Specifications

2-16
Guide to Printers and Printing
Configuring nonsupported printers
A nonsupported printer is a device that is not supplied with the operating system.
This section includes the following topics:
• Configuration options on page 2-16
• Customizing nonsupported virtual printers on page 2-16
• Wiring nonsupported printers on page 2-17
Configuration options
Choose one of the following methods to configure and drive a nonsupported printer:
• Configure the device as a supported printer if the nonsupported printer uses the same
hardware interface (serial or parallel) and closely approximates the functions of a
supported printer.
• Configure your printer as a supported printer if there are no supported printers similar to
yours. Change the virtual printer characteristics to accommodate your printer.
• Use generic as the printer type and the appropriate interface type if you are unsure if
your printer emulates a supported device. The operating system supplies two generic
devices: other parallel printer (opp) and other serial printer (osp). Specify one of these
devices by selecting the interface type, such as parallel rs232, and modify the
characteristics according to the specifications in your printer manual.
• Configure your printer device driver and print queue, but set the print subsystem to pass
all print requests transparently to the printer. With this configuration the application must
correctly assemble the printer data stream. The print spooling subsystem is available for
sharing the printer among users, but the virtual printer system does not format the printer
data stream.
• If your output device has special formatting requirements, such as an electrostatic plotter
that requires input as raster graphics, substitute the formatting software for the printer
formatter or the printer backend program.
Customizing nonsupported virtual printers
You must define a virtual printer to support the features of the nonsupported printer and the
print spooling subsystem:
1. Identify the printer data stream that best matches your printer to customize a
nonsupported printer. The operating system supports the following data streams through
pre–defined virtual printers:
asc Extended ASCII
pcl Hewlett–Packard LaserJet
gl Plotter
ps PostScript
630 Diablo 630
855 Texas Instruments 855 dot matrix printer in dp mode
2. After you have identified the data stream used by your printer, choose either a supported
printer that uses the same data stream or one of the generic printers, and customize the
definition for your printer.