comparison man/msdog.texi @ 24096:083c21910c49

(MS-DOS Printing): Rewrite section.

24095:8983dda2d520

@node MS-DOS Printing
@section Printing and MS-DOS

  Printing commands, such as @code{lpr-buffer} (@pxref{Hardcopy}) and
@code{ps-print-buffer} (@pxref{Postscript}) can work in MS-DOS by
sending the output to one of the printer ports, if a Unix-style @code{lpr}
program is unavailable.  A few DOS-specific variables control how this
works.

@vindex dos-printer
  If you want to use your local printer, printing on it in the usual DOS
manner, then set the Lisp variable @code{dos-printer} to the name of the
printer port---for example, @code{"PRN"}, the usual local printer port
(that's the default), or @code{"LPT2"} or @code{"COM1"} for a serial
printer.  You can also set @code{dos-printer} to a file name, in which
case ``printed'' output is actually appended to that file.  If you set
@code{dos-printer} to @code{"NUL"}, printed output is silently
discarded (sent to the system null device).

  If you set @code{dos-printer} to a file name, it's best to use an
absolute file name.  Emacs changes the working directory according to
the default directory of the current buffer, so if the file name in
@code{dos-printer} is relative, you will end up with several such files,
each one in the directory of the buffer from which the printing was
done.

@findex print-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}
@findex print-region @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex lpr-headers-switches @r{(MS-DOS)}
  The commands @code{print-buffer} and @code{print-region} call the
@code{pr} program, or use special switches to the @code{lpr} program, to
produce headers on each printed page.  MS-DOS doesn't normally have
these programs, so by default, the variable @code{lpr-headers-switches}
is set so that the requests to print page headers are silently ignored.
Thus, @code{print-buffer} and @code{print-region} produce the same
output as @code{lpr-buffer} and @code{lpr-region}, respectively.  If you
do have a suitable @code{pr} program (for example, from GNU Textutils),
set @code{lpr-headers-switches} to @code{nil}; Emacs will then call
@code{pr} to produce the page headers, and print the resulting output as
specified by @code{dos-printer}.

@vindex print-region-function @r{(MS-DOS)}
@cindex lpr usage under MS-DOS
@vindex lpr-command @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex lpr-switches @r{(MS-DOS)}
  Finally, if you do have an @code{lpr} work-alike, you can set
@code{print-region-function} to @code{nil}.  Then Emacs uses @code{lpr}
for printing, as on other systems.  (If the name of the program isn't
@code{lpr}, set the @code{lpr-command} variable to specify where to find
it.)

@findex ps-print-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}
@findex ps-spool-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex dos-ps-printer
@vindex ps-lpr-command @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex ps-lpr-switches @r{(MS-DOS)}
  A separate variable, @code{dos-ps-printer}, defines how PostScript
files should be printed.  If its value is a string, it is used as the
name of the device (or file) to which PostScript output is sent, just as
@code{dos-printer} is used for non-PostScript printing.  (These are two
distinct variables in case you have two printers attached to two
different ports, and only one of them is a PostScript printer.)  If the
value of @code{dos-ps-printer} is not a string, then the variables
@code{ps-lpr-command} and @code{ps-lpr-switches} (@pxref{Postscript})
control how to print PostScript files.  Thus, if you have a
non-PostScript printer, you can set these variables to the name and the
switches appropriate for a PostScript interpreter program (such as
Ghostscript).

  For example, to use Ghostscript for printing on an Epson printer
connected to @samp{LPT2} port, put this on your @file{.emacs} file:

@example
(setq dos-ps-printer t)  ; @r{Anything but a string.}
(setq ps-lpr-command "c:/gs/gs386")
(setq ps-lpr-switches '("-q" "-dNOPAUSE"
			"-sDEVICE=epson"
			"-r240x72"
			"-sOutputFile=LPT2"
			"-Ic:/gs"
			"-"))
@end example

@noindent
(This assumes that Ghostscript is installed in the @file{"c:/gs"}
directory.)

@node MS-DOS and MULE
@section International Support on MS-DOS
@cindex international support @r{(MS-DOS)}

24096:083c21910c49

@node MS-DOS Printing
@section Printing and MS-DOS

  Printing commands, such as @code{lpr-buffer} (@pxref{Hardcopy}) and
@code{ps-print-buffer} (@pxref{Postscript}) can work in MS-DOS and
MS-Windows by sending the output to one of the printer ports, if a
Unix-style @code{lpr} program is unavailable.  This behaviour is
controlled by the same variables that control printing with @code{lpr}
on Unix (@pxref{Hardcopy}, @pxref{Postscript Variables}), but the
defaults for these variables on MS-DOS and MS-Windows are not the same
as the defaults on Unix.

