It was suggested that I start out by discussing something which happens to be very near and dear to my heart - how to print successfully in the ADP Lab. As you probably know, the ADP is the busiest computer lab on campus when it comes to printing; consequently, it is of the utmost importance that all of its patrons be aware of the rituals and incantations which will insure good printouts. I have spent a large portion of my adult life in the ADP, so I thought it would be appropriate to share some of the knowledge I've gleaned with y'all.
First of all, printing in the ADP is not hard. That said, it may come as a surprise how many people do it wrong, thus leading to much wasted paper and ink, wasted money (you still have to pay even if you don't want it!), and irate ADP Lab consultants. Since it's pretty difficult to screw up printing from Unix, we'll take a look at how to use the networked printers from Novell.
Printing from Novell is a three-step process.
(1) Log into your Novell account from the Automenu. You will be confronted with a list of printers; choose the one you want to send to. Pretty simple, huh? If you don't use Windows, you should be all set now. Unfortunately, most people do, so read on.
(b) Start Windows from the Automenu. After approximately 4 minutes and 20 seconds (yes!), you will be greeted by a friendly LanPrint window, asking you to select your printer. Ideally, you should be able to click on your printer, then click LPT1 and go. Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world (if it were, we wouldn't have to use Windows to begin with, eh?). Most of the time, you will get an error message saying "UNABLE TO CONNECT TO QUEUE BLURFL. STAND BACK - THIS COMPUTER WILL SELF-DESTRUCT. KIBO WAS HERE." (Or something to that effect.) Don't Panic! This ceremony will placate the angry NetWare demons.
\begin{enumerate}
\item Click the SETUP button on the LanPrint window.
\item The Printer Setup window pops up. Click the NETWORK button.
\item A list of printers pops up. Click the object of your desire.
\item Click the CAPTURE button in the window.
\item Click the icon with a silly picture of a door on it.
\item Close the Printer Setup window.
\item Now we're safe and sound back in the LanPrint window. Pick your printer and then click LPT1.
\item Click EXIT to end LanPrint.
\end{enumerate}
(iii) In an ideal world, we would now be ready to print. However, see (b). It is important to be sure that, in addition to connecting with the right printer, your application uses the right printer driver. Sometimes LanPrint does this for you, sometimes not. When you start your application, click [File], then [Print]. At the top of the print window will be a line like this:
Printer: Eristronix 666-XXX on \\\Adp Foo (LPT1)
Here Eristronix is the printer driver and Adp Foo is the printer we're connected to.
For printer... ...Connect to... With driver...
ADP Laser Adp Lsr HP LaserJet
4M Plus PS 600
ADP Line Adp Line Epson FX-80
ADP HQ Adp Hq Epson LQ-2550
Change your printer driver if necessary. In Word, you would click PRINTER and choose the right one off the list; then click SET AS DEFAULT PRINTER. In WordPerfect, click SELECT, then click SPECIFIC PRINTER and choose from the list. Other programs may vary.
Ta-da! You can now print, the ADP Way! Using these guidelines, you will get perfect printouts, every time. You will probably want to memorize all of these points word for word, or perhaps get them tattooed on the back of your left hand.
A couple more printing issues I wanted to touch on.
* Changing printers. Many applications, such as Word and WordPerfect, allow you to change printers from within the program. In Word, click PRINT, PRINTER, NETWORK to get to the printer selection screen (the same one we got to from LanPrint in step (b), above). In WordPerfect, click PRINT, SELECT, OPTIONS, NETWORK. From other programs, you can go to the StartUp group and double-click LanPrint, and then follow the same procedure in (b) over again. BE SURE that you also change your printer driver! Otherwise you will create a Disturbance in the Force, upsetting the Great Balance of Yin and Yang which envelopes the ADP, probably causing bad printouts and bad karma.
* Special paper. If you want to make your resume STAND OUT by laserprinting it on funky-colored paper (we recommend a nice fluorescent orange to grab that employer's attention), just select the ADPSPEC printer when you first login to Novell.
After that, follow the same procedure as for normal printing on the ADP Laser.
* Maple. Do *NOT* ever, EVER, !EVER! send Maple printouts to the ADP Line. Aaaaaaaaaugh! Use "lpr -Padplaser" as your print command to use the LaserJet; this is the ONLY printer in the ADP you can use. The only thing you should print on the adpline from Unix is plain text files - NO PostScript and NO gifs! (It seems silly that I would have to say this, but people do it pretty regularly.)
Well, that's enough for this week. Next week we'll be moving away from Novell (yay!) to look at more Unixy stuff (ahhh, Unix; "The One True OS," as MegaZone wisely remarked). If you have any questions or topics you'd like to see addressed, send email to zed@wpi.edu.
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