Mark Hobley
TRADITIONAL UNIX PRINTING COMMANDS

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These are the traditional Unix printer commands. These commands are not usually present on a Linux based machine. The GNU/Linux alternatives are stated.

lpadmin

This was the printer administation tool used to configures the line printer service; to adds, change or removes printers, and sets or changes the system default destination.

This package does not exist on most Linux based systems, but it is possible to manipulate /etc/printcap directly using an editor.

Configuration of LPR Printers

Configuration of the X Printing System

lp

This command sends a document to the printer and is still current.

lpr

This command sends a document to a remote printer and is still current.

lpsched

This command was used to start the print scheduler daemon.

This is not available on some Linux based systems.

The print scheduler daemon (LPD) can be started or managed like any other daemon.

Linux equivalent:

$ lpc restart printername
or
$ lpc restart all

lpshut

This command was used to shutdown the print scheduler daemon.

This is not available on some Linux based systems.

The print scheduler daemon (LPD) can be shutdown, killed or managed like any other daemon.

Linux equivalent:

$ lpc abort printername
or
$ lpc abort all

lpstat

This command was used to show the status of the line printers.

The Linux equivalents are:

$ lpq
and
$ lpc status

accept

$ accept printername

This command was used to tell the printing system that print jobs could now be accepted in the print queue (after using "reject").

The Linux equivalent is:

$ lpc enable printername

reject

$ reject printername

This command was used to tell the printing system that no new print jobs could should be accepted in the print queue.

The Linux equivalent is:

$ lpc disable printername

enable

$ enable printername

This command was used to tell the printing system that the printer is enabled and spooling is allowed.

The Linux equivalent is:

$ lpc up printername

(Note that "lpc up" will "enable" the printer and "accept" new print jobs.)

disable

$ disable printername

This command was used to tell the printing system that the printer is disabled and spooling is not allowed. (This state also applied if the printer ran out of paper.)

The Linux equivalent is:

$ lpc down printername

(Note that "lpc down" will "disable" the printer and "reject" new print jobs.)