User`s guide

2-2
Guide to Printers and Printing
Include all printer control information that is unique to that file. For example, to
underscore the title of a book or print a paragraph in bold type, insert codes that start
and stop the printer control information at the correct places.
Some application programs, such as word processors, allow you to insert specific printer
controls in the file. However, if the printer cannot be configured from the application
program, you must use a system editor to insert printer control codes. Printer control
codes are available with the printer, from the dealer where the printer was purchased, or
from the printer manufacturer.
• Supply command flags with the qprt command.
The Web-based System Manager fast path, wsm printers, the qprt command, or the
SMIT Start a Print Job option recognize a number of flags that control printer
operations, such as:
– Specifying condensed, emphasized, double–wide, and double–strike printing
– Printing in specified colors
– Setting the margins
– Setting the number of lines per vertical inch
– Maintaining the horizontal position on the print line for a line feed or vertical tab control
You can specify particular print characteristics for a single print job. For example, the
qprt command flag for setting pitch is –p Number, where Number is the number of
characters per inch. If the standard qprt command setting is 10 characters per inch, but
you need 12 characters per inch for the printtest file, enter the command:
qprt –p 12 printtest
The flag on the command line overrides the standard qprt command setting for this job.
The standard qprt command pitch setting remains 10.
• Change the standard qprt command settings.
The Web-based System Manager fast path, wsm printers, allows you to change or
show the print queue characteristics of a printer. You can also use SMIT or the lsvirprt
command.
Note: You must have root authority or be a member of the printq group.
For example, to change the standard pitch to 12 characters per inch, run Devices (wsm
devices), the chvirprt command, or SMIT. Select the printer from the list displayed and
enter the attribute name and value, separated by the equal sign ( = ).
The attribute names for the qprt command flags are the flag letters. You can change the
standard pitch to 12 by specifying p=12.
Print Spooler
The spooler is not specifically a print job spooler but a generic spooling function that can be
used for queuing various types of jobs, including print jobs queued to a printer.
The spooler does not know what type of job it is queuing. When the system administrator
defines a spooler queue, the purpose of the queue is defined by the spooler backend
program. For example, if the spooler backend program is the piobe command (the printer
I/O backend), the queue is a print queue. Likewise, if the spooler backend program is a
compiler, the queue is for compiler jobs. When the spooler’s qdaemon command selects a
job from a spooler queue, it runs the job by invoking the backend program.
When networks are composed of AIX machines and other types of clients and servers, not
all remote print requests are supported across the network. In some instances, you may
have to submit print jobs one file at a time or concatenate files before submitting them as a
print job.