How do I choose a default printer in UNIX?
If you wish to change your default printer, you can put the name of the preferred printer in the environment variables PRINTER and LPDEST. For instance, if you want printer 365 to be your default printer, type the commands:
tcsh:
setenv PRINTER 365 setenv LPDEST 365
bash:
export PRINTER=365 export LPDEST=365
This will enforce the printer choice for every program started from the shell that you typed the commands in. If you want to always use a particular printer, put the setenv commands at the end of your ~/.cshrc
file or the export commands at the end of your ~/.bashrc
file. Note that users with printers in their offices usually get the correct PRINTER and LPDEST settings without needing to edit their dot files.