PSF(1M) K-Spool by Xinet (10/14/99 10.1) PSF(1M)
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
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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
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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.
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<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)
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