Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!freedom!avdms8!jpc
From: jpc@avdms8.msfc.nasa.gov (J. Porter Clark)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: Sending binary print data thru CUTCP's LPR
Summary: How can I send binary print files using CUTCP's LPR?
Keywords: CUTCP lpr
Message-ID: <jpc.674232381@avdms8.msfc.nasa.gov>
Date: 14 May 91 14:46:21 GMT
Sender: root@freedom.msfc.nasa.gov (Super-User)
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Lines: 35

I've got a Sun 3/470 connected (somewhat circuitously) to an HP
LaserJet II printer.  I can print just fine from the Sun to the LJ II
using lpr.  The lpr which comes with CUTCP v2.2-D apparently doesn't
pass 8-bit binary data to the Sun, though.  I know this because I can
install a temporary print filter which copies the data to a disk file,
and data sent from CUTCP's lpr has been mangled whereas data sent from
another Sun has not.

Is there some way to make CUTCP's lpr send print data to the Sun
unscathed without trying to convert end-of-lines, intercept
control-Z's, etc.?

There are apparently some undocumented options to CUTCP's lpr, such as
-l, and I think I've tried every combination, but so far nothing has
worked.

Is source code for the CUTCP lpr available.  (Silly question,
probably.)

FLAME ON

I've had similar problems with various network printing utilities in
the past.  I wish people who create these things would allow for those
of us who have to use binary data in print jobs and don't need to count
cents per page or convert end-of-lines from one host's convention to
another.  IMHO, it's a poor application that doesn't put the data in
the right format to begin with.  To me, print data is data and doesn't
have to be re-interpreted by every network node in the system.  BTW,
this is hardly a UNIX-specific problem--VMS has all sorts of pitfalls
for the unwary in this area.

FLAME OFF

--
J. Porter Clark    jpc@avdms8.msfc.nasa.gov