HP-UX 11i v3 International Printing Features

The psfontpf printer filter supports only PostScript level 2 and level 3 printers, which encompasses

most PostScript printers in use today. The following are some of the more important features of the

psfontpf PostScript print filter:

• Supports all printers that have a PostScript level 2 or level 3 interpreter.

• Supports most device-specific features specified in the Adobe

PostScript printer description file for

that printer, such as selection of input tray and output bin.

• Supports Unicode bidirectional algorithm for reordering bidirectional text.

• Supports vertical printing of wide Asian ideographic characters.

• Supports automatic embedding of font data (TrueType

or bitmap) in the output PostScript stream

for those characters that are not natively supported by the printers.

• Supports automatic font embedding of PostScript file generated by the Mozilla web browser.

• Supports user-defined command-line options and macros.

PostScript printer description (PPD) files are text files that provide a uniform approach to using the

diverse features of devices that contain PostScript interpreters. Such features include page size,

methods of paper handling, font availability, and finishing features, such as duplex printing and

stapling. The PPD file contains the PostScript language code that activates each feature.

Two basic types of keywords are available in a PPD file: main keywords and option keywords. Main

keywords denote a device feature, such as the set of available page sizes (*PageSize) or input slots

(*InputSlot). Option keywords, which modify main keywords, describe the list of available options

for a feature. For example, the option keywords for the main keyword *PageSize describe the

available page sizes, such as letter, legal, A4, and so on.

The psmsgen PS.font Model File Configuration Tool

The psmsgen tool is a terminal-based configuration tool that is used to configure the PS.font model

file or its derivatives to set up various PostScript printer options and printing defaults. You can use the

psmsgen tool in either of the following ways to configure the model file:

• Create a customized model-file template in the /usr/lib/lp/model directory. You can then use

the template to configure a new printer. For example:

# psmsgen [-o model_file_name] [ppd-file]

• Use the generic PS.font model file to configure a new printer. Then use the –m option to the

psmsgen command to configure the interface file in the /etc/lp/interface directory. For

example:

# psmsgen [-p printer_model] –m interface-file

The first method is preferred for configuring a group of similar PostScript printers at the same time.

The second method is preferred for configuring a single PostScript printer or several different printers.

Figure 3 shows the two alternative ways of configuring the PS.font model file. This example uses

the setnetlp command to set up the LP destinations.

Shaping of complex text like Arabic and Thai is not yet supported.

Embedding of TrueType fonts is supported only on PostScript level 3 printers.