Printing

Details: Last Updated: Friday, 17 July 2015 13:24; Written by Xiaoguang Li

To use the department's printers you must be connected to the local network. This mean that if you are working off campus or using the campus wireless network you must first connect to the department's VPN (see VpnSetup for more details). Assume you have network access and permission to the printers, you may set them up as described here.

Note: The department print server uses the "CUPS" software. Consolidation of printing services will change this.

Poster Printing

Posters are only printed for Department of Scientific Computing faculty and students.

The department has a 44 inch poster printer, which is intended to be used to print posters for meetings and for local events. Only This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. has access to the printer. Requests to use the printer must be made/endorsed by an SC faculty member and are approved by the SC Director. In the near future there will be a web-based form where you can fill in and submit the required information for approval. Each printout costs a lot of $, therefore, be sure you get it right the first time. You will be charged for the cost of "second tries." You will also be charged for heavy use of the printer.

For questions regarding page setup and formats, see the Poster Printing FAQ or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Printer etiquette

When you submit a job to a printer, please retrieve your output as soon as possible. Output which is left in the copy room over 24 hours will be thrown away.
When you do pick up your output, and it is located within a large stack of pages, please do so carefully so as to not disturb the output of other users. Don't pull out pages while the printer is printer and then try to put them back. This leads to "shuffling" the pages and leads to a lot of confusion. Please dispose of unnecessary pages in the recycling boxes located on the floor beneath the counters, and in the trays designated for this purpose nearby all of the printers.
Please respect the resourses. Do NOT try to clear jams, or correct problems with the printers, even if on weekends. Our printers are not covered under warranty, and repairs are very expensive. Send email to sysops or to Dana Lutton.

Known Printer Problems

Acrobat files may not print from Windows to the pr483 QMS 860 printer. This printer is a Level 2 PostScript and most current Acrobat files contain Level 3 PostScript commands in them.
The pr473 HP printer is also a Level 2 PostScript printer and will not print Level 3 PostScript files. You will need to set your application to print Level 2 PostScript only.
It is recommended that you not print manual paperfeed jobs from UNIX where the printer must pause and wait for the manual feed tray to be loaded.
Level 3 PostScript commands primarily deal with the "color" definitions and commands, and are the primary cause of printing problems on Level 2 PostScript printers.
Problems printing PhotoShop files. Some Adobe PhotoShop files contain binary information prior to the %!PS, and following the %EOF. To properly print these files you must remove the binary information from the begin and the end of the file. This especially applies to people who must incorporate them into (La)TeX documents using dvips.
All PostScript files must contain %!PS as the first 4 characters. If your file doesn't print, this is a likely cause.
PostScript files received by email may contain aberrant characters, at the end of line, or beginning of new lines. Binary portions of files received by email may be truncated, and will not print.
Problems with lpr and EPS files. EPS files are "encapsulated" and contain no "printer specific" information. To print an EPS file using the lpr file.eps command you need to have a "utility wrapper" surrounding this code.
Web pages and PDF files containing graphics are a whole "other" issue -- many of them cannot be printed because they were incorrectly made to begin with.
If a PDF was made with special fonts that are not installed on a printer the file will not print correctly. Authors should be encouraged to embed all fonts into their pdf document to avoid this problem.