Printing Etiquette

A printer hog gets in the way of printing out YOUR work that YOU need RIGHT NOW. Here are some things that YOU can do as a good printer citizen, and to speed up your own printing too:

Make single, not multiple copies, when you print.

Not only does this save wear and tear on the printers, but it is also a way of being thoughtful of your fellow students, staff etc. There is photocopier in the front office, use it.

Print only the pages that you need.

LaTeX or TeX users note: You can use dvips.

For example:

To print the first 7 pages of a dvi file, type:

        dvips  -l 7 -Pprinter file.dvi

To print ages 22 to 31 of a dvi file, type:

        dvips  -p 22  -l 31  -Pprinter file.dvi

Preview before your print.

If the program you're using doesn't automatically show what the printed file will look like, see if there is some way to preview it.

• Preview PostScript files with "gv". To use gv, at the prompt, type the following:

         gv filename &
  
  

  This program also lets you select specific pages for printing.

• Preview LaTeX .dvi files by typing:

         xdvi filename.dvi &
  
  

Use "lpq" to check the print queue.

If you have already sent a print job or are thinking of sending a print job to printer <printername>, you can check to see how many jobs are already in the queue by typing:

	lpq -P<printername>

Know how to kill your print job.

If you decide that that you don't want to print a file after you've sent it to the printer, use:

	lpq -P<printername>

to get the job number of your print job, e.g.

Rank   Owner      Job  Files                          Total Size
active mikeuser   524  test.html                      240 bytes
1st    joeuser    525  myfile.html		      2019 bytes

You can then kill your print job using the lprm command. For example, joeuser would use:

	lprm -P<printername> 525

to kill his print job.

Do not leave output lying around the printer room or in the output trays

If you print something go and pick it up. Unwanted output should go in the recycle bins (white paper only) near all the printers.

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This page was last updated on February 7, 2003. Questions, suggestions, and general grumpings should be sent to webmaster_at_math.okstate.edu