5 ms·

Not sure if I should share this, but here it goes. One nice trick I used a lot when in college is that some postscript network printers would print raw postscr

by igrekel 17y ago

Not sure if I should share this, but here it goes. One nice trick I used a lot when in college is that some postscript network printers would print raw postscript sent to them on a specific port (which I can't remember sorry). This allowed me to use netcat toprint my documents bypassing the college's print quota system and everyone who would be waiting in the queue.

cnvogel 17y ago
Usually it's port 9100. Bash (and for sure also tcsh or zsh, not to start any flamewar) has a nice builtin tcp-socket interface by redirecting to the "pseudo" tcp device, so you don't even need nc for it on most current unices. cat file.ps >/dev/tcp/10.2.3.4/9100
- yan 17y ago
  Wow, I had no idea about the bash device. This is great.
  - dfranke 17y ago
    Note that it's disabled in Debian because the package maintainer has some stupid notion that it's a security hole.
    - blasdel 17y ago
      Which is epically obnoxious when you have an open shell on a dying remote box that's lost /lib/libc.so.6 and you're scrounging for a way to restore it. I was halfway through writing a uudecode implementation using only bash builtins when the hosting company got me a serial line on the box. I despise their policy of diddling with every upstream package -- disabling default build options, removing config files, separating the peas from the carrots, splitting pieces off into new packages, and all that anal-retentive bullshit. It's much worse on systems where there are fewer people keeping an eye on the maintainers -- ever try to use fink?
      - dfranke 17y ago
        Well, Debian is the worst-maintained distribution out there, except for all the other ones.
        blasdel 17y ago
        That's just the problem -- they do massively more maintenance than any other software project ever to exist. They waste nearly all of their effort doing the fussiest of tasks. The root issue is the pointless 'version' freezes -- they end up forking every single upstream project, being careful to never backport features (only 'bugfixes', which are never really so when isolated from context), and aim for a zealous consistency in the wholesale removal of any features which conflict with their ideology. I used to get pissed off when the Debian people quoted astronomical figures about how many LoC are 'in Debian', but I got over it -- they really do wear the hair shirt.
omouse 17y ago
This is definitely worth sharing. The IT department and the computer lab guys are worse than the Soviets. They keep all these strict quotas, you have to wait in line for anything to get done, and the applications they run are old (unless they're Microsoft or Adobe applications).
- Goladus 17y ago
  When I was in a PC support position, there weren't any quotas; we just had a print server because it was much easier to organize and configure that way. Anyone wanting to set up a printer directly was more than welcome to, so long as they didn't fuck it up and then come crying to me when it didn't work. You can do this in windows by setting up a TCP printer rather than connecting to a print server.
jwilliams 17y ago
Also works for PCL to HP printers - If you're on a windows network you can simply open the printer "//server/xyz" and send the PCL through. Many years ago I used this to print documents from a Java backend (which didn't support printing without a GUI+Print Dialog)... Manually generated the PCL. Bit of a hack, but did the trick.

by igrekel 17y ago

cnvogel 17y ago

Usually it's port 9100. Bash (and for sure also tcsh or zsh, not to start any flamewar) has a nice builtin tcp-socket interface by redirecting to the "pseudo" tcp device, so you don't even need nc for it on most current unices. cat file.ps >/dev/tcp/10.2.3.4/9100

yan 17y ago
Wow, I had no idea about the bash device. This is great.
- dfranke 17y ago
  Note that it's disabled in Debian because the package maintainer has some stupid notion that it's a security hole.
  - blasdel 17y ago
    Which is epically obnoxious when you have an open shell on a dying remote box that's lost /lib/libc.so.6 and you're scrounging for a way to restore it. I was halfway through writing a uudecode implementation using only bash builtins when the hosting company got me a serial line on the box. I despise their policy of diddling with every upstream package -- disabling default build options, removing config files, separating the peas from the carrots, splitting pieces off into new packages, and all that anal-retentive bullshit. It's much worse on systems where there are fewer people keeping an eye on the maintainers -- ever try to use fink?
    - dfranke 17y ago
      Well, Debian is the worst-maintained distribution out there, except for all the other ones.
      - blasdel 17y ago
        That's just the problem -- they do massively more maintenance than any other software project ever to exist. They waste nearly all of their effort doing the fussiest of tasks. The root issue is the pointless 'version' freezes -- they end up forking every single upstream project, being careful to never backport features (only 'bugfixes', which are never really so when isolated from context), and aim for a zealous consistency in the wholesale removal of any features which conflict with their ideology. I used to get pissed off when the Debian people quoted astronomical figures about how many LoC are 'in Debian', but I got over it -- they really do wear the hair shirt.

omouse 17y ago

This is definitely worth sharing. The IT department and the computer lab guys are worse than the Soviets. They keep all these strict quotas, you have to wait in line for anything to get done, and the applications they run are old (unless they're Microsoft or Adobe applications).

Goladus 17y ago
When I was in a PC support position, there weren't any quotas; we just had a print server because it was much easier to organize and configure that way. Anyone wanting to set up a printer directly was more than welcome to, so long as they didn't fuck it up and then come crying to me when it didn't work. You can do this in windows by setting up a TCP printer rather than connecting to a print server.

jwilliams 17y ago

Also works for PCL to HP printers - If you're on a windows network you can simply open the printer "//server/xyz" and send the PCL through. Many years ago I used this to print documents from a Java backend (which didn't support printing without a GUI+Print Dialog)... Manually generated the PCL. Bit of a hack, but did the trick.