Printing

Before printing anything, please consider whether it is necessary. Printing costs money, and destroys valuable natural resources. Please consider printing multiple pages per sheet in order to save paper, or read the documents on the screen.

• Printer List
• Desktop Printing
  • Linux
  • Windows
• Mobile Printing
  • Linux
  • Windows
  • Mac OS X

Printer List

The following is a list of SNS printers located in Bloomberg Hall. All are network printers and can be accessed from any SNS computer. All printers support PostScript. and print duplex by default.  Their supplies are in close-by cabinets, and are also available from the administrative staff and computing staff. Please be sure not to use the wrong supplies!

A public printer is located in the laundry area of the housing activities center. Follow these instructions to use it.

Linux Desktop Printing

Your default printer is set in your .cshrc or .bashrc file.  To change your default printer, edit these files and change the LPDEST and PRINTER lines to indicate the new printer.  Log out and back in for the change to take effect.

Following are some basic linux print commands:

To find out what your current default printer is:

lpstat -d

To view available print queues: 

lpstat -a

To display the print queue:

lpstat  [printername]
The command without printername option will list your default printer queue.
To display queue of a printer other than your default indicate the printername.

To cancel a print job:

Get the job-id from the output of lpstat command.
cancel  job-id

To print a postscript document:

lpr filename.ps

To print a text document:

a2ps filename.txt

To specify single-sided printing:

All SNS printers print double-sided by default.

To force single-sided printing:
lpr -o sides=one-sided filename.ps

To print more pages per side

To print more than one page per side, e.g.
lpr -o number-up=4 filename.ps
which prints 4 pages per side.

Optionally:

Use the 2up(d) or 4up(d) commands.

2up filename.ps which prints 2 pages per side to your default printer.

4upd filename.ps col3 which prints 4 pages per side & double-sided to print queue col3.

To print a transparency (color printers only):

Color printers contain transparencies in Tray 3.  To print a transparency, print single-sided to Tray 3.
For example, you may print a transparency by printing to col3 as follows:

lpr -P col3 -o sides=one-sided -o InputSlot=Tray 3 filename.ps

Windows Desktop Printing

The nearest printer to your office will be automatically configured and set as your default printer. Normally, you can simply click File then click Print from any Windows application.

You can add other printers if you want. See the printer list for a description of printers and their capabilities.

1. Double click the SNS Printers folder located on the desktop.
2. Right click the icon for the printer you wish to add.
3. Select connect.

You can change a printer's default options. For example, you may want to enable or disable duplex (two-sided) printing for all documents.

1. Click Start, then click Settings, then click Printers.
2. Right click on the icon for the printer you wish to change and choose properties.
3. Select printing preferences.
4. Make any desired changes and click OK.

Transparency printing is on color printers only. To print a transparency:

1. In the program from which you wish to print transparencies click File, then click Print.
2. Select the color printer you wish to use and click Properties. Select the Paper/Quality tab.
3. Change Paper Source to Select by Tray--> Tray 3 and click OK.

Linux Laptop Printing

In order to print from a Personal Linux Laptop, you must configure LPR printing. All Linux editions can print in this manner.

First test your network connection by opening http://print.sns.ias.edu:631/ in an Internet browser. You should then see a CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) server welcome page.  If you see anything else, you have a network problem that must be fixed first. Usually these take two forms: wrong DNS servers or a VPN client is running.

You will have to locate the graphical tool for adding printers that your operating system provides. When you choose to add a printer, select "unix style printing", or "LPR/LPD" (these names will vary, but you should see something similar). Select print.sns.ias.edu for the print server host and the queue (printer) name from the printer list.

Windows Laptop Printing

1. First test your network connection by opening http://print.sns.ias.edu:631/ in an Internet browser. You should then see a CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) server welcome page.  If you see anything else, you have a network problem that must be fixed first. Usually these take two forms: wrong DNS servers or a VPN client is running.
2. Click Start -> Devices and Printers.
3. Click Add a printer. 
4. Click Add a network ... printer.... 
5. Click The printer that I want isn't listed.
6. Select Select a shared printer by name.
7. Type the printer name in this format: http://print.sns.ias.edu:631/printers/id, where id matches the printer name listed here then click Next.
8. An Add Printer Wizard window will open. At this time, you will need to select the manufacturer and the model of the printer (you may need to go to the manufacturer's web site to download the correct driver).
9. Click next through the next few windows to complete the installation.
10. Repeat the steps above to add additional printers.

Macintosh Laptop Printing

In order to print from a Personal Macintosh Laptop, first determine the printer(s) you want from the printer list.  Note the name and model of the printer(s). You will need this information below. To add a printer follow this procedure:

1. First test your network connection by opening http://print.sns.ias.edu:631/ in an Internet browser. You should then see a CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) server welcome page.  If you see anything else, you have a network problem that must be fixed first. Usually these take two forms: wrong DNS servers or a VPN client is running.
2. Open System Preferences. 
3. Click Print & Fax. 
4. Click the + symbol to add a printer and click the IP Printer tab.
5. Enter the following:
   • Protocol: Line Printer Daemon - LPD
   • Address: print.sns.ias.edu
   • Queue: (enter here the printer name from the printer list)
   • Name: (enter the printer name again)
   • Location: (enter the location of the printer here)
   • Print Using: (select the correct printer model here)
6. Enter the Installable Options based ont the printer you chose. All printers in SNS have an Optional, 500-Sheet Input Tray, and a Duplex Unit.
7. Click Continue, the printer will be ready.