Configuring printing for UNIX clients

When printing to UNIX client devices, you may have carry out additional configuration:

to associate the printer driver name with a print job so that users can print from a Windows 2000/2003 application server,
to allow users to select which printer they print to when printing, and
to associate a printer type with a printer so that print jobs are formatted correctly for the client printer.

You can do all of this by editing the [UNIX] section in either or both of the following printer configuration files:

the install_dir/etc/data/default.printerinfo.txt file - this file is a global file which set defaults for all users printing through that particular Tarantella server.
the $HOME/.tarantella/printerinfo.txt file on the user's client device - this file contains the settings for an individual user regardless of which Tarantella server they print through. Users do not have to have this file, but if they do, its settings take precedence over the settings in the default.printerinfo.txt.

You have to create the printerinfo.txt file for individual users by copying the file from the Tarantella server, re-naming it and then editing it.

Note The global default.printerinfo.txt file is not copied across to other members of an array. You have to edit/copy each file manually.

Editing the default.printerinfo.txt/printerinfo.txt files

When Tarantella is first installed, the default.printerinfo.txt file contains the following entry:

[UNIX]
"_Default" = "QMS 1060 Print System" PostScript

In this format, a Windows 2000/2003 application server session from a UNIX client will have one printer called _Default/Tarantella/Session number that prints to the default UNIX/Linux print queue using a basic PostScript printer driver, "QMS 1060 Print System".

Note This also means that a printer will be created on a Windows 2000/2003 application server even if there is no printer connected to the client device.

You can edit the default.printerinfo.txt/printerinfo.txt files to use the following format:

[UNIX]
"printer_name" = "printer_driver_name" printer_type

where:

printer_name is the name of the printer as it is known to the UNIX lp or lpr system. The printer name must be enclosed in double quotes and be followed by an equals sign.
printer_driver_name is the name of the Windows 2000/2003 printer driver. The printer driver name must be enclosed in double quotes. The default.printerinfo.txt file contains a list of Windows 2000/2003 printer driver names ordered by manufacturer.
printer_type is the format to be used for the print job. The values can be PostScript, PCL or Text. This information is optional, but if it is missing, PostScript is used by default. This information is used to determine whether Tarantella needs to convert the print job from the format used by the application server to the format used by the printer.

The first printer listed in the [UNIX] section will be the client's default printer.

Example

Graham Green's $HOME/.tarantella/printerinfo.txt file contains the following entries:

[UNIX]
"devprinter" = "HP DeskJet 970Cxi" PCL
"salesprinter" = "HP LaserJet 5/5M" PostScript

When he runs a Windows 2000/2003 application server session from a UNIX client, he has three printers called:

devprinter/Tarantella/Session number
salesprinter/Tarantella/Session number

The default printer will be devprinter/Tarantella/Session number, which in this example has been defined as a PCL printer.

Next steps in configuring Tarantella printing

Configure an application server:
Configure the Tarantella server to accept remote print requests.
Configure printing if you use the Common UNIX Printing System™ (CUPS).
Configure Tarantella print job conversion.
Test that printing works. If you have trouble printing, follow the steps in the printing troubleshooter.

Related topics
Introducing Tarantella printing The tarantella print command