Printing in the Math Department

1. What kind of printers do you have?
2. How do I print postcript, dvi, pdf and text files?
3. How do I see what jobs are ahead of me in the print queue?
4. How delete one of my jobs from the print queue?
5. How do set my default printer?
6. How do I print to the color printer, "rainbow", in 2-366?
7. How do I print to the transparency tray of the color printer, "rainbow", in 2-366?
8. How do I avoid printing the header page?
9. How do I print multiple pages of a document on one sheet of paper?
10. How do I print a few pages from a large document?
11. How do I select only even or odd pages?
12. How do I print A4 sized PostScript documents on letter sized paper?
13. My pdf file is not printing, any suggestions?
14. When I print, the printer momentarily says "Processing job", but no paper comes out.
15. The printer is turned on, but no jobs are coming out. What's wrong?

If a printer is jammed, out of toner, or having other problems please send an email to: help@math.mit.edu

What kinds of printers do you have?

We currently have 9 printers available for public use throughout the department:

How do I print postcript, dvi, pdf and text files?

PostScript, PDF, and plaintext files: use the regular lpr command:

• lpr -P printername filename.ps

DVI - a dvi file is the result of LaTeX-ing a document:

• dvips filename.dvi

If you wish to make the dvi a postscript file without printing use:

• dvips filename.dvi -o filename.ps

To print directly to a destination other than your default printer:

• dvips filename.dvi -f | lpr -P printername

How do I see what jobs are ahead of me in the print queue?

Use the lpq command to see what jobs are ahead of yours.

• lpq -Pprintername

You should recieve information much like the following:

<matt@lagrange> [$] lpq -Ppoe

poe is ready and printing
Rank    Owner   Job     File(s)		Total Size
active  matt    18      ps1.ps		35840 bytes
1st     matt    19      ps2.ps		35840 bytes
2nd     matt    20      ps3.ps		35840 bytes

How delete one of my jobs from the print queue?

Use the lprm to remove jobs from the queue. In order to remove the job from the print queue we must first determine the job number of your printout. Using the command from the previous question, we see that there is a "Job" column. Find your job in the list, then use it's job id to build your lprm commmand.

For example, to remove the second job from the list above use the following command:

• lprm -Ppoe 19

How do I set my default printer so I can just type lpr filename instead of lpr -Pprintername filename?

Issue the following command from the command line of one of the Linux machines:

• lpoptions -d printername

How do I print to the color printer, Rainbow, in 366?

Use the printer name "rainbow" as your destination printer

• lpr -P rainbow filename.ps

How do I print to the transparencies tray of the color printer, Rainbow, in 366?

Use the printer name "rainbow-slides" as your destination printer

• lpr -P rainbow-slides filename.ps

You may also choose to use the transparencies tray of pot-of-gold, in 2-168.

• lpr -P pot-of-gold-slides filename.ps

How do I avoid printing the header page?

Due to popular request, we have disabled header pages. If this becomes a problem we will re-enable them and post information here on how to disable them on a per-job basis.

How do I print multiple pages of a PostScript document on one sheet of paper?

The -o number-up=value option selects N-Up printing. N-Up printing places multiple document pages on a single printed page. CUPS supports 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 16-Up formats; the default format is 1-Up:

• lpr -o number-up=1 -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o number-up=2 -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o number-up=4 -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o number-up=16 -Pprintername filename ENTER

How do I print a few pages from a large PostScript document?

The -o page-ranges=pages option selects a range of pages for printing:

• lpr -o page-ranges=1 -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o page-ranges=1-4 -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o page-ranges=1-4,7,9-12 -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o page-ranges=1-4,7,9-12 -Pprintername filename ENTER

How Do I Select Only Even or Odd Pages?

Use the -o page-set=set option to select the even or odd pages:

• lpr -o page-set=odd -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o page-set=even -Pprintername filename ENTER
• lpr -o page-set=even -Pprintername filename ENTER

How do I print A4 sized PostScript documents on letter sized paper?

The -o media=xyz option sets the media size, type, and/or source:

• lpr -o media=Letter filename ENTER

My pdf file is not printing, any suggestions?

It could be your PDF document is in A4 format, in Acrobat Reader do the following:

Click on the File Menu in the upper left hand corner and select Print Setup, If under Paper it lists "A4" as the size, change it to Letter.

You can also try printing it on one of the duplex printers.

Some pdf files are only compatible with the program they were created with. Try both the Adobe Acrobat reader (acroread under linux), and the open-source document reader xpdf. One of the programs should be able to properly print the document.

When I print, the printer momentarily says "Processing job", but no paper comes out.

First make sure no jobs are in the queue. If no jobs are in the queue, power cycle the printer and try sending the job again. If you still have problems, ask for help.

The printer is turned on, but no jobs are coming out. What's wrong?

If a printer is jammed, out of toner, or having other problems please send an email to: help@math.mit.edu