ppd(1M) Impressario ppd(1M)NAMEppd - Impressario PPD driver for use with PostScript capable printers.
DESCRIPTION
PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files are human readable text files
that describe the features of a specific PostScript capable printer. A
PPD file describes printer features in such a way that a Graphical User
Interface (GUI) can be built to present the user with a list of printer
features to choose from. Examples of printer features include paper
size, supported fonts, paper handling, etc. A PPD file also contains
PostScript and Job Control Language (JCL) commands to be used to invoke
the selected features.
The Impressario PPD software parses a PPD file and uses the PPD file
information to:
- Build a list of supported printers (Printer Manager Add function)
- Build a GUI for controlling the printer (glp Options panels)
- Send the correct PostScript and JCL commands to the printer (the
Impressario PPD printer driver)
For more information on PPD files see the Adobe document: "PostScript
Printer Description File Format Specification" available from Adobe
Systems Incorporated. Version 4.2 of the document was used as the basis
of the Impressario PPD driver.
SGI supplies a number of PPD files in the directory
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model. PPD files in this directory have been tested
with the Impressario PPD driver and the printers that these PPD files
support will be listed in the Printer Manager.
Additional PPD files can be found at printer vendor web sites and FTP
sites. Many vendors have a large collection in a single directory that
can be downloaded. One notable exception is HP. HP PPDs are not
available in a single location -- they are incorporated into HP supplied
printer drivers. For this reason you may have to contact HP to get a PPD
file for a particular printer.
To make the PPD available to the Printer Manager it has to be copied to
the directory that contains tested PPD files (/var/spool/lp/PPD_model).
See the file /var/spool/lp/PPD_model/README for details. Note that if
the Printer Manager is running and a new PPD file is added to
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model then the Printer Manager should be restarted to
insure the new PPD file is seen.
A large collection of PPDs for multiple vendors are available from
Adobe's FTP site at ftp.adobe.com. Most of these files are already
available on the SGI system and can be found in the directory
/var/spool/lp/PPD_untested. /var/spool/lp/PPD_untested contains PPD
files that SGI has not tested with the Impressario PPD driver. They may
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or may not work with the Impressario PPD driver. These files are
supplied in the impr_print.sw.ppd_unsupported subsystem and are provided
as a convenience for users who would otherwise have to get them from an
FTP site. Printers supported by the PPD files in the
/var/spool/lp/PPD_untested directory are not listed by the Printer
Manager (see the README file in the /var/spool/lp/PPD_untested directory
for more information).
For more information on the Impressario PPD driver see "Appendix I:
Impressario PPD Driver Implementation" in the Impressario developers
Guide.
TRADEMARKS
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.
FILES
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model/README
Instructions for adding a PPD file to the system.
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model
Directory containing supported PPD files.
/var/spool/lp/PPD_untested
Directory containing unsupported PPD files.
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model/impressario_ppd_common.ppd
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model/impressario_ppd_common_3color.ppd
/var/spool/lp/PPD_model/impressario_ppd_common_4color.ppd
These three files implement a common section of the GUI options
menu.
/var/spool/lp/model/impressario_ppd_model
The default lp spooler model file used by the PPD driver.
/usr/lib/X11/$LANG/app-defaults/ppd
Directory containing resource files for PPD files.
/var/spool/lp/gui_model/ELF/impressario_ppd_model.gui
This is the GUI binary for the PPD driver.
/usr/lib/print/ppd_driver
PPD device driver.
/usr/lib/print/genppdtemplate
Used to generate an X resource file from a PPD file.
/usr/lib/print/ppdtopod
Used to convert a PPD file to an Impressario POD format.
/usr/lib/print/packppdfiles
Used to pack several files into a single file.
SEE ALSO
The Impressario developers Guide (available as an on-line book when the
Impressario Developer sub-system software is installed).
ppdtopod(1), impressario_ppd_model(1), packppdfiles(1), genppdtemplate(1)
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