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README for printtool v.3.

This is a new version of printtool which provides several key improvements over previous version.

Some notes:

Please backup your /etc/printcap! And any filters you use.

It is assumed that ghostscript is installed if PostScript printing is desired and the output device does not handle PostScript natively.

Red Hat ships ghostscript 5.50 - the latest version is 6.0.1. This printtool should work with either version. In fact, some printers are only supported in the later versions of printtool.

There is now a "magic filter" mechanism for handling the printing of various file type. For example, it is possible to print a .dvi file and it will be converted to PostScript and printer. The filters and RPM will work together so that conversions are only attempted when the required components are installed. To get the filter for a certain conversion (say JPEG to PNM), you must install the RPM which contains the program used to do the conversion (djpeg, from the libgr-progs RPM in this case).

There is a new directory for handling printtool related files called /usr/lib/rhs/rhs-printfilters. There are several files which get installed here:

  *.fpi        Filter Plug-ins - these are used by the new magic filter system
testpage.*     Test pages used by printtool
 *.cfg.in      Template for configuration files stored in spool directories
master-filter  The input filter which will be installed in the spool directory
smbprint       Script used to print to SMB printer servers

If you have a PostScript printer, or have configured a print filter using Ghostscript, then the following types of files can be printed and they will be converted to PostScript automatically:

troff
GIF
JPEG
BPM
TIFF
dvi
pgm/ppm/pbm
RPM
Sun rasterfiles

This assumes, of course, that the programs required to convert from the input format to PostScript have been installed. If these are installed from a RPM, the RPM will automatically reconfigure the print filter system. So if you would like to print dvi's automatically, just install the tetex-dvips RPM, and everything should work.

If you have a PostScript printer, try using the "PostScript Printer" driver under "Select Filter". If you have a text-only printer (old dot matrix?), or dont want ASCII to be converter to PostScript, select the "Text-Only Printer". The "LF->CR/LF" and "Send EOF" toggle buttons are of interest in this case. Try sending some test pages to your printer and this will help diagnose the problems.

The HP DeskJet 400 and Canon BJ-240 have been tested with ghostscript-3.33 and appear to work. Most any HP DeskJet will work with the ghostscript driver.

The other printer drivers have not been tested. If you have any problems with your printer, please report your problem (and solutions!) to

http://developer.redhat.com/bugzilla/

When sending a help request, please include the following information:

Printer Model

Known compatibility modes (HP PCL, PostScript, etc)

Results of trying to send a
'Print ASCII test page" and "Print ASCII directly to port", available under the "Tests" menu on the main screen of printtool.

Any other information on the problem you are experiencing is a big help.

If you had your printer working before with Linux, information about filters and your printcap which DID work is useful.

END OF README