beaucham@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (08/31/89)
For several weeks we used a LaserWriter II NT successfully with Word Perfect on an IBM AT in coexistence with various applications on a Mac SE as follows: ------------| |-------------| |----------| | IBM AT |-------->| Laserwriter | Apple-| Mac SE | | | serial | II NT |<------| | |-----------| |-------------| Talk |----------| Then, after we down-loaded fonts from another IBM program (ChiWriter), Word Perfect lost its ability to print on the Laserwriter. ChiWriter on the IBM and all applications we've tried on the Mac continue to work. Turning the LaserWriter off and on fails to restore the fonts for Word Perfect. Selecting 'printer initialization' in Word Perfect has no effect either. While most users are happy, the IBM Word Perfect users are mad as hornets. Can someone tell me why this has happened and what can be done to rectify the program? I would appreciate any ideas. beaucham@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu
newbery@rata.vuw.ac.nz (Michael Newbery) (09/05/89)
In article <20200051@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu> beaucham@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >For several weeks we used a LaserWriter II NT successfully with Word Perfect >on an IBM AT in coexistence with various applications on a Mac SE as follows: [ picture deleted ] >Then, after we down-loaded fonts from another IBM program (ChiWriter), >Word Perfect lost its ability to print on the Laserwriter. >Can someone tell me why this has happened and what can be done to rectify >the program? I would appreciate any ideas. If ChiWriter is the program I think I remember, the problem is that it has reconfigured your serial port (to 9600, 8 bits, no parity if I remember right.) Our attitude to ChiWriter is simple---we don't let it anywhere NEAR any of our PostScript printers. Practise Safe Computing: keep ChiWriter in a bag. In the world of fascist PostScript, ChiWriter outdoes even MS Word. It also rewrites your (limited write cycle) EEROM every time you run it, which is another reason to toss it. How to fix: 1) connect a terminal to the serial port of your LW, play with the speed and parity settings until the mystic sequence executive<CR> (That is executive in lowercase, followed by a carriage return) provokes some response. The command will not be echoed as you type it in, do not be alarmed by this. 2) type the following PostScript program serverdict begin 0 exitserver statusdict begin 25 9600 2 setsccbatch end quit The value 2 sets 7 bits, even parity, use 0,1,2,3 for space,odd,even,mark resp. The value is actually a bitfield made up as follows [6:1](stop bits: 0,1=1,2) [5:2](width: 0,1=7,8) [3:2](flow control: 0,1,2=Xon/Xoff,DTR,ETX/ACK) [1:2](parity: as above) 3) dump ChiWriter, or at least keep it away from your printer, 'cause if anyone ever prints using it again, the system will die once more. DISCLAIMER: I am going by what I remember from encountering this problem over a year ago, the symptoms sound familiar but I could well have got things wrong, including the offending/offensive program's name. If I have unjustly maligned ChiWriter I apologise in advance. -- Michael Newbery<newbery@rata.vuw.ac.nz> (...!uunet!vuwcomp!newbery if you must) "It is unnecessary to state that..."