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HOW TO: Configure Transparent Printers

Note: This procedure sets up the communication characteristics for transparent printers. Once a transparent printer has been set up, you can use it as you would a printer connected directly to a serial port. See your UNIX documentation for information on setting up print queues.

Procedure

At the command prompt, enter:

ditty -n ttyname [options]

where ttyname is the name of the terminal device and options are selected from the list below.

Note: Depending on your operating system, the ditty program may be named differently. See Setting TTY Options for the correct command line format for your operating system.

maxcps n

Limits the maximum printer port character-per-second data rate. n should be set to the minimum character rate the printer can sustain in typical use.

maxchar n

Limits the number of characters queued to the printer ahead of terminal output. Lower numbers increase system overhead, higher numbers result in keystroke echo delays. A value of 50 is generally a good compromise at 9600 baud.

bufsize n

This parameter should be set to a value just below the printer''''s buffer size. After a period of inactivity, the driver will burst up to this many characters to the printer to fill the print buffer before slowing to the maxcps rate.

onstr "s"

Defines the terminal escape sequence to direct subsequent data to the transparent printer.

s is a string of ASCII characters, enclosed in quotes, that command the terminal to enter transparent printing mode. An arbitrary octal character xxx may be given as \xxx.

For example, the sequence "[5i" would be entered as:
"\033[5i".

offstr "s"

Defines the terminal escape sequence to stop directing data to the printer.

s is a string of ASCII characters, enclosed in quotes, that command the terminal to enter transparent printing mode. An arbitrary octal character xxx may be given as \xxx.

For example, the sequence "[4i" would be entered as:
"\033[4i".

term t

Sets the transparent printer on/off strings to values found in the internal default table. Internal defaults are used for the following terminal types: adm31, ansi, dg200, dg210, hz1500, mc5, vt100, vt220, vt320, vt420, wang2x36, wyse30, wyse50, wyse60 or wyse75.

If the terminal type is not found in the internal default table, then ditty reads the terminfo entry for the terminal type and sets the transparent print on/off strings to the values given by the mc5/mc4 attributes found there.

Last updated: Jan 11, 2024

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