Molbiol print setup

1. Setting up to print from your molbiol account
2. How do I know which printer I am set to print to ?
3. How do I change my printer ?
4. How do I print to a new printer ?
5. I have my printer setup - how do I print a file ?
6. What do these error messages mean ?

Setting up to print from your molbiol account

When you first transfer from enterprise to the new system, orac, you will not be able to print from any of your "normal" printers. You must first set up a printer for your account. To do this, simply type:

This will allow you to print using your (or your group's) default printer next time you log in.

The print server that we are now using allows you to print almost any type of file directly without first converting it to a postscript file. To print a file (e.g. text, pdf, gif, jpeg, as well as postscript) from you account, type:

How do I know which printer I am set to print to ?

When you log onto molbiol you should see a message telling you which printer group you are in and which printer you are set to. This message appears at the top of each new xterm window.

Alternatively you can type on the command line:

If you do not know where this particular printer is, you can look it up in the list of printers that are known to CBRG. This list can be found at: http://zen.molbiol.ox.ac.uk:631/printers

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How do I change my printer ?

When your molbiol account is first registered, printing is set up for you by CBRG. We normally do this according to "group" - everyone in a particular "group" prints to a particular printer. The group you are allocated depends on where you are working and who you are working with.

If you would like your printing set to a different printer - one that is more convenient - you can find a complete list of all the printers on the system at: http://zen.molbiol.ox.ac.uk:631/printers (Note - if the printer you want to use isn't on the list, see the next section "How do I print to a new printer"). Once you have found the name of a printer that you would like to use (and that you are entitled to use), you can change your print settings by editing a file in your home directory. When logged into orac, type:

This will allow you to add the new printer settings to the file. Add the following two lines to the file (substituting printername for the name of the printer that you would like to use):

Alternatively, you can change the default printer for your account temporarily by typing these same two commands at the prompt.

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How do I print to a new printer ?

In order to print from your molbiol account, the printer you want to use must first be registered on the new system by CBRG. This will tell the system where to find the printer and which individuals or groups are allowed to use the printer. Ideally the printer will be connected directly to the university network and have an IP address. For us to configure a printer we will need to know ( ask your local IT support ):

• the IP address
• the physical location of the printer ( e.g. room number and building )
• the make/model of the printer ( e.g. Laserjet 5M ) as well as other details (colour/black+white, duplex etc.).
• which individuals or groups are allowed to use it

Alternatively, if the printer is controlled by a separate print server, please provide the server details:

• PRINTER SERVER NAME (and IP address)
• PRINTER QUEUE NAME (on the print server)

Important - Please also ask your local IT Support to set up the printer to allow printing from the following two machines:

• 163.1.13.51 orac.molbiol.ox.ac.uk
• 163.1.13.52 zen.molbiol.ox.ac.uk

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I have my printer setup but how do I print a file ?

• The easiest way to print a file on orac is to use the "lpr" command. This will print many different types of file without having to convert them first to postscript format.

  • lpr filename

• If find however that the "lpr" command does not give a satisfactory result, there are a few alternatives that you could try:
  
  
  • print filename

    This will give you an output of 2 pages to 1 sheet, looking like this:
    

  
  
  
  • sprint filename

    This will print a text file in a portrait orientation of 1 page to 1 sheet, looking like this:
    

  
  
  
  • wprint filename

    This will print a text file in a landscape orientation of 1 page to 1 sheet, like this:
    

• Finally, if none of these commands result in the output that you would like, you could edit the work before it is printed:

  
  

  • Consider using the command, "a2ps" to edit the appearance of text files. This can be used with many options to alter the final appearance of the printed work. For example:

    a2ps -f 6 filename   -   reduce the default font size to 6
    a2ps -1 filename   -   print the output as one page to one sheet

    There are many further options available for use with this command which are beyond the scope of this guide. For further details, please refer to www.infres.enst.fr/~demaille/a2ps/doc-4.10/a2ps_3.html

  
  
  

  • The command "gv" (derived from ghostview) can be used to view and edit postscript and pdf files prior to printing. See http://wwwthep.physik.uni-mainz.de/~plass/gv/ for more details.

    gv filename
  
  
  

  • The command "gimp" (GNU image manipulation program) can be used to view and edit image files prior to printing. See www.gimp.org for more details.

    gimp filename
  
  
  

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What do these error messages mean ?

The following error messages are possible when you type lpr filename:

• lpr: error - scheduler not responding!   -   This means that no printer is set up for your account. You can confirm this by typing: echo $PRINTER If the command does not return a printer name please see the sections above to set up a valid printer for your account


• lpr: unable to print file: client-error-not-possible   -   This means that you are attempting to print to a printer that has been set up for another individual or group and that you are not entitled to use it. If you believe that you should be able to use this printer, please email us at genmail.

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