Two printers in bash

[dougmack]

I have two printers hooked up.  In the gui, I get asked which one I want to print to.  In the terminal, I just pipe to lp.  Somehow, one printer gets
selected, I don't know how it decides.  And suppose I would like to print to the other?  How?  I seem to remember seeing Unix commands lp1 or lp2 or
something similar.  That must exist here, but Googling doesn't answer the question.  (Most of the time, I am happy to print to the LaserJet, which
seems to be where two of my Linux installs do, as it happens, but in case the laser is down, for some reason, I'd like to be able to choose the other.)

Thanx for the info.  --doug

[Archie]

Good examples here.

[wedgetail]

dougmack
If you want to work off the CUPS command line then for example:

lp -d Laserjet2300dn-PostScript-1 /usr/share/printer-testpages/testpage.asc

Laserjet2300dn-PostScript-1 = one of my printers, replace with your printers.

this should print a simple test page. 

I would recommend that you set one of your printers as default printer, that way you know which printer will be used when you don't specify the printer on the command line.  You also know that if you want to use the other printer, you then have to specify the printer on the command line.

To see if you have a default printer, post the result of:

Code: [Select]

lpstat -t

[dougmack]

Here's the output.  At the moment, the LaserJet is default, but when I posted,  the Deskjet was default, but in BOTH cases, bash selected the LaserJet. (I determined the default from the KDE setup.) Meantime, the suggestion from Archie kind of  tells me how to get the DeskJet to print from the terminal.  I haven't actually tried it, but I will. 

lp[doug@Linux1 ~]$ lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: LaserJet
device for DeskJet: ipp://192.168.1.123:631/printers/DeskJet
device for LaserJet: ipp://192.168.1.123:631/printers/LaserJet
DeskJet accepting requests since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
LaserJet accepting requests since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
printer DeskJet is idle.  enabled since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
printer LaserJet is idle.  enabled since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
        Ready to print.

Is there a way to give the two printers a simple name in bash without the long input that Archie's information indicates?
That is, cat foo | lp1 or cat foo | lp2 ?

thanx, guys.

[wedgetail]

dougmack

lp[doug@Linux1 ~]$ lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: LaserJet  < --------------------------- shows present default printer
device for DeskJet: ipp://192.168.1.123:631/printers/DeskJet
device for LaserJet: ipp://192.168.1.123:631/printers/LaserJet
DeskJet accepting requests since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
LaserJet accepting requests since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
printer DeskJet is idle.  enabled since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
printer LaserJet is idle.  enabled since Tue 28 Feb 2012 02:10:02 AM EST
        Ready to print.

Since you work from bash/cli and above indicates you are using CUPS, here is how to set the default printer.  You have relatively short printer names and easy to remember?

[root@localhost ~]# lpadmin -d  DeskJet <----  Now the system default printer

[root@localhost ~]# lpadmin -d  Laserjet <----  Now the system default printer

Still this may not be to your taste so you can also use the CUPS web interface when you have brought that up in your browser do as follows:

Printers > select the printer to be default > click on Administration drop down field > Set As Server Default

Just to convince yourself, run the lpstat -t  

If you are familiar with the CUPS web interface, I recommend the use of above as it will prevent mistyping of printer name. As I use Opera I have the CUPS webinterface in the Speed Dial so getting to the setting only takes a moment, less than 5 seconds to set the default printer.

Regarding something like lp1 and lp2 I don't know.  

Since you show cat foo | lp1, this tells me you are in the directory where the file you want to print is, in this case you should get the same with: lp -d foo (where I am assuming that Deskjet is your default),  or  lp -d Laserjet foo where I am assuming you have chosen a temporary alternative printer (Laserjet)