Subject: [netatalk-admins] Idea for Net printing but i need help....

From: "ian reinhart geiser" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 17:23:51 -0600

okay here is the skinny:
    I have about 25 users who would like to be able to output documents
    strait to PDF.  I could use PDF writer for MacOS but that would mean
    I would spend roughly 2500 USD on Adobe Acrobat.  Not an option for
    the old ][fx systems with only 8 megs of RAM.  So I was wondering the
    following.

    1.    Ghostscript can convert from PS to PDF.
    2.    LPR uses Ghostscript for PS printing to inkjet printers
    3.    Netatalk interfaces with LPR.

    How hard would it be to create a shared laserwriter printer that
    would look like a PS printer from the macintosh side but the linux
    side would convert it to PDF and place it in the users home directory.

    I can do this all from the command line in a shell script i just do
    not know how to do this from the LPR!  I am sooo close it is driving me
    nuts.  This may also be useful to any other people out there too.  If
    of you have used Print2PICT.  We could do something similar using
    ImageMagic.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks in advance.

    -ian reinhart geiser

---

From: Albert Max Lai <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 20:38:44 -0500 (EST)

>     not know how to do this from the LPR!  I am sooo close it is driving me

Have you tried in your papd.conf doing a pipe into a shell script, such as 

printer_name:\
	:pr=|shell_script etc....

In your shell script you could have standard input written to a file
inside of a spool directory and then subsequently processed by your shell
script.

--
Albert Lai <[email-masked]>           1018D East Campus
Residential Computer Consultant           411 W. 116th St.
Columbia University                       New York, NY 10027
http://www.columbia.edu/~aml61            (212)853-4854

---

From: ian reinhart geiser <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 15:20:19 -0600 (CST)

> inside of a spool directory and then subsequently processed by your shell
	am i getting PS in?
	if so how do i know who is sending it?
	this is another delema that i have yet to 
	even solve. currently i can create a file 
	in the TMP dir with a name of a date stamp.

	Is there a way for PAP to tell the server who	
	is printing?  Once this is solved I will have
	a script that can output PDF, GIF, EPS ... anything...

	thanks

	-ian reinhart geiser

.-----------------------------------------------------------.
|[]                   NeXT Generation                    [X]|
|--------------------------,--------------------------------.
|  PC Network Specialist,  | Office:	CCSD Data Center    |
|  Macintosh Specialist @  | Phone:     414.277.4528        |
|  Milwaukee School of     |	                            |
|        Engineering       |--------------------------------|
|                          |                                |
|   ian reinhart geiser    | phone:   414.220.9683          |
|   Apt #510A              | email:   [email-masked]      |
|   1029 N Jackson St      | web:     www.msoe.edu/~geiseri |
|   Milwaukee, WI 53202    |  NeXT/Be/Cyberdog Mail okay!   |
|                          |   MIME or BinHex prefered      |
|--------------------------'--------------------------------|
'-----------------------------------------------------------'

---

From: Kadinger Andras <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 23:06:46 +0100 (CET)

> On Sat, 23 Jan 1999, Albert Max Lai wrote:

Most probaby yes. Most people on Macs use the LaserWriter printer driver,
which outputs PostScript. If in doubt, send the data to a file and look at
it.

> 	if so how do i know who is sending it?

Recent LaserWriter drivers tend to output comments that beside others
contain the text from the Mac's Sharing Setup | Owner Name text field.

> 	a script that can output PDF, GIF, EPS ... anything...

Why don't you set up separate spoolers/scripts for PDF, GIF, EPS ...
anything ? Wouldn't that solve this dilemma?

Regards,
Andras Kadinger
[email-masked]

---

From: Albert Max Lai <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 16:33:48 -0500 (EST)

> > inside of a spool directory and then subsequently processed by your shell

Yes, you are getting PS in.

> 	if so how do i know who is sending it?

I have tried something similar. You can look for a "%%For: " tag. The
"%%For: " tag in the past has given the name of the Mac that sent the job,
but I have heard that Apple may remove that in the future for some
security reasons, but it is currently in the PS. I don't know of any way
to tell who the user is though.