GhostScript GUI and Solaris lp Support

This 50k gzipped tar file contains...

• GhostScript Printer Setup GUI support, and
• Solaris lp support

This stuff designed to work with GhostScript version 4.0 or later, and Solaris 2.3 or later. It should also work on other SVR4 systems with minor tweaking, so long as they use an lp print spooler (lpsched).

The lp support will not work on systems which use an lpr/lpd spooler, such as BSD systems and most installations of Linux. The dialog boxes will still work, but you will have to provide your own spooler support. You can easily test if you are using an lpr/lpd system, just do man lpd. If you have a manual page for lpd then you are probably running an lpr/lpd spooler.

Note that only the operating system of the print server (the computer connected to the printer) is important. The dialog boxes work on all the mainstream UNIX variants, so your end-user workstations can be running almost any version of UNIX.

NOTE: I no longer have a Stylus Color myself, and neither the new drivers in GhostScript 5.x nor the new lp system in Solaris 2.6 (and above) are supported by this old gs-gui stuff. I have been petitioned by several people asking me to add this support, and I may get around to adding it eventually, but at the moment I just don't have the spare time, sorry. Of course, you could always add it yourself...

README (from the above mentioned gzipped tar file)

This directory contains two different but related contributions:

1. Stuff which allows GhostScript to be used automatically and transparently from within the Solaris 2.x "lp" print spooler. This makes your non-postscript printer look like a true postscript printer to *all* normal applications, allowing you to use File->Print and other niceties from normal applications! Described in unix-lp.doc.
   
   
2. Stuff which allows users to select the printer options which they want to use by using nice GUI dialog boxes. These options are automatically used by the lp support (mentioned above), so the whole system works like the Macintosh & Window's "Printer Setup" dialog boxes. Described in ptrsetupgui.doc.

To add this to the GhostScript distribution, simply copy the files into the GhostScript source directory, eg:

cp gs_epson9_setup gs_stcolor_setup gs_stcolor_setup.algs \
lp-interface.sh lp.readptrsetup.c ptrsetupgui.doc \
stcolorgui.gif unix-lp.doc ../gs4.0/

Read ptrsetupgui.doc and unix-lp.doc to find out how to install this stuff.

HISTORY

December 1996: Minor bug-fix for a problem that occurs when the gs_stcolor_setup dialog box is used with MetaCard 2.0.1 and 2.0.2. Also, some minor changes to both dialog boxes to stop text being clipped with MetaCard 2.1.

November 1996: Changed the font used for the fine print on the stcolor dialog box. It now looks better on non-Sun systems. No other changes.

August 1996: Minor changes to gs_stcolor_setup to bring it into line with version 1.90 of the GhostScript stcolor driver (gs4.0). Changed the defaults to use noWeave and changed the gs arg output to use -dSoftweave when appropriate. Also added fine print on the dialog box to indicate settings which only work with the original and Pro series (such as softweave).

October 1995: Minor changes to lp interface script.

August 1995: First release. Includes dialogs for EPSON Stylus Color and EPSON 9-pin.

Snapshot of the dialog box for the EPSON Stylus Color

Copyright © 1995 Jason Patterson. Last Updated: March 31, 1998.