Macintosh Color Printing using the Phaser IISDX printer

The Scientific Computing and Visualization (SCV) group of Information Technology offers this procedure to Macintosh users as a way to take advantage of our Unix-based high-quality color printing service (see How to use the Tektronix Phaser IISDX continuous tone, dye sublimation PostScript Printer).

This procedure is designed to allow Macintosh users to print their color documents and images to SCV's 300 DPI, full color, continuous tone output Tektronix Phaser IISDX printer. The procedure involves installation of freely available software which will enable Macintosh users to print their documents to a PostScript file readable by the color printer, transfer this file to a Unix account and print it in full color. Documents are printed on 8.5"x11" paper or overhead transparencies but the image area is restricted to 8.1"x8.6".

The Scientific Computing and Visualization group offers a number of other Hardcopy and Production Services including Unix based Thermal Wax Color Printing, 35mm Color Slide production, Video recordings of computer graphics animations and a Scanning Service. There is a small charge for all of our hardcopy and production services.

Macintosh Color Printing Procedure Requirements

Unix account
(ACS Unix accounts are available to all Boston University students, faculty and staff. If you do not yet have an account see Computing and Communication at Boston University for an explanation of how to get one and a description of general computing resources available.)

Ability to do Mac-Unix File Transfer and to log in to your Unix account
1. Ability to use Fetch and NCSA Telnet or equivalent programs to access your Unix account from a Macintosh you own or have access to. (If you have a 9600 baud or faster modem you can get the Mac PPP disk and instructions on installing Mac TCP and Mac PPP from Information Technology at 111 Cummington Street. Once you have installed Mac PPP you will be able to use Fetch and NCSA Telnet, both of which are included on the Mac PPP disk.) If you have no way to access your Unix account from your Macintosh, you can probably still use this procedure (see Item#1 below under "Transfer your PostScript file to your Unix account").
2. You must use the File Transfer program (Fetch) from a Macintosh. However, you can log on to your Unix account from any machine that has access to the Internet, including Macintosh (NCSA Telnet), IBM (ProComm) or directly at a Unix terminal or machine.

Get the necessary printing software
Purchase the "Tektronix Phaser IISDX Color Printer Driver for Macintosh" disk from Information Technology at 111 Cummington Street. A copy of these instructions will come with the disk.

Install the driver on your Macintosh.
1. Insert the "Tektronix Phaser IISDX Color Printer Driver for Macintosh" disk in your Macintosh and double-click on the disk icon to open it.
2. Double-click on the "Installer" icon to run the installer.
3. Click on "OK". Click on "Install". Click on "Restart".

Macintosh Color Printing Procedure Instructions

READ BEFORE PROCEEDING
1. Please first read the How to use the Tektronix Phaser IISDX continuous tone, dye sublimation PostScript Printer document. Everything in that document applies to this procedure as well except that with this procedure you will always be printing a PostScript file, never a Raster image file.
2. If you are using any of the following Macintosh applications (regardless of the version you have) you may have problems in using the Tektronix printer driver to generate a postscript file that can be printed: Quark XPress, PageMaker, FreeHand, Canvas, PS Print, Adobe Separator. Try printing using these instructions and if you have difficulty contact the Personal Computing Support Center (PCSC at 100 Cummington Street, (617) 353-7272) for help.

Print your document to a PostScript file.
1. Run your application and load the file you want to print just as you would if you were printing to your own printer.
2. Select the Chooser from the Apple Menu.
3. Click on "Phaser IISDX" printer driver in the Chooser. No printers will be listed in the box under "Select a Phaser IISDX" but that is fine as you will be printing to a file.
4. Select Page Setup from the File menu of your application. Set the options as you like, except we recommend that you turn font substitution off as it sometimes causes small printing errors.
5. Remember that the print area of the Phaser IISDX color printer is only 8.1"x8.6" so if your document's image area is larger than this make sure to shrink it before printing to a file. You will not be able to shrink the PostScript file later in this process. Also you will probably want to center your image on the output page if you can.
6. Select Print from your application.
7. Click on "PostScript File". Leave all other settings alone unless you are sure they should be changed and click "Save".
8. Name the output PostScript file and select a place to save it on your hard drive. Use a name that ends in ".ps", for example myfile.ps
   NOTE: If you get any kind of an error in generating the PostScript file, your document will almost certainly not print later. Therefore, consult the PCSC now for help.

Transfer your PostScript file to your Unix account.
1. If you have and can run Fetch on the same Macintosh that you used to generate your PostScript file then skip to step 2. Otherwise you will need to transfer the PostScript file you just generated onto a floppy disk and take it with you to a Macintosh which can run Fetch (ie. connected to the Internet via LocalTalk, Ethernet or a 9600+ baud modem using Mac PPP). Note that your PostScript file may be significantly larger than the document it was generated from and this may cause you difficulty in transferring it via floppy disk. Consult the PCSC if you have difficulties with this. If you have no access to a Macintosh which can run Fetch you must either take your file in on your disk to the PCSC and have them transfer it or you can transfer it using some other transfer protocol that you may have access to (Kermit, Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem).
2. Run Fetch on your Macintosh (if you are using Mac PPP make sure you have first dialed in according to the instructions you got with the Mac PPP disk).
3. Enter the Host name you wish to access ( acs.bu.edu ), your Login Name (the part of your email address before the @ symbol), your Password (for the host you selected) and the Directory you wish to access (leave blank to access your home directory or enter /var/tmp on ACS for temporary storage of large files). Click "OK".
4. Click "Put File" once you are connected.
5. Select the PostScript file you generated earlier and double-click on it. Select "Raw Data" from the format menu that appears and click on "OK". Quit Fetch.
6. The file will be transferred to your Unix account on the host you selected in step 2 and placed in the directory you selected in step 2.

