Problems You Are Likely To Encounter

List of Common User Problems and Solutions

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LOGGING IN

Symptoms:

CapsLock

However Unix savvy one might be, the first and foremost thing to check when finding your current password to be invalid, is the CapsLock key. It happens quite often and easily that this gets turned on mistakenly, and prevents a user from correctly typing their password. Remember, Unix is extremely case sensitive, and typing what should be in lowercase, in uppercase, can make a world of difference.





PRINTING

Symptoms:

Could be a DOS file

DESCRIPTION: You may be attempting to print a file which was not created by a UNIX system, in which case, we would expect the printer to hang. Viewing the file with less will often shed more light on the situation.

SYMPTOMS: If you see a file that begins like this, beware: 

%!PS-Adobe-3.0^M%%Title: (Untitled2)^M%%Creator: (Microsoft Word: LaserWriter 8 
8.1.1)^M%%CreationDate: (3:04 PM Tuesday, March 7, 1995)^M%%For: (Jeanne Behnke)
^M%%Pages: 3 6^M%%DocumentFonts: Helvetica-Bold Helvetica Helvetica-Oblique Time
s-Roman Times-Bold
The "%!PS-Adobe" indicates that the document is PostScript, and the "Creater: (Microsoft Word..." tells us that it was generated by such.


SOLUTIONS:

Since Unix systems and MS-DOS PC's use different formatting techniques, the file must be converted for use on a Unix system. To do so, try the following command: 

[145]jess@sol:/u/jess/bin% dos2unix dosfilename unixfilename
where dosfilename is the current name of the file, and unixfilename is what you'd like the converted file to be named.

If you simply need to print the file, you can pipe it the printer, as here: 

[160]jess@sol:/u/jess/bin% dos2unix dosfilename | lpr
without in any way changing the actual contents of the file.

Could be a PostScript file

DESCRIPTION:

SYMPTOMS: Postscript files generally have a .ps extension, although not always. Even more common is that somewhere in the first few lines will be the word PostScript. Another way to check is by using the file command, which tells you (although not infallibly) what type of file you are examining: 

[434]jess@sol:/u/jess% file talk.ps
talk.ps:        PostScript document
[435]jess@sol:/u/jess%
If it tells you it's a PostScript document, however, it probably is.

SOLUTIONS: Most printers need to be warned that they are printing a postscipt file, or you will run into trouble. To do this, simply utilize the -s flag with lpr: 

[435]jess@sol:/u/jess% lpr -s talk.ps
There are also commands created especially for printing PostScript files, such as enscript, which converts a normal text file to PostScript, and pslpr, which prints PostScript documents. They have many features, which can be best understood by reading the manpages.

If you do not follow these guidelines when printing a PostScript file, the printer is likely to hang. Please remove the file from the queue immediately.

Could be an Encapsulated Postscript File

DESCRIPTION: Postscript files which contain pictures or images are usually written with EPS, or Encapsulated PostScript. Often these files do not include the necessary showpage command in them, which instructs PostScript to actually print the page it has created.

SYMPTOMS:

SOLUTIONS:

  • One possible solution is to use the program, ppanel, which provides a GUI, or Graphical User Interface, for Unix printing. At Lick this application should only be used from bigdog for optimum reliability.

    ppanel provides a feature called add showpage, which enables one to input a showpage in the specified document. This will only work, however, one single page documents.

  • For documents larger than a single page, it is more effective to

    Comments/Questions/Suggestions to:

    NICS
    UCO/Lick Observatory
    University of California
    Santa Cruz, CA 95064
    1 831 459 2303