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School of Mathematics

Printing

Computer Systems Guide
Printing, E-Mail

Contents

Printer Names
Command Line LPR Print Commands
    Multiple Pages per Printed Sheet
Setting the Default Printer
Printing From the Notebook Network
Defining MacOS Printers

Overview

Printers are located on each floor of Vincent Hall.  A list of printer names and locations is provided by the CUPS print server. 

The default printer depends on computer and account settings and can be checked with lpq and set with lpoptions -dprinter.  The curious may want to read An Overview of the Common UNIX Printing System.

CUPS User Manual
Pdf version of CUPS User Manual

Classic LPR commands are provided by CUPS.

Printer Names

Department printers are linked to their queue's website. Personal printers are listed, but not linked. To view a queue, your web browser needs to be in the School of Mathematics network.

Ground floor

vinp005 - VinH 5 - Lexmark T642, duplexer
vinp007-priv - HP 2200dn, 8 MB memory, duplexer
vinp011-cl - HP 4600dn, 96 MB memory, duplexer, color
vinp011-priv - HP 2200dn, 40 MB memory, duplexer

1st floor

vinp105-cfdl - HP 4259, 64 MB memory, duplexer, A4, confidential
vinp115 - HP 2100, 8 MB memory
vinp127e-priv - HP 1320n

2nd floor

vinp270d - VinH 270D - dual HP 4250dtn, duplexer
vinp225-priv - HP 2200dn, 8 MB memory, duplexer
vinp226-priv - HP 3020, 32 MB memory, scanner/copier
vinp227-priv - HP 2200dn, 40 MB memory, duplexer
vinp228-priv - HP 1100
vinp236-priv - HP 5M, 22 MB memory
vinp237-priv - HP 2200d, duplexer
vinp255-priv - HP 4 Plus, 2 MB memory
vinp256-priv - HP 4050n, 16 MB memory, duplexer
vinp262-priv - HP 2015dn, duplexer
vinp270a-priv - Lexmark Optra S 1855, 8 MB memory, duplexer
vinp270b-priv-cl - Ricoh Aficio CL4000, duplexer, color

3rd floor

vinp314 - VinH 314 - dual HP 4250dtn, duplexer
vinp320-priv - HP 5M
vinp327-priv - Dell 1720dn, duplexer
vinp328-priv - HP 1320n
vinp329-priv - HP 2300dtn, duplexer
vinp330-priv-cl - HP 4600n, 96 MB memory, color
vinp363 - outside 363 - HP 2300d , duplexer

4th floor

vinp426 - outside 426 - HP 2300d, 48 MB memory, duplexer
vinp450-priv - Ricoh AP1400, 8 MB memory
vinp454 - outside 454 - HP 2300d, 48 MB memory, duplexer

5th floor

vinp502 - HP 4250dtn, duplexer
vinp537-priv - HP 5000n, 4 MB memory
vinp538-priv - HP 6MP, 3 MB memory
vinp540-priv - HP 2300dn, duplexer

Command Line Lpr Print Commands

gtklpq screenshot from 5/11/2009 Mac, Linux and other operating systems use the Cups printing system.

Graphical print apps (like GtkLP) change between releases or differ between OSes, but they can be easy to figure out.

The "lpr" set of commands have been fairly stable for the past 20 years. Below are some commands to control print jobs.

