DMDCAT(1)

NAME
dmdcat - send files to a 630 MTG connected printer.

SYNOPSIS
dmdcat [ -s ] [ -b ] [ -v ] [ -u ] [ -t ] [ -e ] [ file... ]

DESCRIPTION
The dmdcat command is intended to be used to send files to a printer connected to the Printer port of the 630 MTG terminal. Dmdcat will send the concatenation of files specified on its command line, or the standard input if no files are specified.

The data is sent to the terminal preceded by a Printer-On Request escape sequence, and is terminated by a Printer-Off request escape sequence. The Printer-On request escape sequence commands the terminal emulator to start sending incoming data to the printer if the printer is available. The Printer-Off request escape sequence tells the terminal emulator to stop the sending. The escape sequences sent are:

    Printer On - ESC[?5;1i

    Printer Off - ESC[?4i

If the -s is present, dmdcat uses this set of escape sequences:

    Printer On (no screen) - ESC[?5;2i

    Printer Off (no screen) - ESC[4i

which tells the terminal emulator to start/stop sending incoming data to the printer (if the printer is available) as before but not to display this data on the screen.

The terminal responds with:

    ESC[?psi where:

    ps=0 indicates printer was not granted

    ps=1 indicates printer was granted.

If the printer was not granted, or if the terminal does not respond, dmdcat displays a message and aborts.

The second option, -b, strips backspaces from the output of dmdcat. If backspaces result in two or more characters appearing in the same place, only the last character read is output. This means that the printed output appears exactly as it appears on the 630 MTG screen, without bold and underline. This option is useful for printers which either cannot process backspaces or are slow in processing backspaces.

Dmdcat is a shell program that calls cat(1) and will pass the options -u, -v, -t, and -e to cat(1).

FILES
$DMD/lib/dmdgetpr    reads terminal response

SEE ALSO
cat(1), col(1) in the UNIX System V User Reference Manual.
630 MTG Terminal User's Guide.

DIAGNOSTICS
Dmdcat uses the col(1) command to strip backspaces with the -b option. Col(1) is not available on all UNIX systems. The -b option will give an error message if it cannot locate the col(1) command.

Dmdcat only works if it is executed from the default 630 MTG terminal emulator or any terminal emulator that supports the escape sequence sets described above.