Re: plain printing

[Rob Thorpe]

Keith O'Connell <kroc@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message 
news:<877k7rs1ve.fsf@smtp.blueyonder.co.uk>...
> >>>>> "RT" == Rob Thorpe <robert.thorpe@antenova.com> writes:
> 
>     RT> The exact command Emacs should give to print the file is:-
> 
>     RT> pr -F filename | lpr
> 
>     RT> Check what this does at the shell and check what lpr-buffer
>     RT> does in Emacs.  If it doesn't produce the right result its
>     RT> still probably a print setup problem.  You may have set the
>     RT> paper size to letter in your print setup where it should be
>     RT> A4.
> 
> This is a little further forward as the pr -F filename | lpr also
> pusehes out the spare page. I see that the pr -F option is designed to
> do form feed, but this can't be what is meant, all these spare
> pages. Am I right in assuming that the system page size is set in
> /etc/papersize? If so it says a4.
> 
> Any suggestions?

/etc/papersize is advice to programs, it is not used by lpr itself. 
They all should obey it, but only some do (Emacs should but doesn't).

Anyway, to fix.  My version of pr says:

       -l PAGE_LENGTH, --length=PAGE_LENGTH
              set the page length to PAGE_LENGTH (66) lines (default
number of
              lines of text 56, and with -F 63)

So I'd adjust this variable in Emacs by customizing
lpr-page-header-switches.