Printing From HP-UX and GNU/Linux

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How do I print on both sides of the paper (duplex)? Besides printing on both sides of the page, how can I use less paper when printing a document? Which printer command should I use?	How can I find out the status of my print job? How do I convert a text file to postscript? I can't get my file to print from within the program and I'm in a hurry; what should I do?

How do I print on both sides of the paper (duplex)?

For details on how to do this, see the CUPS documentation. For example, to print rootbeer.ps as a two-sided portrait document on printer ps425a, type:

lp -d ps425a -o sides=two-sided-long-edge rootbeer.ps

The difference between flipping on the long edge and on the short edge can be kind of confusing. Generally, the short edge option (-o sides=two-sided-short-edge) is suitable for landscape pages:

Click for illustration

The long edge option (-o sides=two-sided-long-edge) works best for portrait pages:

Click for illustration

Besides printing on both sides of the page, how can I use less paper when printing a document?

The mpage command can be used to print multiple pages on a single piece of paper. For details on how to use it, type man mpage in an xterm window.

Note: The -P[printer] option does not work. You cannot use mpage to select a printer. Fortunately, you can get around this by "piping" the output of mpage to lp, which is capable of successfully selecting a printer. For example, to print out 2 pages of the file watermelon.ps on each piece of paper using printer ps425, type the following:

mpage -2 watermelon.ps | lp -d ps425

Note: The file to be printed doesn't need to be specified if you are executing the command in some application's print command dialog box (i.e. - Netscape).

Which printer command should I use?

The lp command allows the user to print documents in the postscript format to a printer. For example,

lp -d ps425 donuts.ps

prints the the postscript file donuts.ps to the printer named ps425. Note: Netscape's default printer is lpr. However, it's better to use the lp -d command to specify which printer to use.

How can I find out the status of my print job?

There is no way to for regular users to view the status of print jobs on the ECEn print server. If you tried to print something and after a long time it still hasn't printed, contact the ECEn SysOps for help.

How do I convert a text file to postscript?

You can actually print plain text documents directly, without having to convert them to postscript format. If that doesn't work for some reason, use the a2ps command. For more details on using a2ps, type:

man a2ps

I can't get my file to print from within the program and I'm in a hurry; what should I do?

Most programs have an option for printing to a postscript file. Try doing that, then executing

lp -d (printer name) (file name)

in an xterm window.