Problem:  How can I prevent staircase or stairstepping output from my printer in Unix?

Cause: This is caused by the different ways that DOS and Unix handle the end of a text line. Unix ends a line with a LF (Line Feed, 0x0A) character, while DOS uses both a LF and a CR (Carriage Return, 0x0D). Sometimes this can be cleared by changing the emulation type (Either Epson or IBM) being selected on the printer.

Solution:

  1. In the /usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces or if this is a network printer the /usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces/model.orig add the following line to the first line of the printer file:


    FILTER=/usr/lib/lponlcr


    You might only need to add the /usr/bin/lponclr to the FILTER= line .
  2. Ensure the follwing lines are also included in the printer file:

    #If we are not using a filter, use the default one.
    if [ -z "${FILTER}" ]
    then
    FILTER="${LPCAT}"
    fi

Note: When adding a line printer (dot matrix) a good model to use with the FILTER= is dumb.

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