8 Japanese Printing Support

This chapter introduces the Japanese printing support provided by the DIGITAL UNIX operating system software. It describes the supported printers, the print file formats, features, and the maintenance procedures for supporting Japanese printing.

8.1 Supported Printers

8.1.1 Text Printers

The DIGITAL UNIX software supports text printers with built-in Japanese fonts.

8.1.2 PostScript Printers

The DIGITAL UNIX software supports Japanese printing on PostScript printers with resident fonts.

For the details about the supported printer types and print filters, see Chapter 4, Local Language Devices.

8.2 Print File Formats

The DIGITAL UNIX software supports the printing of mixed English and Japanese characters in the following print file formats:

Plain text files on text and PostScript printers

Files with the nroff control sequences (for printing with underline, superscript, subscript and bold attributes) on text and PostScript printers

PostScript files on PostScript printers

The print filters for PostScript printers automatically detect the format of a print file and convert it to the proper format for printing.

8.3 Printing Features

8.3.1 Software On-Demand Font Loading (SoftODL)

SoftODL is a mechanism through which a terminal or a bitmap printer downloads the relevant bitmap font information for a user-defined character (UDC) at the time the character is displayed or printed. The Japanese bitmap printers which can support this feature include:

LA84-J

LA86-J

LA88-J

LA90-J

LA280-J

LA380-J

LN03S-J

DEClaser 2300

DEClaser 2400

8.3.2 Codeset Conversion

The DIGITAL UNIX software includes a codeset conversion mechanism to print text files that have a codeset different from the one used by the printer. For printers with built-in or downloaded Japanese fonts, the codeset of the printer should be defined to match the codeset of the built-in fonts.

8.4 Commands and Daemons

Before users can configure printers to utilize the printing features supported by the DIGITAL UNIX software, certain commands should be understood. This section discusses these commands in detail. The next section shows how they are used for configuration.

8.4.1 Country Specific Options of the lpr Command

The -A option to the lpr command, is used to pass the country-specific parameters. The parameters found in the -A option can also be set as defaults in the /etc/printcap file by the yacapability. For example, the parameters can be specified in the -A option as:

% lpr -A "flocale=ja_JP.deckanji
plocale=ja_JP.sdeckanji" <file>

The same set of parameters are defined in the /etc/printcap file as:

:ya="flocale=ja_JP.deckanji
plocale=ja_JP.sdeckanji":\

The parameters supplied by the -A option to the lpr command override the corresponding default values in the /etc/printcap file.

The following parameters are applicable to Japanese printing:

flocale=<any valid locale>

Specifies the locale for the source text file. The printer filters use this locale to validate the characters inside the source text file. If this value is not set properly, the text is interpreted using the current locale. In Japanese printing environment, this value is particularly important for the lpr command to correctly interpret the characters. Moreover, if the plocale option is also set, the lpr command performs codeset conversion for the source text file.

plocale=<any valid locale>

Specifies the locale for the printer. If the printer has built-in fonts, the plocale value should match the codeset of the built-in fonts. If the printer employs the font faulting mechanism, the plocale value should match the font used for printing the text file.

odldb=<odl database path>

Specifies the path of the software on demand loading (SoftODL) database files. This is used to override the system default SoftODL database path, allowing users to use their own SoftODL database.

odlstyle=<odl style and size>

Specifies what SoftODL font style and size to use. The value is of the form <style>-<NxN> (for example, normal-32x32). If not specified, the system default SoftODL style and size is used.

line=<number of lines>

Specifies the number of lines per page. When used together with the -w command, this option can be used to control the font size and orientation of the output.

8.5 Japanese Printing Setup

When configuring Japanese printers, the only special consideration is whether ODL printing should or should not be enabled. If enabled, the default ODL database path and style must be specified.

To configure any of the Japanese printers:

Use lprsetup to add one of the Japanese printers.

In response to the following question, answer "y" if you want ODL printing, and "n" if you do not.

Do you want to enable ODL? [n]

The default ODL database and style will be used. To change the defaults, modify the ya capability after the following prompt:

Enter symbol name:

The prompt is displayed:

Enter a new value for symbol 'ya'? ["plocale=ja_JP.sdeckanji"]

Enter a command similar to the following:

"plocale=jaJP.sdeckanji odldb=<path to the default ODL db> odlstyle=<default ODL style>"

Do not forget the double quotation marks around the parameters, and replace the plocale with the value found in the previous prompt, and the default ODL path and style with the suitable one.

To print Japanese text files to print queues connected to dot matrix printers, use the lpr command. You can either set the LANG environment variable or use the -A option to denote the codeset of the text files. For example, enter the following command to print the file prepared in EUC codeset:

% lpr -A "flocale=ja_JP.eucJP" my.file1

You can override the default ODL path by including the odldband odlstyle options in the -A option of the lpr command. For example, enter the following command to use the ODL database in /usr/priv/odl:

% lpr -A "odldb=/usr/priv odlstyle=normal- 32x32" my.file2