lessdisks

wolfgang · Messages: 26 Location: Bochum

as an alternative to lp_server you might use p910nd.
this tool supports parallel and usb printers, but has no options to control serial printers.

you can apt-get the Debian package from debian.jones.dk, but for your convenience it can also be found under "Files" (in the menu at the right upper corner of this page).

install this package in the terminals chroot. if you want to customize terminals and do not want to start everything installed by default on each single one, remove the start links in runlevels 2 to 5.

customize it like outlined in "local printer (parallel/serial)" in this section - simply place a script called
printer_parallel into /etc/lessdisks/sessions.d looking as simple as this one:

#! /bin/bash
#
# schweer at cityweb dot de jan 2004
#
# emulate hp jet direct interface using p910nd by Ken Yap
#
# for possible settings: man p910nd and /etc/init.d/p910nd

/etc/init.d/p910nd start

you can test if everything is o.k.:

nmap <terminalname> on the server will output something like this:

Starting nmap 3.75 ( http://www.insecure.org/nmap/ ) at 2005-01-31 23:42 CET
Interesting ports on turtle:
(The 1658 ports scanned but not shown below are in state: closed)
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp open ssh
111/tcp open rpcbind
621/tcp open unknown
6000/tcp open X11
9100/tcp open jetdirect

Nmap run completed -- 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.738 seconds

Now you can configure the printer as a jetdirect printer.