Printing and Printers

For instructional (student) printing, please see Printing in the Instructional Labs

Computer Sciences Printers

Printers are located on every floor of the Computer Sciences building where the Computer Sciences Department has offices. There are also some printers in some offices to meet special needs.

The standard printer on most floors are color multifunction printers with scanning and copying capabilities. Except when color is necessary, please print in black-and-white in order to save money.

How to Print

On CSL Linux computers

Print Commands

• lpr <filename>: This is the basic print command. It will print the file to your default printer in standard format with 66 lines/page and 80 columns/line. If you are printing a Postscript file, be sure to use this command and not print. If the file is in a format other than Postscrpt, it must be converted before printing.
• /s/std/bin/print <filename>: Also prints to your default printer. print will reformat the text into 2-columns per page with borders and details.

Cancelling Jobs

lprm <username> will cancel all jobs by that user. You can use the -Pprinter option to specifiy a printer. This is the quickest way to cancel a job.

Otherwise:

1. lpq Checks the printer queue and displays all jobs currently printing and waiting. Again, you can use the -P<printer> option to specify a printer. Find the job you want to cancel and get the number assigned to it, then use:
2. lprm -P<printer> <job#> to cancel the job.

Print Options

Basic Commands

• lpr -P<printer> <filename> Specifies which machine the file will print to depending on which printers you can access. Note: To get a list of printers you have access to use lpquota -p
• /s/std/bin/print -[1,2,or 4] <filename> Allows you to print 1,2,or 4 pages per sheet. In addition to print, you may also use a2ps, mpage, or psnup for multiple pages/sheet if print is not a viable option for the document you wish to print. If this is the case, please see the man pages for how to use these other programs. This only works for text files; do not use this option for PDF or PostScript documents.

Specialized lpr Options

Most options below are specified with the -o flag. You can specify multiple -o options by quoting all arguments together or using multiple -o options. The following are equivalent:

• lpr -o Inputslot=MultiTray -o Duplex=None <filename>
• lpr -o "Inputslot=MultiTray Duplex=None" <filename>

Multiple copies:

lpr -#<copies> <filename>

Manual Feed

This command is for printing to the bypass/manual feed tray . The printer will wait until you have placed the paper into the tray before printing.

Duplex Options

Stapling Options (5th floor copier only)

lpr -Pprinter -o StapleLocation=location filename
Where location is one of the following:

Watermark Options (all Ricoh/Lanier copiers and printers, including instructional labs)

Watermark Options (HP printers)

On CSL Windows computers

Printing

File | Print will open up the printing window with option menus allowing you to choose which printer the job will go to, how many copies, etc. The duplex mode is configured to be the default mode, but you can change that for your account if needed. There should be a Printer Properties button in the print pop-up for most if not all our printers; you can control number of copies, “N-up” printing, watermarks, duplex options, etc. from there. If you need something that is not listed in this window, click on advanced for more options such as page orientation. Select the options that you want and click OK.

Note: Not all printers have user-controllable printer options.

Cancelling a Job

At this time, jobs can only be cancelled from a Linux host. If you have a job printing you wish to cancel, you can press the Cancel button on the printer to stop the job from printing. On our copiers, you’ll need to press the Printer mode button to find this cancel button.

Paper Quota

Students enrolled in Computer Sciences classes have a printer quota of 150 print pages per class. The printer quota is reset each semester. If you need more printing for your class, please ask your instructor to notify the lab to increase your print quota.

Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students are provided an unlimited print quota.

Checking your Quota

On Linux: lpquota will display your used and total printer quota.

On Windows: There is currently no tool to check quota from Windows 7. Please log into a Linux machine and use the above command while we work to fix this.

Printer Access and Defaults

On CSL Linux computers

Checking Access

lpquota -p will give you a list of printers you have access to.

Changing the Default Printer

Set the PRINTER environment variable before running the print command, either manually or by adding appropriate lines to your dot files:

• export PRINTER=<printername> (.bashrc.local for bash users)
• setenv PRINTER <printername> (.cshrc.local for tcsh/csh users)

To set the default printer in GNOME applications started through the GNOME desktop menus, you will need to set a default printer in your .bashrc.local file (or .bashrc or .profile files if you do not have a CSL-provided .bashrc and .bash_profile in your account).

On CSL Windows computers

Setting a Default

1. Open the Printers list, either from My Computer or from Start Menu -> Settings -> Printers
2. Double click on the printer queue you want to make the default
3. Select Printer -> Set As Default Printer

Printing on Colored Paper

Colored paper is only loaded by default on the 5th floor copier. You can use manual-feed on other copiers to get colored paper.

On Linux Systems

Add the -Z color option to your print command to get colored paper.

On Windows computers

• On CSL Windows computers choose Color1 as the Paper Type, located in the Options section of the print menu.
• On laptops and other Windows computers not supported by the CSL, you will need to go into the printer setup and set up paper input as follows:

Related Documents

• Copier/Printer/Scanner Use
• Printer Models and Drivers
• Printing from Linux computers not managed by the CSL
• Printing from OSX computers not managed by the CSL
• Printing from Windows computers not managaed by the CSL