4.4 Hardcopy

Finally, you are happy with the way your graph looks, so you want to print it out on paper. Many types of hardcopy devices are supported within physica, and the one you will be using is the postscript type. This is the default type selected by physica when it starts; you may want to verify this by looking at the first line under the start-up banner of physica. If for some reason, a different type of print device got selected you can always change it by typing:

PHYSICA: device postscript

PostScript is the name of a ``page description language'' that is understood by many high-quality printers out there, including the ones at Brock. The printers are known to physica by their Unix names, and the ones you need to know about are:

lj-physics
the printer of choice, this is the LaserJet 4M+ printer in B203. Your output is available for pickup whenever B203 is open, which is most of the time. At the moment, Department of Physics is subsidizing the cost of course-related printing on this printer; please, do not abuse this privilege as this will result in an immediate termination of this policy.
ps
this is the central printer of the University's Computing Services. It is located in F301 and your output is available for pickup during the normal working hours.
psd
the same printer! - except when addressed by this name, the multipage output sent to it gets printed in duplex mode, i.e. on both sides of the page.
lw-physics
An older LaserWriter II NTX, now moved to H200, mostly for use in the Y1 labs. Can act as a backup printer, but you will have to walk to H200 to pick up the output.
hp2200
this is the printer in the Physics Office. Prior to printing there, please obtain secretary's permission so that your print jobs do not interfere with her work. Again, locked after hours.
f316
as the name suggests, this printer is located in F316, and is only convenient when you are next door, in F317. Since some evening classes use those rooms, there usually is a TA on duty to give you your output.

With the exception of lj-physics, the printed output costs $0.10 per page, which is collected when you pick up your output.

Once you know the name of the printer you want to use, get the hardcopy output by following this example:

PHYSICA: hardcopy
 Device= postscript
 P - Print on a queue
 S - Save into a file
 A - Auxiliary port output
command >> p
queue (default= POST_SCRIPT) >> lj-physics

The only things you have to type in here are: p, the command to print, and lj-physics, the name of the printer. The rest of the text shown above is supplied by physica to prompt you.

As you can tell, you could also save the output to a file for printing later or for including it in your lab report, by typing s instead of p, and then by supplying the filename at the last prompt.

If you change your mind in the middle of a hardcopy command, you can use Ctrl-d to interrupt it and to return to the physica prompt.

Note that you need to set the device type only once per physica session. In fact, you may want to create a .physicarc file in your home directory which contains the command device postscript. Next time you start physica, the proper device type will be selected for you.

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