Log in to your Unix account and print your file
1. Log in to your Unix account from your Macintosh or at a Unix machine or terminal.
   Using NCSA Telnet to log in from your Macintosh.
   1. Run NCSA Telnet on your Macintosh (if you are using Mac PPP you are probably still logged in but if not log in now).
   2. Select "Open Connection" from the File menu.
   3. Enter the same host name you used above for Fetch ( acs ) and click on "Connect".
   4. When prompted, enter the same Login Name and Password that you used above for Fetch.
2. Check if your file is in your home directory by typing "ls filename.ps". If it is listed, skip to step 3a. Otherwise, go to the directory where your file is. If you put your file in /var/tmp on ACS, do this by typing "cd /var/tmp" and then type "ls filename" to be sure it is there.
3. A) Try to make sure your PostScript file transferred correctly by typing file filename.ps. The command file should return either filename.ps: PostScript program text or filename.ps: PostScript document. If it returns some other message not identifying your file as a PostScript document, something has probably gone wrong in either creating your file on the Macintosh or in transferring the file to your Unix account. Go back and see what might have gone wrong or contact the PCSC for help or try the test in 3b if you can as it is more reliable.
   B) Alternatively, to try to check if your file transferred correctly, if you are using MacX or are on a Unix terminal with an X Display try using ghostview or ghostscript (gs). Do this by correctly setting your DISPLAY environment variable and then typing either ghostview filename.ps or gs filename.ps. If this works it should bring up a window on your screen displaying your file. If you don't know how to do this or can't bring up a window at all, skip to step 4. If, on the other hand, a window does come up and your file is not shown or looks wrong then your file will also probably not print correctly. Contact the PCSC or the Graphics Consultants at the Computer Graphics Lab for help.
4. A) Type lpr -Ptekps filename.ps to print your file to the Phaser IISDX color printer at the Computer Graphics Lab on paper. On some machines, you can use the command imtekpsprint filename.ps instead of the lpr command. Either command should print your file, but imtekpsprint will likely give you more detailed error messages if anything goes wrong. Each page printed will cost $3.50 and you will need to pick your prints up at the lab during normal lab hours (CGL at 111 Cummington Street, 2nd Floor Room 203, phone: 353-9063, Fresh prints available Monday-Friday: 9:00am - 6:00pm). Regardless of when you pick up your printout, you can send your file to the printer 24 hours a day.
   B) Use lpr -Ptekpsx filename.ps to send your file to the Phaser IISDX color printer on a transparency. On some machines, you can use the command imtekpsprint -trans filename.ps instead of the lpr command. Either command should print your file, but imtekpsprint will likely give you more detailed error messages if anything goes wrong. Transparencies cost $4.50 each and can be picked up and sent to the printer as stated in 4a, but the accumulated transparency print jobs are generally only actually printed at noon each weekday.
5. You may get an error message or email back indicating an error occurred after executing either the lpr or imtekpsprint commands above. If this happens, your file will not have printed and you should contact the Graphics Consultant on duty at the Computer Graphics Lab.

Cautions and Special Cases

Printing from Photoshop on the Macintosh
There is a Photoshop plug-in included on the Tektronix Driver installer disk. You do not have to use this to print from Photoshop but it does have advantages (lets you automatically resize images). If you do wish to use it, do the following steps instead of steps 2-8 above under Print your document to a Postscript file. Do all the other steps above normally except that, if you use gs or ghostview as explained above in 3B and it shows a page which says "Phaser Print requires PostScript Level 2", ignore this message and try to print your file. It will most likely print fine except that it will go to the "long queue" (see below) and you will need to ask the student Graphics Consultant at the CGL to print it for you.

1. Insert the "Phaser IISDX Install Disk" driver disk.
2. Copy the Photoshop plug-in "Phaser(TM) Print" to the folder on your hard drive where your other Photoshop plug-ins are.
3. When you are ready to print from Photoshop select Export ("Phaser Print...") from the File menu.
4. Select "Portrait" or "Landscape". Click on "Scale to fit" to scale your image correctly to the print area of the Phaser IISDX printer (8.1"x8.6"). Click on "PostScript disk file". Click "Save".
5. Name the output PostScript file and select a place to save it on your hard drive. Use a name that ends in ".ps", for example myfile.ps Click "Save".

Printer Supported Fonts
The printer supports and should accurately print the following fonts (generally in standard format, italic, bold and bold italic): Courier, Helvetica, New Century Schoolbook, ITC Bookman Light, Helvetica Narrow, Helvetica Condensed, Palatino, Times Roman, ITC Avant Garde Gothic Book, ITC Zapf Chancery, ITC Zapf Dingbats, Symbol.
Other fonts will likely not print as you would wish so restrict yourself to the above set or live with the results.

Possible Unix printing "errors"
After you have transferred your file to your Unix account and tried to send it to the printer you may receive email back telling you there was some kind of an error. For example, you may get a message saying your file was sent to the "long queue". This will happen when you print a document longer than one page and sometimes even for single page documents. If this or any other strange error occurs after your file is transferred to your Unix account contact the Graphics Consultants at the Computer Graphics Lab during normal lab hours.