The Nevis Linux cluster uses CUPS to manage its print services. On most machines that have CUPS installed, visiting the URL http://localhost:631/help/ will take show you basic documentation; you can also view the manual in the documentation section of the CUPS web site. This web page just covers brief highlights of that manual.

The reason why CUPS is used at Nevis is that it only requires complex configuration of the print servers; the client machines don't have to be configured at all. This means that if you connect a laptop to the Nevis or Pupin networks, and that laptop is running CUPS, you'll be able to print to the Nevis printers and make use of the various printer features without installing any additional drivers. (This only applies to laptops with a direct Ethernet connection; CUPS is not visible on the wireless networks.)

Print commands in Linux

lpr is the basic command for printing a file in UNIX. For example:

To set printer options, use the -o option of the lpr command. Some examples:

will print on the main black-and-white printer using both sides of the paper. (See the description of the bw-research printer below.)

For color duplex printing, use:

For a list of options available on a print queue, use the lpoptions command:

To see what jobs are printing, and the status of the print queues, use the lpstat command :

Printing from laptops

If you connect your laptop to via an Ethernet connection, and your laptop is running CUPS, you will be able to browse the list of available print queues and select one.

However, if you connect via a wireless network, you will not be able to browse the list of queues. You can still print, but will have to add the printer queue to your laptop manually:

• On Linux laptops, both the KDE and GNOME window managers have printer setup utilities. The general information you need is:
  • The printer protocol is IPP.
  • The printer (or "print server") is print.nevis.columbia.edu
  • If you want to print to a queue listed below, the queue name is printers/<queue-name>.
  • If you have to type in a URI for the above information, it is ipp://print.nevis.columbia.edu/printers/<queue-name>.
  • For example, if you want to print to queue "bw-research", the URI is ipp://print.nevis.columbia.edu/printers/bw-research.

• On Macintosh laptops:
  • Go to System Preferences.
  • Click on "Print & Fax".
  • Click on the "plus" sign (+) to add a printer.
  • The protocol is "IPP", the Address is print.nevis.columbia.edu, and the Queue is printers/<queue-name>

• On both Macs and Linux laptops, if the printer setup utilities seem a bit confusing, you might try to access CUPS directly:
  • Open a web browser (you're running one now, aren't you?) and use this URL: <http://localhost:631>.
  • Click on "Printers" on the top bar; you may have to type in a root or administrator password to proceed further.
  • The Name of the queue can be anything; just "Nevis" will do.
  • The Device is "Internet Printing Protocol (ipp)"
  • The URI is ipp://print.nevis.columbia.edu/printers/<queue-name>

• On Windows systems:
  • Start->Settings->Printers
  • Open "Add Printer"
  • Select "Local Printer", then click "Next"
  • Select "Create a new port", and select "IPP" from the pop-up menu. Click "Next". (If an "IPP" option is not available, then you don't have CUPS installed. You can try using the IP name <queue-name>.nevis.columbia.edu, use "TCP/IP" as the port type, and leave the queue blank.)
  • As noted above, the print server is print.nevis.columbia.edu, and the print queue is printers/<queue-name>.

Frequently Asked Questions

Some common questions:

• How do I set my default options so that I always print two-sided?

  Use the lpoptions command. For example, to set double-sided printing as the default option on the bw-research print queue:

  lpoptions -p bw-research -o Duplex=DuplexNoTumble

• How do I change my default printer? (Note: it's possible for a system's default printer to change; for example, if that printer goes down for a while.)

  Again, use the lpoptions command. For example, to set the default printer to be the main black-and-white printer in the Nevis Annex:

  lpoptions -d bw-annex

• How do I use one of these printers if I'm not at Nevis?

  The printers at Nevis itself are behind the firewall, and cannot be accessed directly. However, you can still access them using IPP. Setting the "printer" to be print.nevis.columbia.edu and the "port" or "queue" to be printers/ followed by the name of the Nevis print queue (e.g., printers/bw-research). There are detailed instructions above.

  The printers at the Nevis Annex are generally accessible from anyone in Pupin.

• How do I print multiple pages on a single sheet of paper?

  There are several ways. You'll have to experiment to see what's best for you. I prefer to use the enscript command; some people prefer to use a2ps; there are also CUPS options, though the results are not as fancy what the above programs can produce:

  lpr -o number-up=2 filename

• The margins look funny when I print a plain text file. How do I fix this?

  See the section on text options in the CUPS documentation. In general, you probably want something like this:

  lpr filename.txt -o page-left=36 -o page-right=36 -o page-top=36 -o page-bottom=36 Note that the above options are already the default for all the print queues on the Linux cluster (they correspond to a 1/2-inch margin on all page edges). If these margins are not sufficient, you'll have to increase them.

• An image looks like it's scaled incorrectly or displaced on the page. How do I fix this?

  See the section on image options in the CUPS documentation.

  If the problem that the image is too large, try the option -o scaling=100. This should scale the image so that it fits on one sheet of paper. (By the way, this is a neat way of printing documents sized for A4 paper onto American letter-size paper, and vice versa.)

  Otherwise, I don't have a general solution to this kind of problem. You'll have to experiment on your own.

• I'd like to use one set of options for printing text files, and another for printing postscript files. How do I do this?

  There are two ways:

  1. Use command aliases. For example, if you put the following in your ~/.profile file: alias lptext="lpr -P bw-research -o sides=two-sided-long-edge -o number-up=2 -o page-border=single" ... then (after source ~/.myprofile or re-logging) the following command will print a file with duplex, two pages on each side, and a border around each page: lptext filename.txt

  2. Use printer instances. For example, if you define the instance: lpoptions -p bw-research/text -o sides=two-sided-long-edge -o number-up=2 -o page-border=single then you can print a text file with: lpr -P bw-research/text filename.txt

Print queues

As of 28-Oct-2008, the following print queues are available. To see a list of all available print queues, use the lpstat command:

Available print queues

bw-research (or "hp4300" or "qms1")

"bw-research" is the main "workhorse" printer.

