Group Printers: Linux

Linux machines print using the CUPS print server. The state of the print queues can be viewed here:

http://ppecups.physics.gla.ac.uk:631/printers/

Installation

Printers will be installed automatically on many desktops, but on other machines can be installed as follows:

1. Add the following to /etc/cups/client.conf: ServerName ppecups.physics.gla.ac.uk
2. Restart CUPS: service cups restart or systemctl restart cups

You will need administrator rights to do this. For assistance, please speak to PPE IT support.

Using the Printers

In most graphical applications, printers can be selected from the print dialog; it is worth noting that sometimes they will appear under their alternative names as listed on the group printers page (e.g. ld may be listed as kyc5).

You can print from the command line using the lpr command. The Linux man page provides detailed information, but at its simplest the syntax is as follows:

$ lpr -P<PRINTER NAME> <FILENAME>

For example, to print example.ps to ld:

$ lpr -Pld example.ps

Single-sided printing can be forced by including the -o sides=one-sided option:

$ lpr -Pld -o sides=one-sided example.ps

Text documents can be printed using the a2ps command (again, see the man page for more details):

$ a2ps -P<PRINTER NAME> <FILENAME>

For example, to print example.txt to le:

$ a2ps -Ple example.txt

Further information on command-line printing may be found in the CUPS documentation.