NAME

       whack - mangle requests to a printer or damage a printer

SYNOPSIS

       whack [-h | -v] [-i] [-w] ids

       whack [-j] [-v] [-s] [-w] printers

DESCRIPTION

       whack  mangles line printer requests or damages line printers.  When the first form of the
       command is used, the printed output of the job is mangled as  specified  by  the  options.
       When the second form of the command is used, the printer itself is damaged as specified by
       the options.

OPTIONS

       -h        Horizontal. Make the output run across the page horizontally, ignoring linefeeds
                 and other form movement characters or embedded commands.

       -v        Vertical. Make the output run vertically in one column (the current column) down
                 the paper, ignoring any form movement characters or embedded commands.

       -i        ISO mode. Select, at random, a different ISO code set to use while printing  the
                 rest of the job.

       -w        Write  a  taunting  message  on  the  user's  terminal  after the jobs have been
                 whacked.  If the user is not logged in locally, then mail will be sent instead.

       -j        Jam. Self-explanitory.

       -v        Voltage surge. Send a voltage spike down the transmit lead(s)  of  the  printer.
                 Physical contact with the printer should be avoided while using the -v option.

       -s        Spit.  Causes  the printer to rapidly eject it's paper load into the output bin.
                 Depending upon the speed of the ejection, a few characters could actually  print
                 on each page.

FILES

       /etc/termcap

HISTORY

       Written by Eric L. Pederson <eric@bofh.org.uk>.

                                        28 September 1995                                WHACK(1)