iraf.net

Hi Jeanette,
We're having problems interfacing IRAF with our new HP Laserjet III
printer. The printer works fine (as a line printer) with the UNIX lpr utility.
We've purchased PostScript and RAM upgrades from HP, but IRAF is not waking
up the device in this mode (at all).
I suspect we need a PostScript driver (and maybe other things). Can
you help?

This is in reply to the mail you recently sent Jeannette Barnes about using
your HP LaserJet III printer from IRAF. I understand you have installed
a PostScript cartridge for this device and use it successfully outside
IRAF with the lpr command. If that is true, it should be easy to interface
the device as an IRAF printer/plotter. Most likely, all you need to do
is edit the files dev$termcap and dev$graphcap. Termcap is used by the
LPRINT command. Graphcap is used by CL plotting tasks. I'll detail the
required change to graphcap; termcap is similar but simpler. In graphcap, find the entry for the device name you're using in the CL.
This is most likely "lw" which you may have defined as stdplot: cl> show stdplot
lwIn dev$graphcap:
apple|apl|lw|lw1| :tc=uapl1:
[...]
uapl1|UNIX generic interface to 300dpi Apple Laserwriter (Postscript):\
s#0.265:ys#0.202:ar#0.760:\
D=apl,tmp$sgk,!{ sgidispatch sgi2uapl $F -l$(XO) -w$(XW) -b$(YO) \
-h$(YW) -p$(PW) | lpr -Plw1; rm $F; }&:tc=sgi_apl:

Note that device lw (and its aliases) are tc'd to the uapl1 entry. The uapl1
entry contains the DD string which is where you'll make your site
dependent modifications. The third field of the DD string ia a host level
command. It runs the IRAF PostScript translator (sgi2uapl) with various
parameters and pipes the output to:
lpr -Plw1
Replace this lpr command with the one that works for you outside the CL.
It is probably just the device name that is wrong. The output from the
sgi2uapl translator is a PostScript file.In dev$termcap, no PostScript translator is used. So, just edit the DD
string for the appropriate entry to include the lpr command that you use
outside the CL for printing a textfile to the device.Hope this helps you sort it out. If not, write back or call the IRAF
HOTLINE at 602-323-4160.Suzanne Jacoby

Hi Gary, If you can't access the HP as a PostScript device, you will have to
install another SGI translator, one that translates IRAF metacode into HP
metacode. You can get such a translator from our anonftp archive on node
iraf.noao.edu (140.252.1.1). Ftp to that machine and login as anonymous.
Use your last name as the password. Change directories to the iraf.old
subdirectory and "get" file sgi2uhplj.c. This is C source code which should
be placed in the iraf$unix/gdev/sgidev directory and built following the
commands for other translators in the mkpkg.sh file. You eventually want
the executable to be in the hbin directory, which is iraf$unix/bin.sparc for
a SparcStation. After installing the executable, you'll also need to edit
dev$graphcap to include an entry for this device. The comments in the source
code give a sample graphcap entry. Let me know if you have problems with the retrieval or installation.Suzanne-rw-rw-r-- 1 iraf 7100 May 9 1989 /arc/ftp/iraf.old/sgi2uhplj.c