Note: The main printer at Nevis used to be called "qms1", and then "hp4300". In order that some old print commands will still work, the old queue names are still available.

"bw-research" is a fast black-and-white HP2430 printer whose maximum speed is about 35 pages per minute. This printer has a duplexing feature, which allows you to print on both sides of a sheet of paper. To use the feature, the command is:

lpr -Pbw-research -o Duplex=DuplexNoTumble <filename> The bw-research printer has three paper input bins: manual, upper, and lower. Typically, both the upper and lower bins are filled with plain white paper; for special jobs you can put transparencies, three-hole paper, or A4 (European metric) paper into the upper tray.

If any sheets are put into the manual bin (transparencies, for example) the printer uses it by default. Otherwise the paper comes from the upper printer bin, while the lower bin must be selected explictly. The correspondence is:

Option	lpr option
Manual	lpr -o InputSlot=Tray1
Upper	lpr -o InputSlot=Tray2
Lower	lpr -o InputSlot=Tray3
Duplex	lpr -o Duplex=DuplexNoTumble

When the lower bin holds three-hole-punch paper, it's commonly combined with the duplex option to print long documents that can be placed in looseleaf binders. For example:

lpr -Pbw-research -o Duplex=DuplexNoTumble -o InputSlot=Tray3 thesis.ps

Two neat Linux tricks

1. If you want to print a long text file, consider using the enscript command, which formats a text file into Postscript format. The following commands will print the text file two text pages per side, double-sided (good for long program listings). Both commands do the same thing, but the options are shown in both the short and long forms. enscript -q2rGj -Pbw-research -DDuplex:true <filename> enscript --quiet --columns=2 --landscape --fancy-header --borders \ --printer=bw-research --setpagedevice=Duplex:true <filename>
2. To print on three-hole-punch paper, check that bin 3 holds the correct type of paper and try the following command: enscript -Gj --margins=36:36:: -o - <filename> | \ lpr -Pbw-research -o Duplex=DuplexNoTumble -o InputSlot=Tray3 filename

bw-design (or hp2300)

This is an HP2420 printer located in the electronics design area of the lower floor of the Nevis Electronics Building, and is intended for the use of the people who work on that floor.

bw-testing (or hp1200)

This is an HP1200 printer located on the upper floor of the Nevis Electronics Building, in the DOE testing area, and is intended for the use of the people who work on that floor.

bw-admin

"bw-admin" is a smaller, slightly slower (25 ppm) black-and-white HP4100 printer located at the end of the west corridor of the upper floor of Nevis. It does not have duplex printing. It is meant for the use of the people who have offices along that corridor, but it can also be used as an "overflow" printer if bw-research is busy.

color-research (or colour-research)

As the name implies, "color-research" is an HP2605 color printer. It is slower than bw-research (10 pages per minute). The color printer has three input bins, similar to bw-research: manual, upper, and lower. The manual "bin" is actually a single-sheet feeder in the front of the upper tray. The lower and upper bins are stocked with plain paper. It is capable of duplex printing.

Option	lpr option
Manual	lpr -o InputSlot=Tray1
Upper	lpr -o InputSlot=Tray2
Lower	lpr -o InputSlot=Tray3
Duplex	lpr -o Duplex=DuplexNoTumble

Realistically, there's no need to specify an InputSlot option unless you've walked over to the printer and put some special paper (transparencies, labels, A4 paper) into one of the bins. We used to put transparencies into the upper bin, but these are now used so rarely that we don't bother.

bw-elec

This is a B&W printer located in the in Nevis electronics assembly/testing area on the upper floor. It's similar to the bw-research printer. It's intended for the use of those who work in that building.

color-elec (or colour-elec)

This is a color printer located in the in Nevis electronics assembly/testing area, similar to the color-research printer. It's intended for the use of those who work in that building.

bw-annex

This is a B&W printer located in the Nevis Annex at Pupin. It supports duplex printing.

color-annex (or colour-annex)

This is a color printer located in the Nevis Annex at Pupin. It differs from the color printer at Nevis in that it has only one input tray.

There are other print queues in existence, but they are restricted the use of specific working groups at Nevis or Pupin, and are not for general use. You may also see other printers at Pupin in the list; use them at your own risk.

Printer status and control commands

To check the status of a print queue, use the lpstat command. For example:

If you want to remove one of your jobs from the print queue, use the lprm command. For example:

Note that usually only the number of the job is necessary to cancel it.

Print server

With CUPS, the print server controls which print queues are available on the cluster, and is the only system that requires any printer drivers.

There are actually two print servers on the Nevis cluster: print.nevis.columbia.edu, which manages the printers at the Nevis site, and annex.phys.columbia.edu, which manages the printers at the Nevis Annex. The two print servers relay CUPS information to each other, so that printers at the Annex are available from systems at the Nevis site, and vice versa.

The print servers share their information across the Nevis and Pupin networks, so that laptop users at either site can have access to the Nevis Cluster printers. However, the print servers are configured to deny access to systems outside those networks for security reasons.

If you're using a system outside those networks, and you wish to print on a Nevis cluster printer, see the question above.

A typical setup for your system might be (using bw-research as an example):

If you're looking for Postscript Printer Description files (PPD files), you can find many of them on the Nevis Linux cluster, in directory ${NevisAppBase}/printing/ppds/.

to the Nevis Home Page.

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