How to Access Unix files (and printers) from your PC.

Should samba not be working (or for some other reason) it is possible to print to the Unix printers using software available with Exceed. Note that this Q&A documents software accompanying Exceed V6.1, however other versions should be similar.

To print a file using Exceed LPR you must first print the document to a file and then send that file to the Unix machine hosting the printer. Note that you must have a suitable driver installed on your Windows machine before you can print - if you have previously used the printer in question successfully then this should not be a problem.

1. Printing to file.
Select the Unix printer (or a printer of the same make & model) as normal in your windows application e.g. 'File/Print' or 'File/Print Setup' depending on the application. Having selected the printer , ensure the "Print To File" check-box is checked (or ticked) as shown. You may find this under a 'Settings' sub menu.
Enter a suitable file name for the print file. This file will store the data usually sent directly to the printer. The extension (.prn, .ps, etc) is unimportant to the process.

2. Setting Up the Exceed LPR
The Exceed LPR program must be set up to use the Unix printer required. First you need to find out which computer hosts the printer. For example the colour PS printer on level 7 (named 'cps') is hosted on ektor.
Open the Exceed LPR software. This is usually under the Start Menu:
Start/Programs/(Hummingbird) Exceed/Host Access/LPR
Once the LPR program is running select 'Printer/Add Remote Printer...' from the drop down menu.
Under 'Host' enter 'ektor' (in our example for the colour postscript), under 'Queue Name' enter 'cps' (for our example). Under 'User ID' enter your Unix login name. Click 'OK'.
You can check if the setup has worked by attempting to read the printer queue. Select 'Printer/Refresh' from the LPR program. After a pause you should see the a list of the items queued on the printer. This may well return "no entries".

3. Print the file.
From the LPR program select 'File/Print'. Locate the file created in step 1 and select it. Click 'OK'. The file should appear in the queue (small files may appear only briefly) and printing should begin.

j.ashmall@ic.ac.uk

Under Win95/98 it is possible for LPR to 'capture' a printer port. This removes the need to create the intermediate print files. Since this is more involved and does not work under NT it is not covered here, though the more adventurous may like to try it at their own risk.

j.ashmall@ic.ac.uk