








                         [1mThe vtprint FAQ[0m


                         [4mGarrett[24m [4mD'Amore[0m
                   [4m<garrett@sciences.sdsu.edu>[0m
                   San Diego State University
                           Version 0.9
                          June 19, 1994


                            [4mABSTRACT[0m

          This document attempts to address some of the most
     common questions relating to the vtprint program.  How-
     ever,  this  document is still very much under develop-
     ment, so there may be significant omissions or  errors.
     The author apologizes for any such errors or omissions,
     and kindly requests that the reader pass on any correc-
     tions  or  requests  for  clarification or more data to
     him.


































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[1m1.   About vtprint[0m





1.1. What is [1mvtprint[22m?



     [1mvtprint [22mis a program that makes it possible to obtain  seam-
     less  printing from a remote host to a printer at home with-
     out requiring a TCP/IP connection to the remote  machine  or
     root access on the remote machine.  It will communicate over
     a  serial line or a regular network connection.  Other meth-
     ods of connection may also be possible.

     [1mvtprint [22mruns on the remote system (currently only  UNIX-like
     systems  are supported).  Software on your local machine may
     vary considerably.


1.2. Who writes/supports [1mvtprint[22m?



     The author of [1mvtprint [22mis Garrett D'Amore.  He can be reached
     at <garrett@sciences.sdsu.edu>.  He is  actively  supporting
     [1mvtprint  [22musers,  and  is working on new development with [1mvt-[0m
     [1mprint[22m.


1.3. Where do I get [1mvtprint[22m?



     The original source archive for  [1mvtprint  [22mis  available  via
     ftp.   The  current version (as of June 19, 1994) is 2.0 and
     can be found at ftp.sdsu.edu in [1m/pub/vtprint/ [22mas a GNU  [1mgzip[0m
     compressed  tar  archive  ([1mvtprint-2.0.tar.gz[22m).   Currently,
     only a source distribution is being made  available.   Also,
     users  without ftp capabability should contact the author to
     make author arrangements.


1.4. What do I need to use [1mvtprint[22m?



     Well, to compile and install it, you need  an  ANSI  C  com-
     piler.   (If  your  site has it installed already, you don't
     need to worry about this.)





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     To use it, you need a terminal (or terminal  emulator)  that
     supports  printer  control  escape sequences.  If you have a
     terminal or emulator that supports  escape  sequences  other
     than  those  already  in listed in the [1mvtprintcap [22mfile, then
     you will also need to know what those sequences are.  (Check
     your terminal's documentation.)

     You also need (obviously) a printer and some sort of connec-
     tion to the remote host.



[1m2.   Installing vtprint[0m





2.1. How do I install [1mvtprint?[0m



     If you are have administrative powers on your  remote  host,
     then  please  read the file [1mINSTALL [22mincluded in the original
     source archive and follow the directions outlined there.


2.2. What if I don't have root access on the remote host?



     If you don't have root access on the remote  host,  you  can
     still install [1mvtprint[22m.   Instead of using the "make install"
     and  "make  install.man"  options,  use  the  options  "make
     userinstall" and "make userinstall.man".   This  will  place
     the necessary files in a suitable location for a user to use
     a private copy of [1mvtprint[22m.


2.3. How do I set up my account to use [1mvtprint[22m?



     If  your system administrator installed a master copy of [1mvt-[0m
     [1mprint[22m, then it should  be  immediately  available  for  use.
     However, if you installed a private copy, or your system ad-
     ministrator  did  not  install it in a general location, you
     will need to change a few environmental variables.

     You should verify that [1mvtprint [22mis on your PATH and that  the
     man  pages  are locatable somewhere on your MANPATH.  If you
     installed a personal copy, you will also need to set the en-
     vironmental variable VTPRINT to contain the string "-L [4m<full[0m
     [4mpath[24m [4mto[24m [4mvtprintcap>[24m".  You may wish to add other options  to



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     the  VTPRINT variable to set up a default operating mode for
     [1mvtprint[22m.  Please read the man page for details on  what  op-
     tions are available.



