Using tip to Set Back Channel Communications on a BSD UNIX Host 

The PostScript interpreter produces error messages and sends them to %stdout, which
by default is the serial port. These error messages can be helpful in determining printer
status. To capture error messages on your UNIX host, you can use tip to read what the
printer is sending to the serial port.

The following explains how to use tip to read communications from the printer on a BSD
UNIX host:

1.    Make an entry for communications from the printer in /etc/remote. It should look
something like this:

      remoteentryname:\
              :dv=/dev/ttya:br#9600:

2.    In another window, or in background, execute the following:

      tip remoteentryname
      
      (The variable remoteentryname must be the same in steps 1 and 2.)

3.    Optional: Redirect this back channel information to a file. You should get a
connected message; if you don't, verify that you have correctly specified the port in
/etc/remote. 

4.    Use ~. or ~^Z to end the tip session when you want to close the communication.

For more information on tip, see the man pages.
 
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of UNIX Systems Laboratories; SPARCþ is a registered trademark of SPARC
International; Sunþ is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems.