FYI Note: The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. Novell makes every effort within its means to verify this information. However, the information provided in this document is FOR YOUR INFORMATION only. Novell makes no explicit or implied claims to the validity of this information. TITLE: Printing Conventions and Suggestions DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6025 DATE: October 29, 1991 PRODUCT: NetWare Lite PRODUCT VERSION: All versions SUPERSEDES: NA SYMPTOM: NA ISSUE/PROBLEM Printing Conventions and Suggestions Chances are you bought this product to share one or more printers. For this reason, give special attention to the following remarks: Local Network Printers Once a printer is assigned as a network printer, you should only access that printer through the network. You may have a printer attached to your workstation that has been defined as a Network Printer. In this case, you should capture a port when you wish to print to it. If you print to it directly (not using capture), you may cause print job corruption. Characters Per Second and Print Buffers Network printers are created in the NET menu utility in the "Supervise the Network" category. When a printer is created, you can configure the performance of the printer relative to the DOS running on the same machine where the printer is attached. This is done by modifying the "Chars per second" parameter in conjunction with the "Print buffer size" parameter of the server configuration. The print buffer is an area in memory where characters are stored before being printed. The larger the print buffer size, the less often the server will need to go to disk to read more characters to print. If the "Chars per second" value is high (relatively speaking) and the "Print buffer size" is large (relatively speaking) then the printer will be driven faster and the DOS running on that machine will be interrupted more often to send characters to the printer. The converse is also true if the value of "Chars per second" is low and "Print buffer size" is small. These values should also be tuned to the speed, or desired speed, of the printer. If the printer is physically a "slow" printer then setting the "Chars per second" parameter to a high number will have no effect. Additionally, if the "Chars per second" is set higher than the "Print buffer size" parameter then this will have little effect, as well. Setup Strings One of the options available on network printers is setup strings. You can define up to ten setup strings for each network printer. In short, a setup string is a series of characters that put the printer into a particular mode (i.e. landscape mode, large characters mode). By default, the DEFAULT setup string is set to nothing. The DEFAULT setup string should be set to a sequence of values which reset the printer. Many printers use the string "1E 45" (E) to reset the printer (check the documentation for your printer to find out what sequence resets the printer). The manual that came with the printer should describe the values that place the printer into different modes. Setup strings are always entered using hexadecimal codes. By defining more than one setup string for a Network Printer it is possible to submit jobs that will print in different printer modes. Setup strings can be used as part of the "NET CAPTURE" command or in the "Print" category of the NET menu utility. An example of its use with "NET CAPTURE" is provided below. Capture Settings The term "capturing ports" refers to redirecting print jobs from the normal printing device to someplace else, in this case, a network printer. To capture a port you must first load CLIENT and login to the network. You can then access network printers by caputring ports with the "NET CAPTURE" command. There are several options available with this command. They are discussed in the manual, as well as in the on-line help in the NET menu utility and at the command-line when "NET CAPTURE HELP" is typed. A sample command-line might look like this: NET CAPTURE LPT1 LASERJET B=N D=Y S=LANDSCAPE This example specifies that all jobs sent to LPT1 of the local machine will be redirected to the network printer LASERJET. It also specifies that for all print jobs sent to LPT1 (LASERJET), there should be NO banner printed and each job should start printing before the job has been completely submitted (direct printing). Finally this job is printed using the LANDSCAPE setup string (created previously on printer LASERJET). The LANDSCAPE setup string values are sent to the printer just previous to the data of each print job sent to LPT1. The DEFAULT setup string values are sent to the printer after each print job is printed (thus resetting the printer for the next job sent to this printer). From the NET menu utility it is also possible to submit a print job and have the job immediately go on hold. When a print job is on hold it is placed on the queue but not printed. It can be taken off hold (and thus printed) by selecting the job from the print job list and changing the flags of the job. Capturing COM Ports The documentation incorrectly states that as a client, you can capture COM1 or COM2. The COM1 and COM2 ports can only be used by a server. A network printer can be assigned to the COM1 or COM2 port. Clients can then capture LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3 to a network printer that has been created and assigned to COM1 or COM2. Postscript printing Because of the nature of postscript printers, special care must be taken when sending print jobs. You should make sure your capture has the following set: BANNER=No TABS=0 FORMFEED=No You may also want to set the WAIT parameter to a value higher than 10 seconds. If your print job gets split to multiple jobs when printing to a postscript printer, you will want to increase the WAIT value. Increase it until your print job comes out all in one job. Using WAIT=0 The WAIT=0 should only be used if the application you are using will close the print job. If the application does not close the print job, using WAIT=0 will keep the print job open until it is closed explicitly. A print job on LPT1 can be closed manually from the DOS command-line by sending a formfeed or -L, displayed ^L (press and hold the Ctrl key while pressing the L key, then release the L key and Ctrl key). Type "ECHO ^L > LPT1". This sends a form feed character to LPT1 and closes the job. Generally using a WAIT value of 10 or so is adequate. CAUTION: If you use WAIT=0 and DIRECT=Y you will hold the printer until the print job is explicitly closed.