This document provides information on printing to locally attached printers and applies to AIX version 4.
Related documentation
The product documentation library is also available:
http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/resource/aix_resource/Pubs/index.html
In the examples that follow, the configured device driver designated by lp0 refers to a printer attached to the parallel port, and the configured device driver designated by lp1 refers to a printer attached to the second serial port.
To check your system for configured device drivers, enter:
lsdev -Cc printer
Information in the following format will be returned for any locally attached printers:
lp0 Available 00-00-0P-00 Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4,4M
lp1 Available 00-00-S2-00 IBM 2380 Personal Printer II
Ensure that data can reach the printer and that the printer will print the data. With the exception of certain specialized printers, working printers are capable of printing ASCII text.
To test, enter:
lptest 40 20 > /dev/lp0
This entry will send an ASCII test pattern 40 characters wide and 20 lines long to the file /dev/lp0, to the device driver in the kernel, and out the port for which lp0 was configured (in this case, the parallel port). The lptest pattern will look like the following:
!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGH "#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHI #$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJ $%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJK %&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKL &'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLM '()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMN ()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO )*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP *+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ +,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR ,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS -./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST ./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU /0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV 0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW 123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX 23456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY 3456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[
A printer that accepts data in the postscript format can be tested by writing a postscript file such as the postscript header page to the device file. To test, enter:
cd /usr/lib/lpd/pio/burst
cat H.ps > /dev/lp0
NOTE: If a PJL command prefixes the data stream, those printers that automatically detect whether or not the incoming data stream is in postscript format will switch to postscript mode. Conversely, those printers without the PJL command will print the postscript source code.
Three types of failures may occur from the preceding tests (lptest or cat):
The system has sent the data out the port. If the printer has a printer buffer (or 'online') light, this light may flash indicating receipt of data. Most likely, the printer was not set to receive data in the format sent (for example, ASCII text was sent to a printer set to receive postscript data). While the data reached the printer buffer, the buffer was flushed. Check the printer mode and set it to match the data type sent, or send the appropriate data type.
The system has sent the data out the port, but the printer did not accept it. Some printers do not accept data on their RxD line unless the printer DSR signal is high. Wire the cable so that DSR goes high when the system DTR signal goes high. DTR goes high when the system sends data.
cannot open the specified file
or
cannot create the specified file
The system is unable to send data out the port due to wrong cabling or wrong printer setting. The system is not receiving the CTS signal. CTS indicates that the printer is present and switched on. The CTS signal is normally sent along the printer RTS line, and it is expected to be high at all times. In some cases, the printer will have a setting for the CTS signal (possibly listed as an RTS option which should be set to true or high).
Try the Ctrl-C key combination. If the prompt returns with a message, see example 2 above. If the prompt returns without a message, check use of the lp by entering:
fuser /dev/lp1
In the preceding example of lp1, the following should be returned:
/dev/lp1:
If there are any numbers after the colon, processes associated with the lp have been identified. For more information about the process(s), in the following command, substitute the process ID (PID) returned from fuser:
ps -ef|grep PID
If this shows the process to be pioout or piobe and there is no printed output from the printer, a flow control problem probably exists. If Xon/Xoff flow control is used, then the system is waiting for an Xon character from the printer. If DTR (hardware) flow control is in use, the system is waiting for the CD signal from the printer DTR line.
If proper flow control can be established, printed output will resume where it left off.
Try the following:
If method 3 works, then the printer is not sending an Xon character to the system. Investigate the use of Xon/Xoff flow control by the printer.
If the flow control condition cannot be rectified or flow control is not the issue, kill the processes:
fuser -k /dev/lp1
Verify that the processes were killed:
fuser /dev/lp1
If unsuccessful, detach the printer cable from the system. If this still does not work, enter:
kill -9 PID
If this too is unsuccessful, a system reboot is needed. If upon reboot the processes reappear, deactivate the queue as indicated in Appendix A.
If a queue is used for printing and there is printed output from using the cat or lptest commands in the section above, turn your attention to the queueing system.
In the examples, lp0q and lp1q point to lp0 and lp1 respectively.
To view the status of queues, enter:
lpstat
which in the case of the examples might return:
Queue Dev Status
------- ---- -------
lp0q lp0 READY
lp1q lp1 DOWN
Other possible states are DEV_BUSY or DEV_WAIT.
