Printing a DIN A0 Poster

1. Printer driver

Windows XP has Driver for HP Designjet 750C/PS in the Printer list.

If it does not appear, you have to install this printer (control panel, add printer, select local port and send to file, the find in the list the HP Designjet printer).

2. Programs to assemble Poster and setup page size

Canvas and Powerpoint work. Select custom paper size and as units points, then enter for the paper size 2514 for width and 3431 for height for portrait and the other way around for landscape.

Be careful, the uppermost part of the document might get truncated a little bit (check with ghostview; see below)

3. Assemble document

If you put together the poster, very large files can result. Usually, a Canvas file with abot 100 MB size is o.k., but to avoid problems, you could check the resolution of your pictures and change them to a 300 dpi. To do so, click on a single picture (not a group of images or images grouped with text). Then go to “Image-Area-Resolution”. In the upcoming window the resolution will be displayed.

In the filed Res, type in the desired resolution

Another problem can be special characters. Use the Symbol font when entering special characters and not special keys within the font you are using. Check these special characters later using Ghostview.

4. Print Postscript file

Transfer your document onto a PC (e.g. rux-Computer)

Open document, select page setup and then HPDesignjet 750C/PS printer.

Check the boxes: Fit to Paper, Center on Paper,

Click on Printer Properties

select under Layout, Portrait or Landscape, whatever you need, then click on Paper/Quality

then click on Advanced

As paper size select Oversize A0

Click Ok

Under document setup in Canvas select document size from Printer

Make sure your document is well within the borders that the Canvas layout now displays.

Then click print. Make sure that Color Mode is RGB and that you click on “Print to file”

You can now save your file (as a .PRN file).

5. Check your Postscript file with Ghostview

You need Ghostscript and Ghostview to do this.

Ghostview and Ghostscript can be downloaded here:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/mirror.htm

Open the Ghostview program (under Ghostgum-Ghostview) and open your PRN file. Adjust the size being displayed under -Media- and select “user defined. Then add 2514 for width and 3431 for height for a portrait oversize A0 poster. You also might need to adjust the magnification to see your whole poster.

6. Transfer to campfire computer with an SFTP program

On the PC, you can use the program WINSCP (http://winscp.net/eng/index.php)

On the Mac, use Fetch (Version 5 is SFTP)

Connect in the SFTP program to campfire:

campfire.rrz.uni-koeln.de

UserID: Your ID, eg. aeg85

Password: your passoword

Set the initial directory to /tmp

(these windows are from the old program that was not SFTP capable. I will update this file soon with new screenshots)

In the Startup menu, enter as initial remote site /tmp

After connecting to campfire, navigate in the right window to your folder that contains the PRN file

Click on te arrow to the right to start the transfer protocol. To make sure that the file was delivered intact, reload it from the campfire computer to your local computer (to a different folder in order to avoid overwriting). Then check this file with ghostview for mistakes.

7. Send the file into the print que of the printer

On the PC, you can use the program PUTTY (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html) to establish a secure shell connection to campfire. On the Mac use the program Terminal.

Connect to

campfire.rrz.uni-koeln.de

On the Mac type in the Terminal window:

ssh aegxx@campfire.rrz.uni-koeln.de

where aegxx is your account number, aeg58

On the pc type in the connect to server field:

campfire.rrz.uni-koeln.de

and the account name and password in the appropriate fields.

Send the file to the print queue

type

lpr -Pdjprobe location (for a testprint)

!!space after lpr and before location!!

lpr -Pdjglanz location (for glossy print)

example:

lpr -Pdjglanz /tmp/Sprenger.PRN

(!! Make sure to have the correct caps!!)

With the command

lpq –Pdjprobe

Or

lpq –Pdjglanz

you can check how many print jobs are in the queue

8. Tell the Rechenzentrum that you would like your poster to be printed.

Call 4562 and tell them your account number and the name and location of the file to be printed.

Before picking up your poster, you have to buy coupons that are then handed to the person that will print the poster.