About Printer Device Definition

Use this view of the Device Definition window to view or modify existing printer definitions. Depending on which type of printer token you have selected, the information displayed will either contain a UNIX print spooler definition or a direct attached parallel port printer definition.

Using this view, you can also delete existing printer definitions or create new ones.

For more information about the general subject of device definitions and managing them, see About Device Definition.

UNIX Print Spooler Definition

To set up your UNIX print spooler to be available to DOS and Windows sessions, you first need to configure the printer under UNIX, then create a spooler definition, and then attach it to your DOS or Windows session. See ``Printing through the UNIX system spooler'' in the SCO Merge User's Guide for more information.

SCO Merge provides one standard print spooler definition (doslp), which is attached to your DOS and Windows sessions by default. So, printing from DOS or Windows results in spooling your printer output to the default UNIX printer by executing the UNIX command in the Printer Command window.

If you have multiple local printers or would like to set up a remote printer for use under DOS or Windows, you need to create new print spooler definitions. Once you create a new spooler definition, it becomes available for attachment in the Personal Merge Session Configuration window.

If you are using Windows 95, print spooler definitions created here are automatically available as local printers to the Windows 95 Add Printer Wizard.

Creating a New Print Spooler Definition

Follow these steps to create a definition for a UNIX print spooler:

1. Click on the New button to create a new token name for the printer. Alternatively, you can select an existing printer definition (e.g., doslp) from the list of tokens, modify the settings appropriately, and then save the resulting definition under a new token name.

2. Enter a description for the printer in the Description text box. The text in this box will appear as an entry in the LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3 selection lists in the Personal Merge Session Configuration window. Therefore, this text should be descriptive enough to identify the spooler, but short enough to fit in the selection list field, which has limited width.

3. Specify the appropriate Usable By setting. See About Device Definition if you need an explanation of the appropriate setting for this field.

4. In the Printer Command text box, type the UNIX command that sends the output to the appropriate printer.

   The correct command is the one you would use to print from the UNIX command line (for example, lp -dprintername). It can also be any other UNIX command that will operate on standard input. For example, you can run your printer output through a filter before spooling by using the following command: filtername | lp -dprintername.

5. Click on the Save or Save As button to save the new print spooler definition.