To enable the lp1q, enter:
enable qlp1
If lpstat subsequently shows the queue to be DOWN and nothing was printed, compare your file permissions and file owners and groups against those in Appendix B.
If repeated lpstat commands show the queue hanging for several minutes in a DEV_BUSY or DEV_WAIT state, check the file= field for that queue, enter:
pg /etc/qconfig
Use the ENTER key to page through the file. In the example queue and device, this would show:
lp1:
file = /dev/lp1
If the file= field does not have /dev/lp#, contact your AIX support center. You can also retrieve the device name by entering:
lsque -qlp1q
In this example, the following would be returned:
lp1q:
device = lp1
With the device name, you could enter:
lsquedev -qlp1q -dlp1
which would return information including the file= field.
If the queue is stuck in a READY state with jobs QUEUED, the qdaemon must be cycled. This occurs when queues were added/removed/changed while the queuing system was in use. To cycle the qdaemon, enter:
stopsrc -cs qdaemon
startsrc -s qdaemon
Stopping the qdaemon may cause jobs currently printing to be abandoned, in which case those jobs would not resume where they left off upon restarting the qdaemon.
The following command will disable the example queue lp1q:
disable lp1q
lpstat will show this queue as DOWN.
To deactivate the example queue lp1q, thus ensuring that it would be disabled on reboot, enter the following:
stopsrc -cs qdaemon
chque -qlp1q -dlp1 -a"up = FALSE"
startsrc -s qdaemon
To reactivate the queue, use SMIT or run the preceding commands substituting TRUE for FALSE.
At minimum, the following should be checked. This is especially true if only the root user (superuser) can print.
-r-sr-s--- 1 root printq 58989 Oct 26 1994 /usr/sbin/qdaemon
-r-sr-s--- 1 root printq 50099 Oct 26 1994 /usr/sbin/lpd
-r-sr-sr-x 1 root printq 59262 Oct 26 1994 /bin/enq
-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 31493 Oct 26 1994 /bin/qprt
-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 30397 Oct 26 1994 /bin/lp
-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 31421 Oct 26 1994 /bin/lpr
-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 30909 Oct 26 1994 /bin/lpstat
-r-xr-sr-x 1 bin printq 54633 Oct 13 1994 /usr/lib/lpd/piobe
-r-sr-x--- 1 root printq 38205 Oct 26 1994 /usr/lib/lpd/digest
-r-sr-x--- 1 root printq 52088 Oct 26 1994 /usr/lib/lpd/qstatus
-r-sr-xr-x 1 root printq 49626 Aug 14 1995 /usr/lib/lpd/pio
/etc/pioout
crw-rw-rw- 1 root system 2, 2 Jul 09 08:56 /dev/null
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root printq 6198 Sep 27 10:55 /etc/qconfig
-rw-rw---- 1 root printq 26876 Sep 27 10:55 /etc/qconfig.bin
drwxr-xr-x 33 bin bin 2048 Sep 17 00:39 /
drwxr-xr-x 12 bin bin 512 Jul 10 14:45 /var
drwxrwxr-x 12 bin bin 512 Sep 13 18:53 /var/spool
drwxrwxr-x 5 bin printq 14336 Sep 14 11:51 /var/spool/lpd
drwxrwxr-x 2 root printq 42496 Sep 15 17:19 /var/spool/lpd/qdir
drwxrwxr-x 2 root printq 2048 Sep 15 17:18 /var/spool/lpd/stat
drwxrwxr-x 2 bin printq 6656 Sep 15 15:23 /var/spool/qdaemon
drwxr-xr-x 21 bin bin 512 Jan 17 1995 /usr
drwxr-xr-x 3 bin bin 11776 Sep 16 23:31 /usr/bin
drwxr-xr-x 4 bin bin 9216 Sep 16 23:32 /usr/sbin
drwxrwxr-x 15 root system 8192 Sep 27 10:55 /etc
drwxrwsrwt 16 bin bin 4608 Nov 27 14:32 /tmp
To check directories, enter:
ls -ld <path/directory>
For example, ls -ld / would return information for root directory, and ls -ld /etc would return information for the etc directory.
[ Doc Ref: 90605208614738 Publish Date: Spt. 29, 2000 4FAX Ref: 7205 ]