# Setting up Printer and Fax Under UNIX Based Platforms

/text/shared/guide/spadmin.xhp
spadmin
printers; adding, UNIX
default printer; UNIX
standard printer under UNIX
faxes; fax programs/fax printers under UNIX
printers; faxes under UNIX
PostScript; PDF converter, UNIX
converters; PostScript, UNIX
PDF; PostScript to PDF converter, UNIX
mw deleted "printer programs under UNIX", "fax programs under UNIX" and "font programs under UNIX" and changed "faxes;..."
Setting up Printer and Fax Under UNIX Based Platforms
%PRODUCTNAME uses the installed fonts of your system. In a text document you can select from all printable fonts. In an HTML document or in Web layout, only fonts that are visible on screen are offered. In spreadsheets and drawings you can select from all installed fonts.
Under UNIX based platforms, the printer administration program spadmin is provided to help you set up printers and faxes for use with the $[officename] software.
Call the printer administration program spadmin as follows:
- Change to the {install_path}/program directory.
- Enter: ./spadmin
After it starts, the window of the printer administration program spadmin appears.
Following a server installation, the system administrator first logs on as with root privileges, and starts the printer administration program spadmin. The administrator then creates a general printer configuration file called {install_path}/share/psprint/psprint.conf for all users. All changes are immediately available to all users.
Setting up Printers
Under UNIX based platforms, the $[officename] software only offers direct support for printers using the PostScript technology. Other printers must be set up as described in the section Printer Drivers in the $[officename] Software. The $[officename] software automatically provides a printer with the default driver for each system queue. You can add additional printers as needed.
Adding a Printer
- Change to the {install_path}/program directory.
- Enter: ./spadmin
- Click the New Printer button.
- Select the Create Printer option and click Next.
- Select the appropriate driver for your printer. If you are not using a PostScript printer or your model is not listed, use the Generic Printer driver or follow the steps below. You can also add new drivers using the Import button or delete unnecessary drivers using the Delete button. Click Next.
- Choose a command line that you can use to print on your printer (for example, lp -d my_queue). Click Next.
- Give the printer a name and determine whether it should become the default printer. Click Finish.
- To print a test page, click on Test Page. If the test page fails to print or is incorrectly printed, check all settings as described in Changing Printer Settings.
Printer Drivers in the $[officename] Software
When installing a non-PostScript printer, you must set your system so that PostScript can be converted into the language of the printer. We recommend using current PostScript conversion software such as Ghostscript (http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/).
You should set up the Generic Printer in that case. Also make sure that the page margins are set correctly.
If you are using a printer using the PostScript technology, you should install a description file for the printer (PostScript Printer Definition - PPD) so that you can utilize the specific printer features like paper tray selection, duplex print function and all built-in fonts. You can also use the generic printer driver since it contains the most important data and is suitable for most printers. In that case, you will have to do without the paper tray selection and must correctly set the page margins.
Some PPD files are installed as default files. If there is no matching PPD file for your printer, you will find various PPD files at http://www.adobe.com/products/printerdrivers/. You can also ask the manufacturer of your printer for PPD files.
Importing Drivers When Creating a New Printer
- Click Import in the driver selection dialog.
- Click Browse to select the directory where you unpacked the PPD files.
- In the Selection of drivers list box, select the printer driver you want to install.
- Click OK.
Deleting Drivers When Creating a New Printer
- Select the printer driver.
- Click Delete.
Be sure that you do not delete the generic printer driver, and remember that drivers deleted from server installations are no longer available to other users who are using the same server installation.
If the printer has more fonts built in than the usual PostScript fonts, you must also load the AFM files for these additional fonts. Copy the AFM files into the {install_path}/share/psprint/fontmetric directory or into the {install_path}/user/psprint/fontmetric directory. You can find AFM files, for example, at ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/type/win/all/afmfiles/.
Changing Printer Settings
In the printer administration program spadmin, select the printer from the Installed printers list box and click Properties. The Properties dialog appears containing several tab pages. This is where you can make settings that are used according to the PPD file of the selected printer.
- Select the command on the Command tab page. You can remove superfluous commands using the Remove button.
- On the Paper tab page, you can define the paper format and paper tray to be used as the default settings for this printer.
