Setting up a Red Hat Linux client system with printtool

This is a worked example. It adds support for the print queue cs_co3_lj, an HP LaserJet printer, to a Red Hat Linux system (version 6.2) using Red Hat's printtool program.

Launching printtool

A root run the command printtool. A window like the one above should pop up. An error message along the lines of
Application initialization failed: couldn't connect to display ""
means that your DISPLAY environment variable was not set. If you get the error message
Xlib: connection to "ghoul.csi.cam.ac.uk:0.0" refused by server
then you don't have the X permissions set up correctly (presuming that ghoul.csi.cam.ac.uk:0.0 is the correct display to use. For now, the easiest way to make sure you don't get these problems is to log in as root at the graphical console to do this task.

Selecting the type of queue

Click on the Add... button. If this is the first time you have used it you may get a couple of warning windows saying that you can't use SMB or Netware. Don't worry; you don't want to. (At least not for this operation.) The "Add a printer entry" window should pop up.

Adding a queue

Select the "Remote Unix (lpd) Queue" radio button and click "OK". That pop-up will be replaced with for window for editing (in this case adding) the parameters for a print queue. The default one you are given will look something like the one pictured above.

You can fill in the first five values quite easily.

Names

This is a list of names by which the queue is known. The entries in the list are separated by vertical bar characters. There should be no white space. We strongly recommend that the lpd-serv.cam.ac.uk queue name be the first (if not the only) one of the list. The printer with the alias lp will be the default printer on your system.

We shall use the simple queue name cs_co4_lj with no other aliases.

Spool directory

The spool directory is the directory where print jobs are stored prior to being shipped to lpd-serv.cam.ac.uk. This really should be a subdirectory of /var/spool/lpd and we strongly recommend naming it after the print queue. Even if you do have lp as an alias for the print queue, we recommend against using this alias to name the directory. Changing default is much easier if its special name is not wired into any directory.

We will use the name /var/spool/lpd/cs_co4_lj.

File limit

Originally, when printing meant line printing, this value had some use. If a maximum job size was specified then the job beyond this point was truncated and you lost the lines of text beyond that point. In the modern era of PostScript jobs it makes no sense at all as a truncated PostScript job is likely to be syntactically invalid on its last printed page. Use this value with caution.

We will keep the default of 0.

Remote Host

This is the system running lpd that the jobs will be forwarded to for processing.

We will use the value lpd-serv.cam.ac.uk.

Remote queue

This is the name that the queue is known as on our system. This is where, if you use lpd-serv.cam.ac.uk, you must use the queue name you have agreed with us. We repeat: we recommend that you give the local queue the same name as the remote queue.

We will use the queue name cs_co4_lj.

The final entry, "Input Filter" is best dealt with by clicking the "Select" button and choosing from the list of printer types.

Typically, the list of printers is too out of date to contain any modern printers. Scroll down to "PostScript Printer" and select that. Most modern PostScript printers are capable of 600x600dpi (dots per inch). The default is for the older value of 300x300dpi. You will need to select the paper size as "a4". The default is for "letter" which, as far as the author can tell, is a size used only in the USA (and Canada?). Then click on "OK".

The queue entry editing box should now look like this:

Seeing the queue

Finally, the print queue should be visible from the queue list in the main printtool window. Select "Restart lpd" from the "lpd" menu and the new queue should be ready for operation.

Select "Exit" from the "PrintTool" menu to exit the program.