Setting definitions for the printers on your network is an ongoing task that lets you provide a more effective print environment for users. For example, you can assign parameters for all your site's printers to help users find where a printer is located. Or, you can define a class of printers to provide the fastest turnaround for print requests.

The lpadmin command lets you set all of the printer definitions. However, Solaris Print Manager lets you set only some printer definitions when you install or modify a printer. The following table lists the printer definitions and shows whether you can assign the definition with Solaris Print Manager.

$ lpstat -D -p printer-name

$ pwd
/usr/share/lib/terminfo
$ ls
1  3  5  7  9  B  H  P  a  c  e  g  i  k  m  o  q  s  u  w  y
2  4  6  8  A  G  M  S  b  d  f  h  j  l  n  p  r  t  v  x  z
$ 

$ cd /usr/share/lib/terminfo/e
$ ls
emots           ep2500+high   ep48            ergo4000      exidy2500
env230          ep2500+low    epson2500       esprit
envision230     ep40          epson2500-80    ethernet
ep2500+basic    ep4000        epson2500-hi    ex3000
ep2500+color    ep4080        epson2500-hi80  exidy
$ 

$ cd /usr/share/lib/terminfo/n
$ ls
ncr7900        ncr7900iv      netronics      network        nuc
ncr7900-na     ncr7901        netty          netx           nucterm
ncr7900i       nec            netty-Tabs     newhp
ncr7900i-na    net            netty-vi       newhpkeyboard
$ 

In this Solaris release, you can assign a printer type with Solaris Print Manager if you deselect the Use PPD files default option in the Print Manager drop-down menu in Solaris Print Manager. This printer definition is not available when the Use PPD files option is selected. When you add a printer with PPD files, the printer make, model, and driver printer definitions replace the printer type definition.

For a local PostScript printer, use a printer type of either PostScript (PS) or Reverse PostScript (PSR). If your printer supports PostScript, choose PS or PSR, even if the specific printer type is listed in the terminfo database.

If your PostScript printer prints pages face up, documents appear to be printed backwards. As such, the first page is at the bottom of the stack and the last page is on the top. If you specify the printer's type as PSR, the LP print service reverses the order of the pages before sending the pages to the printer. The last page is printed first, and the pages are stacked in forward order. However, the LP print service can reliably change the page order only for PostScript files that conform to the Adobe® Technical Note #5001, PostScript Language Document Structuring Conventions Specification. This document is available on the Adobe Developer Relations web site.

If a printer can emulate more than one kind of printer, you can assign several printer types by using the lpadmin T command. If you specify more than one printer type, the LP print service uses the printer type that is appropriate for each print request.

You might not find the printer type in the appropriate terminfo directory. The type of printer is not necessarily linked to the manufacturer's name on the printer. For example, for any type of PostScript printer, you can use the PS or PSR entry, found in the /usr/share/lib/terminfo/P directory, instead of an entry specific to the manufacturer or product name.

If you have an unusual type of printer, you might need to try different entries before you can determine whether a particular terminfo entry works for your type of printer. If possible, find an entry in the terminfo database that works for your printer. Trying to use an existing entry is much easier than trying to create an entry. If you must create your own entry, Adding a terminfo Entry for an Unsupported Printer contains some useful tips.

In this Solaris release, you can assign the file content type printer definition with Solaris Print Manager if you deselect the Use PPD files default option in the Print Manager drop-down menu in Solaris Print Manager. This printer definition is not available if you use PPD files. The file content type for printers added with PPD files is PostScript. This file content type is automatically set by the tool. You can also specify file content type when adding a new printer or modifying an existing printer by using the lpadmin I command.

Print filters convert the content type of a file to a content type that is acceptable to the destination printer. The file content type tells the LP print service the type of file contents that can be printed directly, without filtering. To print without filtering, the necessary fonts must also be available in the printer. You must set up and use filtering for other types of files.

Most printers can print directly the following types of files:

When submitting a file for printing, the user can indicate the content type of the file by using the lp -T content-type command. If no file content type is supplied when the request is submitted, the LP print service checks the first file in the request to determine the content type. If the file begins with ^D%! or %!, the request is considered to contain PostScript data. Otherwise, the request is assumed to contain simple (ASCII) text. The LP print service uses the file content type to determine which filters to use to convert the file contents into a type the printer can handle.

When you are not specifying PPD files, Solaris Print Manager provides a list of file content types from which you can choose when you install or modify an attached or network printer. The choices are translated to the names that the LP print service uses. The following table describes the file content types that you can choose with Solaris Print Manager.

Choose the file content type that best matches the printer's capabilities. PostScript is the default choice in Solaris Print Manager and is probably correct most of the time. PostScript means that filtering is not needed for PostScript files.

This section provides the printer type and file content type for the printers most commonly used with Solaris software. Although not shown, many of these printers can also directly print files with simple file content type.

If you have a PostScript printer, use a printer type of PS or PSR and a content type of postscript. PSR reverses the pagination and prints the banner page last.

The following table lists additional non-PostScript printers and shows the printer type to use for configuring each printer. For all these printers, the file content type is simple.

If you want to set up a printer that is not in the terminfo database, see How to Add a terminfo Entry for an Unsupported Printer.