Specifications

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System V Printer Configuration

PostScript Printers

PostScript is a general–purpose programming language that allows you to specify the

appearance of both text and graphics on a page.

A PostScript printer is equipped with a computer that runs an interpreter for processing

PostScript language files. When a PostScript printer receives a file, it runs that file through

the interpreter and then prints it. Unless special provisions have been made by the

manufacturer, files submitted to a PostScript printer must be written in the PostScript

language.

In addition to providing excellent facilities for managing text and graphics and combining

them, most major applications that support printed output support PostScript. Graphics

operators facilitate the construction of geometric figures that can then be positioned and

scaled with any orientation. The text capabilities allow you to specify a number of different

fonts that can be placed on a page in any position, size, or orientation. Because text is

treated as graphics, text and graphics are readily combined. Moreover, the language is

resolution and device–independent, so that draft copies can be proofed on a low–resolution

device and the final version printed in higher resolution on a different device.

Applications that support PostScript, including word–processing and publishing software,

create documents in the PostScript language without intervention by the user. Thus, it is not

necessary to know the details of the language to take advantage of its features. However,

standard files that some applications or special terminals produce cannot be printed on a

PostScript printer because they are not described in the language. The print service

provides optional filters to convert many of these files to PostScript so that users can take

advantage of PostScript and continue to use their standard applications, such as troff.

Retail Type 1 fonts can be installed for use with applications running on the desktop. These

fonts can be downloaded to PostScript printers if the application generates PostScript output

that uses them. The lp command handles this automatically using the download filter.

Using a PostScript Printer

When the PostScript printers and filters have been installed, the print service manages

PostScript files like any others. If psfile is a file containing a PostScript document and

psprinter has been defined to the print service as a PostScript printer, the command

lp –d psprinter –T PS psfile

schedules the print request and manages the transmission of the request to the PostScript

printer.

Supporting Non–PostScript Print Requests

Because PostScript is a language and PostScript printers are expecting print requests

written in that language, some applications may produce standard print requests that may

not be intelligible to PostScript printers. The following are examples of print requests that