Printing Postscript Files in Sonoma

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Level 1

4 points

Printing Postscript Files in Sonoma

I have seen a number of questions about how to print postscript files in Sonoma, since postscript handling was removed in Sonoma. There is a simple solution as long as your printer can process postscript files. Simply add the -l argument after the lpr command....

lpr -l postscript_filename

The -l argument tells the operating system to send the raw postscript file to the printer. I believe most, if not all, HP laser printers can process and print raw postscript files and I suspect many other printers can too.

iMac 24″

Posted on Jun 18, 2024 4:16 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,248 points

Jun 18, 2024 5:49 AM in response to BrentMcKim

What that -l switch says is that the print file is already formatted for the destination and should be sent without filtering. I would have preferred that you successfully tested this approach and specified the printer model where it worked.

I have a reliable 29-page/min monochrome Samsung ML2955ND laser printer (AirPrint) that empties the print queue and prints nothing. The following commands:

lpr -l circular.ps
lpr -l -o raw circular.ps
lpq

That circular.ps is a hand-coded postscript file. I also used the Ghostscript 10.03.1 pdf2ps script to generate a postscript level 2 file from a one-page PDF. That PS document also failed to print with the above commands. Either PS file opened fine in the TeXShop PDF viewer.

Your suggested approach is dependent on the printer and the PS to PDF driver code possessing the ability to convert PS to PDF before it arrives in the printer.

Tested: macOS Sonoma 14.5

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Answer 2

BrentMcKim Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 18, 2024 7:52 AM in response to VikingOSX

This is a very good point and I certainly did not mean to imply it would work with all printers. I certainly recommend testing one's printer with a small postscript document. Thank you for the feedback and I am sorry it did not work for you.

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