Default Printer and Basic Commands
Set a default printer for your account with 
lpoptions -dvinp105-cfdl
Print a job, see the queue, remove a job: 
lpr sample.txt
lpq
lprm 55555
Starting Print Jobslpr -Pvinp270d sample.txt
View Printer Queueslpq -Pvinp314
Deleting Print Jobslprm 55555
Replace vinp555 with the real printer and 'sample.txt' with the file to be printed. Replace 5555 with the integer of the print job you would like to cancel.
Multiple Pages per Printed Sheet
To print four pages on a single sheet, use the number-up option for lpr. 
lpr -o number-up=4 foobar.ps
Single Side Printing with Duplex Printers
Some printers have duplex attachements so they can print on both sides of paper sheets. By default the duplex option will be used. The lpr can pass an option to make the printer use only one side (aka simplex printing).
lpr -o sides=one-sided -Pvinp270d sample.txt
If the printer has duplex hardware, but is printing single sided, you can set the duplex option.
lpr -o sides=two-sided-long-edge -Pvinp270d sample.txt
Changing Media Type
If you would like to print on different media types, such as transperancies, you can set the media option.
*Note: You need to include the one-sided option so the printer does not do duplex printing*
lpr -h -o media=Transparency -o sides=one-sided -Pfructose sample.txt
Mulitple Pages per Side
Besides printing on both sides of a sheet, you can use mpage to print multiple pages on a single side but only for plain text or postscript files. PDFs can be converted to postscript using pdf2ps 
pdf2ps lab7.pdf lab7.ps
mpage -2 -Pvinp005 lab7.ps lab6.txt

Setting the Default Printer

Command Line for Linux/Mac

Run lpoptions -d printername, or add export PRINTER=printername to your ~/.bash_profile and restart any shells (or run the export printer command in them).

Linux Gnome desktop

  1. Choose System > Preferences > Hardware > Default Printer. The Printer List window appears.
  2. Select a printer from the list and click Close.

Mac desktop

  1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu and a new window should open up.
  2. Click Printers & Faxes. The Printer List window appears.
  3. Click the Add Printer button.
  4. Choose "LPR Printers using IP" from the pop-up menu.
  5. Enter the printer name.
Note that you may need to enter a password to make changes.

Windows

  1. Locate the new name for your daily usage printer. If you used cone, your new printer name will be vinp270d for instance.
  2. Open the printer list. Determine which version of windows you are running, then follow these instructions:
    For Windows XP: Click Start, then Printers and Faxes.

    For Windows 2000: Click Start, then Settings, then Printers.

  3. Locate the printer in the list. Right click on the printer and click "Set as Default Printer". A black checkbox should appear in the printer icon if you did it correctly.

Printing from the notebook network

Wireless connections don't have access to our print server, but wired laptop connections can print.
  1. Copy a printer's link from the list of printers. For example, to use the printers in VinH 270d, copy the link for vinp270d which looks similar to http://samus.math.umn.edu:631/printers/vinp270d
  2. Add a new printer on your laptop. Details differ between OS versions.

    Linux/Unix and Mac OS X
    1. Log in to your laptop's print server at http://localhost:631 with an administrator account.
    2. Click the "Add Printer" button.
    3. Add the name, location, and description.
    4. Select a Internet Printing Protocol (ipp) device.
    5. Paste the device URI for the printer (it was copied in the first step) and change the protocol from "http" to "ipp".
    6. Select the make of the printer.
    7. Select the printer model.
    8. Try to print a test page to see if everything is working.
    Windows
    1. Click "Start > Settings > Printers & Faxes".
    2. Click on "Add a Printer".
    3. Select "Network Printer".
    4. Select "Connect to this printer on the internet" and paste the device URI for the printer (it was copied in the first step).
    5. Select the make and model of the printer.
    6. Tell windows if you want the printer to be the default.
  3. The printer should now be added.

Defining Mac OS Printers with LPR

Mac OS X

  1. Run the Printer Center program which resides in /Applications/Utilities folder.
  2. Choose 'Add Printer' from the Printers menu.
  3. Select 'IP printing' in the top pull down box of the window that step 2 opened.
  4. Enter samus.math.umn.edu in the Printer's Address box.
  5. Uncheck the 'Use default queue on server' check box.
  6. Enter the name of the printer (see above) in the Queue Name box.
  7. Choose the printer model (see above) in the bottom pull down box.
  8. Click on 'Add'.
  9. Note which printer is the default printer. You may want to change the choice.

Other Mac OS Printing Resources

Setting up Apple computers with OS 9 for printing and OS X for printing.

Institute of Technology
www.math.umn.edu/systems_guide/printing/
Last Modified July 29, 2009
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