My original posting:
> I have been waiting for a summary pertaining to making the
> printcap file into a yp map on non 386i machines - however,
> I never saw any posted.
>
> Anyway, I have been having problems successfully using
> a printcap map on any machine other than 386i.
> I have been able to create and use the printcap map on
> my 386i machines but on all other machines (IPC, Sun4, ...),
> I get the error message "unknown printer".
>
> Is this not possible on non 386i machines? Does anyone
> have a printcap entry for the makefile in /var/yp that
> they've had success with using on non 386i machines?
>
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions/help/comments.
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it turns out that without modifications to non 386i machines,
printcap maps cannot be used. Evidentally, the printer daemon on
non 386i machines only uses /etc/printcap and doesn't even look for
the existence of a printcap map.
Most the responses that I received can be easily summed up from the
following response segment submitted by edguer@alpha.CES.CWRU.Edu
(Aydin Edguer):
>>
>> You have at least four choices of what to do:
>>
>> 1) You can get the "lpr" package from the Berkeley software release
>> and add support for NIS maps.
>> 2) You can purchase the "CONSULT-NISLPD" package from Sun.
>> This package modifies the standard SunOS Printer Spooling System
>> to support the NIS database ypprintcap. This product was
>> announced in October 1991. Speak with your local Sun sales rep.
>> 3) You can wait until SunOS 5.X. SunOS 5.X will include NIS+.
>> NIS+ is supposed to support printer databases.
>> 4) Punt. Don't try to use the NIS services for printcap entries.
>> It is not portable between Sun OS architectures or revisions,
>> nor is it portable between Sun and other manufacturers.
>>
>>The summaries including these answers were posted to sun-managers back on
>>4 Feb 91 [by ddp+@andrew.cmu.edu] and 17 Oct 91 [paul@hydres.uucp].
>>
>>Aydin Edguer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Another suggestion was:
From atwell@cadre.af.mil (Capt Bart Atwell):
>> One approach we've considered to ease the administration of
>> a lot of printers is to write a perl script that will set
>> up the local printcap based on what it sees in the current
>> 'ypprintcap'.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And to anyone interested in CONSULT-NISLPD:
From ron@sarah.lerc.nasa.gov (Ron Gaug):
>> Here's the announcement:
>>
>>
>> SOFTWARE SPECIALS MONTHLY SUMMARY
>>
>>October, 1991 Announcements:
>>
>>New Special:
>>
>> CONSULT-NISLPD
>> is a modified version of the Standard SunOS
>> Printer Spooling System, derived from BSD 4.3. It supports two
>> important features more than the standard spooler. On one hand
>> it supports the NIS database (ypprintcap) and on the other hand
>> it supports printing to a remote TCP connection, which means it
>> can support printing to devices attached to terminal servers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From ksamuels@wizkid.East.Sun.COM (Kevin Samuels):
>>What follows is a datasheet for the product...
. \" @(#)nislpd 1.4 10/2/91 SMI
. \" to print this datasheet, use
. \" soelim nislpd | tbl | ptroff -ms <--Use this command to print
.AM
.ds CF 10/17/90
.nr PS 11
.nr VS 13
.nr HM .75i
.nr LL 6.5i
.rm CM
.TS
expand;
lP36 0 lBP9w(6i) cP16 s rP8
lBP36 0 lP8w(2i) cP16 s rP8
lP9 0 lP8w(2i) cP16 s rp8.
.vs 8
Consulting Services (415) 336-2400
sun 2550 Garcia Avenue MS2-33 Fax (415) 968-4356
microsystems Mountain View, California 94043 Consulting Special Telex 287815
.sp .5
=
.TE
.LP
.TS
expand;
lBP16w(3.0i) s
l lBw(3.5i).
NIS and Terminal-server Support for the Standard Printer Spooler
.sp .5
Sun UNIX releases supported: 4.0.3, 4.0.3c, 4.1, 4.1.1
Workstation models supported: Sun3, Sun3x, Sun4, Sun4c
Part number: CONSULT-NISLPD
Source Availability: Available to SunOS Source Licensees
.TE
.TS
expand;
lw(1.3i) ri ri ri ri ri
lw(1.3i) nb nb nb nb nb.
