lpr postscript filter

[R. J. Auletta]

  I'm looking for a better lineprinter filter for controlling a
postscript printer from an Unix(Ultrix) machine. In particular I am
looking for a filter that will detect when the printer is off
and hold the print job until the printer is turned back on
(but still use Cntl-S/Cntl-Q handshaking) and report all those
messages back to the printer status line in lpq..

(I have found a PD filter that does the communication but
not conversion from ascii, and we don't have transcript,
but we do have Ultrix source, but I don't want to recreate
the wheel.)

The standard filter (ln03rof) is fine except it won't hold
jobs when the printer is off. Does anyone have experience
using ln03rof, Apple Laser writer, and DTR/CTS (modem control
handshaking.) I would be interested in hearing about the
cable, the setup for the applelaser writer, and the xc,xs,fc,fs
fields in the printcap file if this is a workable hardware solution..

Thanks in advance,

--R J Auletta
  rauletta at sitevax.gmu.edu