🚀 go-pugleaf

Archive-name: unix/terminal/pl/1991-06-12
Archive-directory: unr.edu:/pub/pl/ [134.197.1.2]
Original-posting-by: malc@equinox.unr.edu (Malcolm Carlock)
Original-subject: Re: Printing from ELM to a printer attached to a PC
Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN)


In article <1991Jun5.141703.522@cm.cf.ac.uk> cookc@computing-maths.cardiff.ac.uk (Chris Cook) writes:
>
>I've been trying to work out a way that you can print directly from Elm to 
>a printer attached to a PC.

We have a utility here called PL which should do what you want, and in fact
its main use here is probably printing ELM messages to PC printers.  PL reads
from one or more files or from the standard input, and prints directly to the
terminal's printer port, if the terminal has such a capability according to
the Unix system's termcap or terminfo database.  Since PL uses termcap/terminfo,
it can be used with any terminal that supports such operations, including PC
terminal emulators (such as Kermit's VT102 and Procomm's VT100) that support
the appropriate ANSI control sequences.  PL comes with a set of terminfo/
termcap entries to support several terminals, including VT102, Heath-19,
Qume QVT102, Freedom 100, Wyse 50, and several Televideos (hint: the TVI's
all use the same sequence...)

PL is invoked using 'p' in elm, and appears in the option file as follows:

	print = pl -q %s 1>&2

The -q option turns off chatty "printing to your terminal's printer"
messages.  The intent here is to not mess up the ELM screen.  ELM seems
to intercept stdout from print programs, so the 1>&2 is there to redirect
stdout to stderr and get the data to the terminal no matter what.

PL is ftp-able from unr.edu (134.197.1.2), in pub/pl.  If you can't get
to unr.edu using ftp, let me know and I'll mail you the shar file.

Hope this helps.
-- 

Malcolm L. Carlock                      Internet:  malc@unr.edu
                                        UUCP:      unr!malc
                                        BITNET:    malc@equinox

-- comp.archives file verification
unr.edu
total 19
-rw-r--r--  1 malc          525 May 16 22:20 unpack-info
-rw-r--r--  1 malc        18121 Apr  1 20:19 pl.shar
found pl ok
unr.edu:/pub/pl/