DAMTP Printing System FAQ

  1. What is CUPS?
  2. Where are the printers?
  3. A printer needs resetting
  4. How do I print double sided?
  5. How do I print single sided?
  6. How do I print on ohps?
  7. The printer is asking for letter paper
  8. How do I change my default printer?

  1. What is CUPS?

    CUPS is the Common UNIX Printing System, which has been our standard print-server setup since 2006. CUPS is in widespread use and is the default printing system on many Linux distributions as well as being the printing system chosen by Apple for MacOSX 10.2 and later. CUPS was developed by Easy Software Products, but in 2007 was bought by Apple Inc.. CUPS is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For more information about the CUPS setup in DAMTP see our CUPS specific printing documentation page.

  2. Where are the printers?

    See the CUPS List of Printers: their location, capabilities, status and queued jobs for a complete list. This includes information about printer models, capabilities and locations.

  3. A printer needs resetting

    If the printer isn't printing -- other than just because of a lack of paper or toner paper or toner use the web interface described in our printer status page to reset it.

  4. How do I print double sided?

    If a printer has a duplexer it will almost certainly be configured to print double sided (long) by default. Otherwise use the option -o sides=two-sided-long-edge to print double sided along the long side of the page or -o sides=two-sided-short-edge to duplex along the short side of the page. e.g. 
    lpr -Ppidg -o sides=two-sided-short-edge filename

  5. How do I print single sided?

    If a printer prints double sided by default and you need it to print single sided use the option -o sides=one-sided to print single sided. e.g. 
    lpr -Ppidg -o sides=one-sided filename

  6. How do I print on ohps?

    Use the -o media= option to select the media type, see our Transparencies page for details. Note that this should autmatically select single-sided printing.

  7. The printer is asking for letter paper

    Sometimes the wrong media size accidentally gets into the postscript, or the postscript was intentionally generated for printing on Letter sized paper. A4 is slightly taller than Letter so printing on A4 may look odd, but may be acceptable for some purposes. For most printers if you press the Go button it will offer to let you print the document on the paper it has; A4.

  8. How do I change my default printer?

    See Setting my UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X Default Printer for how to do this.

Please email any suggestions, corrections or errors to the printer helpline