11.2. RFC1179 (LPD) Connection

In this mode of operation the print server actually operates as a very limited BSD print spooler. These limitations include:

1. No error messages or status capability

2. Limited or very primitive banner printing. On some systems it may be impossible to turn banner printing off.

3. On most known print servers high connection activity caused by multiple systems attempting to get status or spool jobs may cause catastrophic failure of the printer.

For the above reasons, using RFC1179 to transfer jobs to a printer should be regarded as the least desirable option. Please see The RFC1189 Protocol for a detailed discussion of the RFC1179 protocol.

In order to use the RFC1179 transfer operation you must have a printcap entry for the printer that provides:

• The IP address or name of the printer that can be resolved to an IP address

• The name of the spool queue. In practice, this is usually used only to determine which of several printer ports on the print server the job will be sent to, or what type of processing the print server will do. Most cards usually do not do any processing and simply pass the job through to the printer.

The following is an example of a simple printcap entry that can be used to send a job to a remote printer using the RFC1179 protocol:

    # LPRng syntax
    # :lp value is 'where to print the job'
    lp:
      :lp=raw@10.0.0.1
    
    # OR Vintage BSD Print Spooler Syntax
    # (LPRng supports this as well)
    # :rp = remote printer, :rm = remote machine or host
    lp:
      :rp=raw:rm=10.0.0.1

If you wish to transfer jobs to a print spooler without using the full LPRng lpr program, the Perl lpr_in_perl program in the LPRng Distribution UTILS directory can be used for testing and tutorial purposes.