BERKOWITZ@V1.BBN.COM.UUCP (12/20/86)
From: Marc Berkowitz, BBN Labs, Cambridge, Mass. (berkowitz@BBN.arpa)
Subj: Apple LaserWriter on DEC microVax
We are looking for a robust and simple way to print PostScript files
on an Apple LaserWriter connected to a DEC microVax (specifically a GPX-2).
The requirements are:
-- to support a queue of files
-- to be simple for a user to enqueue/dequeue/abort files, or to list
the status of the queue
-- to monitor the LaserWriter for error signals, and to respond
appropriately (ie ignore it; tell the user; skip or re-send the file).
-- to make sense on a single-user workstation (for instance, don't
hassle with print-job ownership protections etc.)
We've tried using the standard VMS print queue:
we set up SYS$PRINT as a generic queue, owning a terminal queue that
owns the port CSA0:, which connects to the LaserWriter over a 9600
baud line. We set CSA0: to be /nowrap.
This works badly: a file is sent out and printed, but on a printer error,
the LaserWriter seems to go into a "flush all input" mode, VMS doesn't
notice, and the rest of the queue is sent out to be ignored.
How can we handle the LaserWriter within the VMS print queue system?
Can anybody give us a print symbiont for the LaserWriter? Or suggestions
as to where to find one, or how to write one?
Alternatively, does anybody know of an independent utility that could
provide the basic services of a print queue?