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How to use the SFU_Print Queues on CECM Fedora 27 Workstations
Table of Contents
- 1) Command-line printing basics
- 2) Printing from a GUI application
- 3) Print job authentication using the MATE desktop
- 4) The PaperCut Client App
- 5) Print job pre-authentication with Kerberos
1) Command-line printing basics
To see what printers are available, type
laserwriter accepting requests since Wed 06 Mar 2019 11:33:12 PM PST laserwriter-single accepting requests since Wed 06 Mar 2019 11:33:12 PM PST lw accepting requests since Wed 06 Mar 2019 11:33:12 PM PST lw-single accepting requests since Wed 06 Mar 2019 11:33:12 PM PST SFU_Print accepting requests since Thu 07 Mar 2019 03:23:23 PM PST SFU_Print-colour accepting requests since Thu 25 Oct 2018 12:55:41 AM PDT SFU_Print-colour-single accepting requests since Tue 19 Mar 2019 02:54:14 PM PDT SFU_Print-single accepting requests since Thu 25 Oct 2018 12:55:39 AM PDT
To see if there are any stuck print jobs, type
SFU_Print-colour-single-7 username 302080 Tue 19 Mar 2019 03:22:06 PM PDT SFU_Print-8 username 145408 Tue 19 Mar 2019 03:22:51 PM PDT
If a stuck print job belongs to you and you want to get rid of
it, you can use the
cancel command, as
in:
NOTE: Every time you print, you should check
the print queues with
Alternatively, if the print job is stuck because it is awaiting authentication, you can authenticate it.
To print a pdf file, say "topopromo.pdf" to the SFU_Print-colour
queue, just type
2) Printing from a GUI application
Although you can print a pdf file from the command-line, you might first want to view it using a graphical application and print it from there. For such purposes, I recommend that you use evince or atril. evince is the GNOME document viewer and atril is the MATE document viewer. Or if you prefer the KDE desktop environment, then you can use okular. They are all open-source and supported by most Linux distributions.
Do not use acroread! If you try to print from acroread to one of the SFU_Print queues, the job will fail and it will remain stuck in the local queue on your computer. If you view the print queue, you'll see that the problem isn't that the job status is "Held for authentication" but, rather, it will be Stopped. This is due to "filter errors". The bottom line is that acroread is not compatible with the SFU_Print drivers.
The problem is that Adobe stopped supporting acroread on Linux many years ago. One hasn't been able to download it for a long time. The installer that I use to put acroread on Fedora Linux and CentOS Linux is a very old one that I snagged way back before Adobe dropped support. It's surprising that it even runs at all.
Whatever GUI application you use for printing, it will have a print menu that most likely comes with tabbed sub-menus for adjusting such things as duplex, colour, and resolution. For example, here's what the evince print menu looks like:
You might be confused, because SFU_Print-colour isn't necessarily colour and SFU_Print-single isn't necessarily single-sided! Those queues names validly represent the printer output only when printing from the command-line, and the settings will be overridden by what you choose in the GUI print menu. Furthermore, whatever you choose for one of the SFU_Print queues will be set for all of them. For example, if you choose single-sided colour printing for one of the SFU_Print queues, say "SFU_Print-colour-single", they will all be set to single-sided colour printing!
In order to avoid confusion, you should "SFU_Print" for all GUI printing, whether it is black and white or colour; single-sided or duplex, and set the options accordingly each time you print.
3) Print job authentication using the MATE desktop
If you are running a MATE desktop session on a CECM Fedora 27 computer and you're not using Kerberos pre-authentication, then, when you print a file to one of the SFU_Print queues, you might see a Print Job Authentication window similar to the following pop up on your screen:
Type in your Campus username and password. NOTE: this is not necessarily the same as your CECM password! The CECM uses its own authentication system which is independent from the Campus auth system.
If you click on the "Remember password" box, your Campus password will be saved into your keychain, and you won't have to type it every time you print.
After successful authentication, the PaperCut Client App will respond.
NOTE: the Print Job Authentication window only shows
up when printing from certain apps, such as evince and
firefox. It won't show up when printing with other apps,
such as xmaple, or when printing from the
command-line. In such cases, you need to bring up the Job
Authentication window manually, as follows. First, bring up the
It will look something like this:
And then, in the
If you have a print job being held for authentication, it will look something like this:
Just right-click on your stuck print job and choose "Authenticate" from the pop-up menu:
Type in your Campus username and password. After successful authentication, the PaperCut Client App will respond.
4) The PaperCut Client App
The accounting system used by the SFU_Print queues is called "PaperCut". It keeps track of how many pages you print. The PaperCut Client App talks to the PaperCut server, and it is set to start automatically when you log into a MATE session on a CECM Fedora 27 computer. It looks like this:
When you successfully authenticate to an SFU_Print queue, the PaperCut Client App will put up a window similar to the following:
If you see this window, that means your print job was successful, and that all you have to do is go to the printer and tap your key fob to the sensor in order to release your printing. If you don't have a key fob, you can type in your Campus username and password on the printer's LCD screen.
If you don't see this window, then that most likely means that something went wrong and your job will not reach the printer.
5) Print job pre-authentication with Kerberos
The SFU_Print queues on Fedora 27 are set up to accept Kerberos pre-authentication. Just open a Terminal and type kinit before you print. Then you won't need the Job Authentication window. Your print job should go straight through, and the PaperCut Notification window should pop up, confirming that your job is waiting to be released at the printer.
For more details on this, please see our Kerberos Printing FAQ.
John Hebron
Research Computing Group
IT Services, SFU Last modified: Fri Mar 22 17:11:55 PDT 2019