues. Creating
custom banner pages does not automate any printer administration, but it can make it easier to find
your print jobs at the printer.
Write a banner program
You can create custom banner pages for your queues by writing a program that takes six positional
arguments and prints the banner page on the standard out (stdout). The six banner program
arguments are:
-
file
-
user
-
host
-
queue
-
message
-
paper
All the arguments are strings, and should be enclosed in double quotes ("") if they contain spaces.
The data output by your banner program should be readable by the selected printer emulation. For
example, PCL banner programs should create valid PCL data.
Use your banner program
Once you have written your custom banner program, configure your printer queue to use it.
- Access your printer queue properties. For help, see Change the printer queue properties.
- Click Banner.
- Clear the Default Banner check box.
- Type the name of the banner program, or click Browse to search for the file name.
- Make any additional changes to the banner page options, such as Paper Size, Paper Source,
or Paper Type.
- Click OK.
Find space to install IBM Print Drivers
Some operating systems require you to install IBM Print Drivers in a particular directory. If the file
system containing that directory is full, you can create a symbolic link that points to the real directory
in another file system which has more free space. The operating system sees the symbolic link as a
real directory, but the files are actually installed on another drive.
- Create a directory where you want the packages to actually be installed. For example, to
install in the /disk2 file system, type:
# mkdir /disk2/ibm
- Create a symbolic link that points to the directory you just created from the directory where
the operating system wants the files. For example, if the operating system wants the files in
/opt/ibm, type:
# ln -s /disk2/ibm /opt/ibm
- Continue with the installation of the IBM Print Driver files in the folder /disk2/ibm.
NFS mount Print Drivers
You can install IBM Print Drivers on one host and export the file system to other hosts for mounting.
Using NFS (Network File System) eliminates the need to perform individual installations at each
workstation and conserves disk space.
Note: The NFS server and client workstations must use the same operating system.
- Configure the server.
- Make sure you are logged on with root user authority.
- Install IBM Print Drivers. Follow the directions for the operating system you are using.
- Export the directory where you installed the IBM Print Drivers (for example,
/opt/ibm or /usr/local/ibm). If you need help, refer to your operating system
documentation.
- Configure IBM Print Drivers on the local workstation.
- Make sure you are logged on with root user authority.
- NFS mount the IBM Print Drivers directory from the server. Refer to your operating
system documentation for mounting instructions.
- Run the install script in the mounted directory. The script creates a symbolic link
/usr/ibmprint to this directory. The following example uses /mnt as the mount point.
# cd /mnt/drivers
# ./IbmPrtDrvs.link
Uninstall and unmount Print Drivers
- Run the uninstall script, which removes the symbolic links to the mounted directory, from
# cd /mnt/drivers
# ./IbmPrtDrvs.unlink
- Unmount the mounted directory. Refer to your operating system documentation for
unmounting instructions.