@vindex printer-name
  If you want to use your local printer, printing on it in the usual DOS
manner, then set the Lisp variable @code{lpr-command} to @code{""} (its
default value) and @code{printer-name} to the name of the printer
port---for example, @code{"PRN"}, the usual local printer port (that's
the default), or @code{"LPT2"}, or @code{"COM1"} for a serial printer.
You can also set @code{printer-name} to a file name, in which case
``printed'' output is actually appended to that file.  If you set
@code{printer-name} to @code{"NUL"}, printed output is silently
discarded (sent to the system null device).

  On MS-Windows, when the Windows network software is installed, you can
also use a printer shared by another machine by setting
@code{printer-name} to the UNC share name for that printer--for example,
@code{"//joes_pc/hp4si"}.  (It doesn't matter whether you use forward
slashes or backslashes here.)  To find out the names of shared printers,
run the command @samp{net view} at a DOS command prompt to obtain a list
of servers, and @samp{net view server-name} to see the names of printers
(and directories) shared by that server.

  If you set @code{printer-name} to a file name, it's best to use an
absolute file name.  Emacs changes the working directory according to
the default directory of the current buffer, so if the file name in
@code{printer-name} is relative, you will end up with several such
files, each one in the directory of the buffer from which the printing
was done.

@findex print-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}
@findex print-region @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex lpr-headers-switches @r{(MS-DOS)}
  The commands @code{print-buffer} and @code{print-region} call the
@code{pr} program, or use special switches to the @code{lpr} program, to
produce headers on each printed page.  MS-DOS and MS-Windows don't
normally have these programs, so by default, the variable
@code{lpr-headers-switches} is set so that the requests to print page
headers are silently ignored.  Thus, @code{print-buffer} and
@code{print-region} produce the same output as @code{lpr-buffer} and
@code{lpr-region}, respectively.  If you do have a suitable @code{pr}
program (for example, from GNU Textutils), set
@code{lpr-headers-switches} to @code{nil}; Emacs will then call
@code{pr} to produce the page headers, and print the resulting output as
specified by @code{printer-name}.

@vindex print-region-function @r{(MS-DOS)}
@cindex lpr usage under MS-DOS
@vindex lpr-command @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex lpr-switches @r{(MS-DOS)}
  Finally, if you do have an @code{lpr} work-alike, you can set the
variable @code{lpr-command} to @code{"lpr"}.  Then Emacs will use
@code{lpr} for printing, as on other systems.  (If the name of the
program isn't @code{lpr}, set @code{lpr-command} to specify where to
find it.)  The variable @code{lpr-switches} has its standard meaning
when @code{lpr-command} is not @code{""}.  If the variable
@code{printer-name} has a string value, it is used as the value for the
@code{-P} option to @code{lpr}, as on Unix.

@findex ps-print-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}
@findex ps-spool-buffer @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex ps-printer-name
@vindex ps-lpr-command @r{(MS-DOS)}
@vindex ps-lpr-switches @r{(MS-DOS)}
  A parallel set of variables, @code{ps-lpr-command},
@code{ps-lpr-switches}, and @code{ps-printer-name} (@pxref{Postscript
variables}), defines how PostScript files should be printed.  These
variables are used in the same way as the corresponding variables
described above for non-PostScript printing.  Thus, the value of
@code{ps-printer-name} is used as the name of the device (or file) to
which PostScript output is sent, just as @code{printer-name} is used for
non-PostScript printing.  (There are two distinct sets of variables in
case you have two printers attached to two different ports, and only one
of them is a PostScript printer.)

  The default value of the variable @code{ps-lpr-command} is @code{""},
which causes PostScript output to be sent to the printer port specified
by @code{ps-printer-name}, but @code{ps-lpr-command} can also be set to
the name of a program which will accept PostScript files.  Thus, if you
have a non-PostScript printer, you can set this variable to the name of
a PostScript interpreter program (such as Ghostscript).  Any switches
that need to be passed to the interpreter program are specified using
@code{ps-lpr-switches}.  (If the value of @code{ps-printer-name} is a
string, it will be added to the list of switches as the value for the
@code{-P} option.  This is probably only useful if you are using
@code{lpr}, so when using an interpreter typically you would set
@code{ps-printer-name} to something other than a string so it is
ignored.)

  For example, to use Ghostscript for printing on an Epson printer
connected to @samp{LPT2} port, put this on your @file{.emacs} file:

@example
(setq ps-printer-name t)  ; Ghostscript doesn't understand -P
(setq ps-lpr-command "c:/gs/gs386")
(setq ps-lpr-switches '("-q" "-dNOPAUSE"
			"-sDEVICE=epson"
			"-r240x72"
			"-sOutputFile=LPT2"
			"-Ic:/gs"))
@end example

@noindent
(This assumes that Ghostscript is installed in the @file{"c:/gs"}
directory.)

@vindex dos-printer
@vindex dos-ps-printer
  For backwards compatibility, the value of @code{dos-printer}
(@code{dos-ps-printer}), if it has a value, overrides the value of
@code{printer-name} (@code{ps-printer-name}), on MS-DOS and MS-Windows
only.


@node MS-DOS and MULE
@section International Support on MS-DOS
@cindex international support @r{(MS-DOS)}