ATPRINT(1)

NAME
atprint - transfer data to a printer using AppleTalk protocols

SYNOPSIS
atprint [ printer-name [: printer-type [@ zone ] ] ]

ARGUMENTS

printer-name
    Specifies the name of the printer you want to use.

printer-type
    Specifies the type of printer, such as LaserWriter or ImageWriter. Use this option when you want to allow the network to select the printer, but only a printer of a given type. If you omit this option, LaserWriter is the printer type used by default. For example, when the printer name is specified with wildcards. (See atlookup(1) for an explanation of wildcards.) The print device used is the one chosen by the network. By supplying LaserWriter as the printer type in a case such as this, you can restrict the network to choosing a printer that can handle PostScript instructions. The full range of possible replacement values for printer-type depends on the configuration of your network. Each different type of print device broadcasts its printer-type and printer-name identification when it registers itself with the network. You can use atlookup to obtain a report showing this information for all the AppleTalk devices on your network (see atlookup(1)).

zone
    Specifies the AppleTalk zone in which the printer resides. If you omit this argument or specify it as *, the local zone is used.

DESCRIPTION
atprint uses a printing protocol to establish a connection to an AppleTalk device, where it sends data received on its standard input until it reaches an end-of-file character. When it detects an end-of-file character, atprint closes the AppleTalk session with the device, enabling other users to gain access to the printer. You can select the destination AppleTalk device through the command-line arguments as described in the ``Arguments'' section earlier in this manual page. If you do not specify any of these arguments, atprint uses the printer that was last selected with the at_cho_prn command (see at_cho_prn(1)). Often the printer you access by way of an AppleTalk connection is a LaserWriter. Many LaserWriter models are PostScript printers. If you are using such a LaserWriter, the data that you send it must already be translated into the PostScript page-description language. For example, the enscript command translates the output from troff (invoked with the -Tpsc option) into PostScript:
        troff -Tpsc -mm file | enscript -p- | atprint The atprint command displays one or more messages indicating the AppleTalk device with which it is communicating and possibly many device status messages (such as when another print job is occupying the printer for a period of time). In the preceding example, the default printer is used. (See the ``Arguments'' section earlier in this manual page.) (Note that the atprint command does not honor requests from a LaserWriter regarding the downloading of fonts. Likewise, it does not prepend a PostScript header to the data stream in the same manner as the printer drivers in the Macintosh Operating System. In the preceding example, a PostScript header is still provided because enscript prepends its own header as part of the PostScript conversion process.) In AppleTalk programming terms, the arguments make up a network-visible entity (NVE), where
        printer-name[:printer-type[@zone]] corresponds to the AppleTalk object, type, and zone:
        object:type@zone

EXAMPLES
This command line maps a plain text file into PostScript and then submits it to joe's printer:
        enscript -p- file | atprint "joe's printer"

WARNINGS
The atprint command does not process the input files as does lpr. To print ASCII files properly on a PostScript printer with atprint, you must preprocess the files with pstext or enscript. Likewise, you must preprocess files produced by troff with enscript(1).

FILES
/usr/bin/atprint Executable file

SEE ALSO
at_cho_prn(1), atlookup(1), atstatus(1), enscript(1), lpr(1)