The LPD protocol manipulates a print queue on a host, either local or remote. Each print queue is referred to by a logical name. A job in a print queue consists of one Control File and one or more Data Files. A Control File describes the print job in terms of characteristics and print requirements, while a Data File contains the actual data to be printed.
The LPD protocol provides commands to:
Send Control and Data Files
Remove a print job from the queue
Read the queue status
Start printing on a queue.
Because of the specifics of the LPD protocol, the LP interface on the varioPRINT 140 Series does not provide interactive printing possibilities for the user.
In a traditional (Unix) LPD server environment, the LPD programme may serve multiple print queues, each having their own logical name. Queues are also physically distinguished, and can be handled separately.
The varioPRINT 140 Series supports multiple print queues. The varioPRINT 140 Series can use the queue name for selecting the jobs on the printer and for adding missing settings to a job. Via the Settings Editor/Automatic Workflows, a queue name can be linked to a label. Settings can be added to a job in the Automatic Workflow. The label can be used to select jobs on the User Interface of the printer.
The order of the Control and Data files is not relevant for printing the job. However, in combination with Streaming mode, when the Control file comes after the Data file(s), the USERNAME and JOBNAME will get a default value when no ticket information is available.
Print jobs can be submitted via the LP interface in any PDL used for document printing, for example, PDF. The printer LPD leaves the file intact.
Any remote host and/or user has access to the LP print service. The varioPRINT 140 Series Settings Editor provides the possibility to enable or disable the use of the LP host I/O channel. When the LP interface is disabled, the printer will not accept new print jobs from remote hosts, but jobs already queued on the printer will still be processed.