[1m3.   Using vtprint[0m





3.1. What help is available for using [1mvtprint[22m?



     Besides the [1mFAQ [22mthat you are reading now, there are a number
     of  resources  that  can help you use [1mvtprint[22m.  First, there
     are the provided man pages (e.g. [1mvtprint.1[22m).  Also there  is
     a brief synopsis available by typing "vtprint -h".  Finally,
     you can subscribe to the [1mvtprint [22mmailing list (where [1mvtprint[0m
     topics  are  discussed,  and official announcements from the
     author  are  posted)  by  sending   mail   to   "vtprint-re-
     quest@sdsu.edu"  with  a line "subscribe" in the body of the
     message.

     Of course, you can still contact the author directly if  you
     run  into  difficulties  that these resources can't help you
     solve.


3.2. How do I print text files using [1mvtprint[22m?



     Type "vtprint [4m<filelist>[24m".  There are also  several  options
     available.   See  the  man  page for details on the options.
     Alternatively, you can use [1mvtprint [22mas the receiving end of a
     pipe.


3.3. How do I print binary files using [1mvtprint[22m?



     [1mvtprint [22mdoes not support printing of binary files.  This  is
     because  [1mvtprint [22muses certain escape codes, and binary files
     may contain escape codes which  will  confuse  [1mvtprint  [22m(and
     possibly your terminal emulator).


3.4. What about PostScript?





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     Because  PostScript  is  just  ASCII text, [1mvtprint [22mcan print
     PostScript to your printer. But it DOES NOT know how to per-
     form conversion from regular text to PostScript, which means
     that if your printer  is  a  PostScript  only  printer,  you
     should  set up some sort of filter to perform ASCII to Post-
     Script conversion before piping it to [1mvtprint[22m. For  example,
     the  following shell script might be used to send PostScript
     to a printer from a text file:

          #!/bin/sh
          while [ -n $1 ]; do { enscript $1 | vtprint; shift; }

     Some time in the [4mfar[24m future,  [1mvtprint  [22mmay  have  PostScript
     translation  added  to it if it is requested by sufficiently
     many people.



[1m4.   Using vtprint with other UNIX-based programs.[0m





4.1. How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1melm[22m?



     In [1melm[22m, press "O" (for [4mOptions[24m).  Then press "P" (for  [4mPrint[0m
     [4mmail[24m  [4musing[24m).   Now  enter  "vtprint [4m[options][24m".  I've found
     that the option string "-cdq" works well for  me.   Finally,
     save  your change by pressing ">".  Now you can press "I" to
     return to the main mail index.  Pressing "P" on the mail in-
     dex screen will print the currently selected  message  using
     [1mvtprint[22m.

     This  may  not  work  with very old versions of [1melm[22m.  It has
     worked find for me since  about  version  2.3  or  so  --  I
     haven't tried it with any older versions.


4.2. How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mmail[22m?



     I  am  not  sure if this works for all mailers, but with the
     SunOS [1mmail[22m, if you use the command "| [4m[message-list][24m vtprint
     [4m[options][24m", the message will  be  piped  to  [1mvtprint[22m.   This
     strategy  (using  pipe)  works for a great many programs be-
     sides plain old [1mmail[22m.


4.3. How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mpine[22m?




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     You do not need to use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mpine[22m.  The code for  [1mvt-[0m
     [1mprint  [22mis  derived  from  code  the author originally saw in
     [1mpine[22m!  To use [1mpine[22m, select  the  "attached-to-ansi"  printer
     option, and print away!


4.4. How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mtin[22m?



     You  need to edit the "~/.tin/.tinrc" file.  There is a line
     that looks like:

          default_printer=[4m[something][0m

     You need merely change the value of  [4msomething[24m  to  be  "vt-
     print"  along  with any options you want to use.  I've found
     that [1mtin [22mis much more finnicky about the options used by [1mvt-[0m
     [1mprint[22m, so I use the "-cdq" options.

     Incidentally, [1mvtprint [22mmay not  work  with  versions  of  [1mtin[0m
     prior to 1.2pl2.  The problem was a bug in [1mtin[22m, and is fixed
     in more recent versions.


4.5. How do I set up program X to use [1mvtprint[22m?



     I have listed above some of the more commonly used programs.
     If  your  program  isn't listed, and you think it should be,
     tell me!

     The general solution is to check out your program's documen-
     tation to see if the printer  program  it  uses  is  config-
     urable.   If  so,  set it to "vtprint".  You may need to use
     special options -- the options "-cd" will solve  most  prob-
     lems for many people.

     If the printer program can't be changed, then see if you can
     use  a  pipe from your program.  If so, just pipe the output
     you wish to print to [1mvtprint[22m.



