Choosing a Printer

Expert users may refer to the /etc/printcap file on any Andrew Unix machine to find a printer. 

Selecting a Default Printer

For One Session

Use the following command to select a default printer that will be used for one session or "login". (That is, from now until the time you log out. )

To use the central print queue, type
% setenv PRINTER andrew@printing.andrew.cmu.edu

Permanent Default Printer

To permanently print to the same printer (in this example, the central print queue).

1. Use your preferred text editor to open the .login file in your home directory.
   Note: If you're not sure which text editor to use, use "pico" by typing
   pico .login.
2. Find the line that reads Put your additions here before the windowing environment startup.
3. Immediately following this line, type
   setenv PRINTER andrew@printing.andrew.cmu.edu
4. Save your changes to the .login file.
   Note: If you elected to use pico, press Ctrl-x to save and exit.
5. Log out and back in.

Accessing a printer other than the default

There may be times that you need to access a printer other than your default printer (e.g., to check the queue or remove a print job). To do this, simply add -Pprintername to the print command that you are executing. Please refer to the "Name of Printer or Print Queue" column of the Windows Printer Chart [PDF] for a list of cluster and library printer names.

Note: The print commands shown below (i.e., lpr, lpq and lprm) are all described in the following sections.

For example:
% lpr -Pcl-baker@printing.andrew.cmu.edu myfile.ps
% lpq -Pcl-baker@printing.andrew.cmu.edu
% lprm -Pcl-baker@printing.andrew.cmu.edu -

Last Updated: 06/02/06