psf(1M)
psf - PostScript printer driver.
As shipped in IRIX 6.5.22. Last changed in IRIX 6.5.15.
NAME psf - PostScript printer driver. SYNOPSIS /usr/etc/appletalk/psf [-n user ] [-h host ] [-D] [-b] [-B] [-r] [-C] [-Q] [-L] [-A] [-t] [-H] [-X] [-s] [-S] [-R] [-W] [-J job ] [-p name ] [-P printer ] [-T type ] [-Z zone ] DESCRIPTION The psf filter, a printer driver for PostScript printers, accepts PostScript on input and supports AppleTalk networked and serially-connected printers. The psf filter carries on a full duplex dialog with the printer determining status, etc. as the job is sent. When psf opens a printer (either through AppleTalk or serially), it queries the printer to insure that the correct version of all needed dictionaries are loaded, and loads the correct version if they are not. If there is no PRINTER.PPD file in the directory where psf is run, it will attempt to generate one. The PRINTER.PPD file contains information about fonts and features of the printer, and is used by papserver to tell Macintosh clients about the printer. To obtain a log of error messages and output from the printer, create a publicly-writable file (mode 666) called "savelog" in the printer's spool directory. To stop logging, remove this file. This is particularly useful for debugging PostScript programs, and for executing PostScript programs that generate results, but do not print them. More complete error messages will be returned if accounting is enabled, as the connection will not close until the printer has completed processing the entire job. The flags are defined as follows: -n defines the user sending the job. The user is used in the banner page unless the PostScript contains the Mac user (in a %%For: comment) who originated the job. -h defines the host sending the job. The host is used in the banner page unless the job contains the Macintosh name where the PostScript originated. -D turns on debugging. More -D options turn on more debugging. -b causes a PostScript banner page to be generated from the template /usr/adm/appletalk/psfiles/banner -B supresses printing of the banner page (Banners can be turned on in the /etc/printcap file - see the -p option). -r specifies the job is reversed. The only effect now is to place the banner after rather than before the job. -C suppresses generation of /statusdict directives, for printers that do not support that feature. -Q suppresses attempts to query the printer. All queries will fail, and all needed dictionaries will be sent. Mainly useful for devices that do not know how to correctly answer queries. -A waits for the printer to show status "idle" before attempting an open connection. This is needed for AGFA selectset 5000 52.3 and AGFA Proset 9800's at least. The symptom of not having this on is that any jobs sent after the first one will fail with random postscript errors. -L used with LinoType and Afga typesetters. It increases the timeout period, which is necessary due to a bug in these printers' PAP implementation. -t used with printers that have a PAP implementation that do not reply to the first few ATP transactions. Some examples are Scitex Star systems and some Calcomp devices. If opens are unreliable or ocassionaly very slow, try this flag. -R adds support for 3M Rainbow devices, which reqiure a PAPRead before the connection is open to operate correctly. -H used with printer or RIPs with large buffers and complete AppleTalk implementations. It makes psf wait for the proper PAP close connection messages. This may make psf hang forever on printers with flaky AppleTalk implementations. -X causes exitserver commands to be removed from dictionaries before they are sent to the device. This is useful for printers that do not support exitserver commands. -s directs output to standard out, for serial printers. This makes the -P -T and -Z options meaningless. -S opens the device specified in the printcap and sets the output modes correctly. This is for serial printers driven from lp which expects the output filter to open the device. This makes the -P -T and -Z options meaningless. -W Causes all printer queries to wait 30 seconds, for printers that are slow to respond. -p causes psf to look up the name, type, and zone of the printer from the an, at, and ax fields in the printcap entry for name. Other options set from printcap fields are ab, which turns on banners if the value is non- zero, pd, which sets the debug level, rv, equivalent to the -r flag, and ls, specifying a maximum log file (given in the lf field) size in kilobytes. The printcap field pf holds a string that can contain any of the psf options A, C, H, L, Q, R, t, W or X. -P directs output to the printer printer. Defaults to the contents of the an field in printcap if -p is specified. -T changes the type of printer to type. Defaults to the contents of the at field in printcap if -p is specified. Otherwise the default is LaserWriter. -Z sets the printer zone to zone. Defaults to the contents of the az field in printcap if -p is specified. Otherwise the default is the local zone. CAVEATS Many flags that are not listed are accepted and ignored. psf no longer handles ASCII-PostScript translation. That is left for textps. On Silicon Graphics machines, lpd does not look at the error status of the input filter. For this reason, psf will not exit but retry if it cannot open the printer. If you wish to change the arguments to psf on an active queue, you will have to restart the queue. The order of arguments to psf can be significant. Options that are affected by the printcap entry (see the -p option) will override similar options preceding the -p on the command line, and can be overriden by options that come after the -p on the command line. FILES /usr/adm/appletalk/psfiles Directory containing cached dictionaries /usr/adm/appletalk/psfiles/banner template of banner page <spooldir>/PRINTER.PPD printer description file used by psf. <spooldir>/OPTIONS.PS If present, a PostScript slug from the printer's spool directory that will be merged into every print job after the PostScript header. <spooldir>/SETUP.PPD Holds PostScript resulting from selections made in OPTIONS.PPD. Each section of setup PostScript is placed between structuring comments, and is sent with the print job, if the job did not come in via papserver. /etc/printcap printer description database SEE ALSO textps(1), configks(1m)