Printing

The method of printing will often depend on the type of file you want to print. In some cases, different methods apply depending on whether the file contains plain text or not and whether you want to view it as plain text or not.. 

All *.txt, readme, *.java files are plain text (ASCII) files - you can open them in emacs/pico and read their contents.

Files *.pdf, *.html, *.rtf are plain text  files but they contain code meant for a specialized viewer, not for direct reading -- you can open them in emacs/pico, but the outcome will be different from what you can see in Adobe reader, web browser, or Microsoft Word. Postscript files, *.ps, are similar to *.pdf files but printing them requires a printer with a Postscript interpreter.

Files *.jpg, *.tif, *.doc are binary files; they cannot be viewed in emacs/pico and require a specialized viewer.

Printing in Computer Science Lab in Hawkins 053 B or  Minilab in Redcay 141 A

If you are working under Linux on a workstation, type in the shell window

% lpr TEXTFILE

(For your additional information, in some versions of Unix other than Linux, the printing command is lp.)

Printing from the Linux server to a local printer attached to a PC 

• If you connect to ssh.cs.plattsburgh.edu from a personal computer (runing any operating system), and
• if your communication program uses a vt100-compatible terminal emulator such as (QVT) telnet or HyperTerminal, and
• if there is a printer attached to your local computer

you may be able to use it to print files residing on the Unix server directly on your local printer. This concerns plain text files (ASCII) -- do not try to print files which contain graphics or postscript.

In particular this will work 

• if you are working in the main computer lab in Feinberg and you connected to ssh.cs.plattsburgh.edu using QVT/telnet
• if you live on campus, have a computer with a printer, and use any version of telnet  to connect to the Unix server.
• if you live off campus, have a computer with a printer and a modem, dial up to the campus modem server
  (however if you use the "screen" utility, you will need to quit it first)
• if you live off campus, have a computer with a printer and a modem, dial up an Internet service provider and use telnet to connect to the Unix server through studnt.

Notice that the lprint commands will not work when you connect to shakespeare from an X-windowing environment on a PC or Mac (such as MI/X, eXcursion or MacX.) When you work in such an environment, if you want to print a file from shakespeare on a local printer, open a (QVT) telnet connection to the Unix server, in parallel to existing connection from the X-windowing program, and use the lprint command in the (QVT) telnet window. 

When you are connected to the Unix server, type one of the following:

% lprint1 TEXTFILE

% lprint2 TEXTFILE

(The first letter in the command is the lower-case L.) If the first of these commands outputs an extra blank page on your printer, try the second one. It may happened that the second command does not work at all. After you find out which version works better for you add at the end of your .cshrc file one of the following lines; then log out and log in. 

alias lprint lprint1

alias lprint lprint2

From that point on, you will be able to print by typing:

% lprint TEXTFILE

These commans will work in the case of dial-in serial connections (using a modem), 

If you need to print a text file which resides on studnt (academic alpha), a single lprint command is available there.

Transferring special files to your personal computer and printing 

If you have on ssh.cs.plattsburgh.edu any graphics or postscript files these files cannot be printed on your local computer by the methods mentioned above. Transfer such files to your computer (using binary transfer mode) and then print them from there. To learn about file transfers see help articles on network services and modem connections.