Single Quantity 10 Site Upgrade
Price($US): n/a n/a 1,500 n/a
.sp .5
=
.TE
.LP
\s+2\fBDisclaimer\fP\s-2
.LP
SOFTWARE SPECIALS ARE CUSTOM CONSULTING WORK WHICH ARE SOLD ON AN
"AS-IS" BASIS. SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE ON A TIME AND MATERIAL
ARRANGEMENT ONLY.
.LP
\s+2\fBGeneral Description\fP\s-2
.LP
CONSULT-NISLPD is a modified version of the Standard SunOS Printer Spooling System,
derived from BSD 4.3.
It supports two important features more than the standard spooler.
On one hand it supports the NIS database (\fBypprintcap\fR)
and on the other hand it supports printing to a remote TCP connection,
which means it can support printing to devices attached to terminal servers.
.LP
\s+2\fBYpprintcap Support\fP\s-2
.LP
The \fBypprintcap\fR support works exactly the way it was on the sun386i.
This means we can easily deal with sun386i workstations in your net,
even if we do not provide a NISLPD Version for the sun386i.
The printcap file makes use of a string entry which is called "\fBtc\fR"
and points to another printcap entry which might be found on the NIS Server.
If necessary one can keep all printer information in this NIS printcap file.
If needed it is possible to do local changes to the \fB/etc/printcap\fR file and
get the generic information from NIS.
Additionally, the System Administrator no longer has to keep track of the
spooling directories needed on every single machine, we simply let \fBlpd\fR
create them if they are missing.
.LP
\s+2\fBTerminal Server Support\fP\s-2
.LP
This feature allows you to install one or more terminal servers in
your net and to configure one or more hosts to print their jobs on
devices attached to those terminal servers.
Currently we support the following terminal servers:
.LP
EURLAN_SPPORT10 from Sun-Germany IBG,
.LP
the SpiderPort T151 from SPIDER SYSTEMS
.LP
and the Advance TS016 from ABLE Computer Communications.
.LP
There were several new strings added to the printcap file which
allow easy configuration.
Hosts who have not installed NISLPD can use this service too,
if they support remote printing.
.LP
.LP
\s+2\fBNotes\fP\s-2
.LP
Some terminal servers behave quite uncommon, which means that the chance
is high that the source of CONSULT-NISLPD must be changed to support a
specific one.
We do not support the LAT Protocol from DEC.
If your site uses input or output filters for printjobs
\"fBif\fR" and "\fBof\fR" strings in printcap(5))
than you might run into problems.
This is because there are filters which assume they are connected
to a serial line and e.g use ioctls to change their setup.
This problem is only known in conjunction with Transcript software.
.sp
\s+2\fBContacts\fP\s-2
.LP
To order a copy of
.I "CONSULT-NISLPD",
contact your local Sun Sales Office. See Sun Consulting
\fIOrder Information\fR and \fITerms and Conditions\fR
for additional information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to the following people for their quick responses:
Ron Gaug ron@sarah.lerc.nasa.gov
Capt Bart Atwell atwell@cadre.ed.mil
Jim Davidson jimbo@crseo.ucsb.edu
Dave Miner dave.miner@east.sun.com
Arie Bikker aribi@geo.vu.nl
Geert Jan geertj@ica.philips.nl
Ian MacPhedran macphed@dvinci.usask.ca
Hal Stern stern@sunne.East.Sun.COM
Jay Plett jay@Princeton.EDU
Daniel Trinkle trinkle@cs.purdue.edu
Guy Harris guy@auspex.com
Lars Nilsson etxsral@hal.ericsson.se
Aydin Edguer edguer@alpha.CES.CWRU.Edu
Kevin Samuels ksamuels@wizkid.East.Sun.COM
Kevin Sheehan kalli!kevin@fourx.aus.sun.com
Paul Hoyt Nelson pnelson@renegade.lerc.nasa.gov
Ken Lewis krl@asti.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
linda@atlas.chemistry.uakron.edu
Linda Lancki
University of Akron
Chemistry Department
(216) 972-5898
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Fri Sep 28 2001 - 23:06:40 CDT