[1m5.   Problems[0m





5.1. It just doesn't work!  Nothing is output by the printer,  or
     the text appears on my screen but not on the printer.




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     This is probably a problem with your communications package.
     In  all likelihood, your communications program may not sup-
     port required printer escape codes.  Most MS-DOS and Windows
     packages do support these codes, but the author  only  knows
     of  TWO Macintosh programs and ONE Unix program that support
     [1mvtprint[22m.  A simple thing to do is try  "vtprint  <somefile>"
     by  itself.   If you get output, then your terminal emulator
     will probably work with [1mvtprint[22m.

     Read the file [1mCOMPAT [22mfor details  about  compatibility  with
     various communications programs and terminals.

     Also,  make sure that your printer is set up correctly.  Try
     printing from a local program, and make sure  that  the  de-
     fault is printing device is set to your printer.  (E.g. PRN:
     must  be  the same as the port your printer is on, under MS-
     DOS.


5.2. [1mvtprint [22mprints a  single  line,  but  additional  lines  are
     starting at the wrong horizontal location, or aren't showing
     up  at  all! or Why can't I get anything past the first line
     or two to print correctly?



     You may not have CR/LF mapping  set  up  correctly  on  your
     printer, comm package, host, or [1mvtprint[22m.  You can change the
     settings in any of these locations to fix it.

     Check out the "-c" and "-n" switches in the man pages.


5.3. Why aren't page breaks included between documents?



     Some  terminal  emulators  don't  handle formfeeds properly.
     [1mTelemate 4.12 [22mis known to eat them, and  [1mMicrophone  II  [22mre-
     quires a setting change to fix this problem.


5.4. Why does [1mvtprint [22mfail on big documents?



     [1mvtprint [22mmay choke on some large documents if you are not us-
     ing  proper flow control settings.  Normally, you should use
     "hardware" flow control, which is also  sometimes  known  as
     CTS/RTS  flow  control.   The  reason  for  this is that the
     printer may fall behind the serial line, and the local  com-
     munications program needs to able to tell the host "wait for
     me  to catch up with you before you give me any more data --
     I've not got any room for it at the moment!")  You could use



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     "XON/XOFF" flow control, but this is discouraged as  it  may
     interfere with some other software packages which use CTRL-S
     and CTRL-Q for other functions (such as binary transfer pro-
     tocols).


5.5. Why does [1mvtprint [22mecho text (or some text) to the screen?



     Some communications programs or terminals may send a copy of
     the printed file to the screen as well as the program.  This
     is  legal in many cases, since many terminal standards don't
     define whether screen echoing when printing should  be  done
     or not.










































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                          [1mTable of Contents[0m

1.   [1mAbout vtprint[0m


1.1.      What is [1mvtprint[22m?


1.2.      Who writes/supports [1mvtprint[22m?


1.3.      Where do I get [1mvtprint[22m?


1.4.      What do I need to use [1mvtprint[22m?



2.   [1mInstalling vtprint[0m


2.1.      How do I install [1mvtprint?[0m


2.2.      What if I don't have root access on the remote host?


2.3.      How do I set up my account to use [1mvtprint[22m?



3.   [1mUsing vtprint[0m


3.1.      What help is available for using [1mvtprint[22m?


3.2.      How do I print text files using [1mvtprint[22m?


3.3.      How do I print binary files using [1mvtprint[22m?


3.4.      What about PostScript?



4.   [1mUsing vtprint with other UNIX-based programs.[0m


4.1.      How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1melm[22m?






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4.2.      How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mmail[22m?


4.3.      How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mpine[22m?


4.4.      How do I use [1mvtprint [22mwith [1mtin[22m?


4.5.      How do I set up program X to use [1mvtprint[22m?



5.   [1mProblems[0m


5.1.      It  just  doesn't  work!   Nothing  is  output  by  the
          printer, or the text appears on my screen  but  not  on
          the printer.


5.2.      [1mvtprint  [22mprints a single line, but additional lines are
          starting at the wrong horizontal  location,  or  aren't
          showing up at all! or Why can't I get anything past the
          first line or two to print correctly?


5.3.      Why aren't page breaks included between documents?


5.4.      Why does [1mvtprint [22mfail on big documents?


5.5.      Why  does  [1mvtprint  [22mecho  text  (or  some  text) to the
          screen?






















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