Printing to a Networked Printer

To print to a printer that is connected directly to the network, use the ptr program on Helix to request activation of the printer. You will need to provide the following information:

• Name
• Phone Number
• Email address
• IP address or hostname of printer (if it is a printer registered with printshare, let us know)
• Unique name of your choosing (lower-case letters are preferred, e.g. nia_lkp)

Printing to an AppleTalk Printer

To print to a printer on the AppleTalk network, you should also use the ptr program on Helix to request activation of the printer. You will need to provide the following information:

• Name
• Phone Number
• Email address
• Name of the AppleTalk printer and its AppleTalk zone. Remember that the case of letters is important when specifying printer and zone names. (Note: AppleTalk printer names containing apostrophes cannot be processed by PrintShare and will have to be changed at the time the printer is registered.)
• Unique name of your choosing for the PrintShare spooler. It must be lower case, alphanumeric, and a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters. The name can be the same as the AppleTalk printer name, as long as it meets the above criteria (e.g. mymac_pr).

Note: If you do not know this information, you should contact your IC helpdesk or the network administrator in your building.

Once your printer is registered with PrintShare and added to the Helix database, you will be notified that it is ready for use.

Print Commands

Once your printer is set up you can use the following commands on Helix to print to it:

lpr -Pprintername
enscript -Pprintername

On Helix, the lpr command will not let you print text files to a postscript printer. The enscript command converts text files to postscript first, then prints the file to a postscript printer.

You can also permanently set the environment variable PRINTER in your .cshrc file located in your home directory. To edit the .cshrc file, type

pico .cshrc

Move the cursor down to the "setenv PRINTER 'your printer is an'" line, delete the 'your printer is an' portion and replace it with your printer's name. Exit the file, log off and back in to reset the settings. You can now use the lpr or enscript command without the -P option.

Printing to a Local Non-Networked Printer

There are a few ways to print to a local non-networked printer. You can do one of the following:

• cut and paste from a Helix window into a printable file format on your own machine.
• use the pcprint command on Helix if your communication package supports transparent printing
• download the file from Helix to your workstation and then print.

Other Printers

You can print text and postscript files to the CIT central printers, located in Building 12, by using the print370 command on Helix. You will need a box number so your output will be placed in that box for you to pick up. Note: be sure to have the access code for the box if you are going to pick up the output yourself. The box is associated with an MVS account for which you will need an account sponsor (usually your supervisor).