- On the Device tab page, you can activate the special options for your printer. If your printer can only print in black and white, choose "grayscale" under Color, otherwise choose "color". If switching to grayscale leads to unfavorable results, you can also select "color" under Color and see how the printer or PostScript emulator applies it. Furthermore, on this tab page you can set the precision with which colors are described as well as the PostScript level.
- The Font Replacement tab page allows you to select a printer font type available in the printer for each font type installed on your computer. This way you can reduce the data volume sent to the printer. Font replacement can be turned on or off for each printer individually.
- You should also set the page margins correctly on the Additional settings tab when using the generic printer driver so that your printout is not cropped. You can also enter a description in the Comments field, which will also be displayed on the Print dialog.
Some of these settings can also be set for the current printout in the Print dialog or the Printer Settings dialog in the $[officename] software with the Properties button.
Renaming or Deleting Printers
- Select a printer from the Installed printers list box.
- To rename the selected printer, click Rename. Enter an appropriate name in the dialog that appears and click OK. The name must be unique and should be chosen so that you can recognize the printer and the application. Printer names must be assigned the same for all users because, when documents are exchanged, the selected printer remains unchanged if the recipient has it under the same name.
- To delete the selected printer, click Remove. The default printer or a printer that has been created by the system administrator in a server installation cannot be removed using this dialog.
Selecting a Default Printer
- To make the printer selected from the Installed printers list box the default printer, double-click its name or click the Default button.
Using Fax Functionality
If you have installed a fax package such as Efax or HylaFax on your computer, you can send faxes with the $[officename] software.
- Change to the {install_path}/program directory.
- Enter: ./spadmin
- Click New Printer. This opens the Add Printer dialog.
- Select Connect a fax device. Click Next.
- Choose whether to use the default driver or another printer driver. If you are not using the default driver, select the appropriate driver. Click Next.
- Enter a command line with which to communicate with the fax in the following dialog. In the command line of each fax sent "(TMP)" is replaced by a temporary file and "(PHONE)" by the telephone number of the recipient fax machine. If "(TMP)" occurs in the command line, the PostScript code is transmitted in a file, otherwise as standard input through a pipe. Click Next.
- Assign a name to your new fax printer and determine whether the telephone numbers (see below) marked in the text should be removed from the printout, or not. Click Finish.
You can now send faxes by printing to the printer that has just been created.
Enter the fax number as text in the document. You can also enter a field that takes the fax number from your active database. In any case, the fax number must start with the characters @@# and end with @@. A valid entry would have the form @@#1234567@@.
If these characters including the telephone number are not printed, activate the Fax number is removed from the printout option under Properties on the Command tab page. If no telephone number is entered in the document, a dialog prompting you for it will appear after the printout.
In $[officename] you can also activate an icon for sending faxes to a default fax. To do this, choose Tools - Customize - Toolbars, click Add Commands and add from "Documents" the Send Default Fax icon. You can set which fax is used when this button is pressed under %PRODUCTNAME - Preferences Tools - Options - %PRODUCTNAME Writer - Print.
Remember to create one separate print job for each fax, otherwise, the first recipient will receive all the faxes. In the Tools - Mail Merge dialog select the Printer option and then select the Single print jobs check box.
Connecting a PostScript to PDF Converter
If a PostScript to PDF converter such as Ghostscript or Adobe Acrobat Distiller is installed on your computer, you can quickly create PDF documents in the $[officename] software.
- In spadmin, click New Printer. This opens the Add Printer dialog.
- Select Connect a PDF converter. Click Next.
Choose whether to use the default driver, the Acrobat Distiller driver or another driver. The driver "Generic Printer (T42 enabled)" prefers the type 42 fonts over type 3 fonts; this driver is a good choice for output to a software PostScript interpreter. Click Next.
- In the next dialog, enter a command line for the PostScript->PDF Converter. Enter the directory where the PDF files should be saved. If you do not provide a directory, the user's home directory will be used. In the command line "(TMP)" is replaced by a temporary file and "(OUTFILE)" by the target file, the name of which is created from the document name. If "(TMP)" occurs in the command line, the Postscript code is forwarded in a file, otherwise as standard input through a pipe. If Ghostscript or Adobe Acrobat Distiller is in the search path, you can use one of the predefined command lines. Click Next.
- Assign a name to your new PDF converter. Click Finish.
You can now create PDF documents by printing to the converter that has just been created.