Printing at Fermilab

Printing from UNIX
Printing from Windows
Fermilab Print Server FNPRT
- Check any queue on FNPRT
- List of all print caps on the FNPRT server
Fermilab Print Server FERMI-WPRT
DocuTech for high-volume jobs
Fiery for high-volume or particularly high-quality color jobs
Fermilab Customized Fonts and Templates (available for MS Word)
Advanced Printing Topics

Notes:

Most modern printers can do two-sided (duplex) printing. We encourage you to use this feature whenever possible to save paper.
You should be aware that depending on how you access a printer queue, it may have more than one name. For example, the designation for a particular queue on FNPRT may be different from its designation on a given Windows server. In many cases you will find a note posted on or near the printer which lists all the queue names for it.

Printing from UNIX

Printing from UNIX is described in Chapter 8 of the UNIX at Fermilab manual. Here you will find information for a number of printing utilities:

flpr

for sending files to a printer

a2ps

for formatting plain text for a PostScript printer

psnup

for printing multiple logical pages on one physical page ("n up" printing)

a2ps and psnup are also described in the User's Guide to Unix Printing Utilities.

These utilities are grouped under the product psutils. Other useful tools included in this product are fixXXXps for various XXX (e.g., fixntps for NT). These can be used to make stubborn PostScript files from other sources printable or displayable using programs such as flpr and ghostview.

Reminder: We encourage you to use two-sided (duplex) printing whenever possible to save paper. In UNIX at Fermilab, see section 8.2.3 Set Duplex Mode under Pre-Printing Options for information.

UNIX and the Fermilab Print Server FNPRT

If you are using flpr to print from a centrally-supported UNIX machine at Fermilab, your print requests will be routed through the Fermilab print server FNPRT. FNPRT provides you access to a large number of supported printers on-site. A full list of printer queues supported by FNPRT is available.

Printing from Windows (2000 or XP)

Refer to the web pages on printing:

Adding a Printer Though Network Neighborhood in Windows 2000 is at http://computing.fnal.gov/printing/nt-net/ .

Adding a TCP/IP Printer in Windows 2000 is at http://computing.fnal.gov/printing/nt-tcpip/ .

Advanced Printing Topics

PPD Files

PPD files are used by PC printer drivers to tell the printer driver the capabilities of the selected printer. Usually on Windows platforms these files are added when a new printer driver is installed, so no user action is needed.