[comp.sys.mac] printing PostScript generated by Mac

seung@husc8.HARVARD.EDU (Seung) (10/28/87)

I am working on an Apollo DN3000 running DOMAIN/IX.  Connected to
it is an Apple LaserWriter.  Since I also have a Mac at home, I
would like to be able to upload PostScript files to the Apollo
and print them out on the LaserWriter.  What I have been doing is
using the command-K trick to generate a file which includes
LaserPrep as a header, followed by my print file.  I then transfer
this file to the Apollo, and feed it to the LaserWriter.  The
yellow light flashes, indicating that some processing is going on,
but no page is ever printed.  Does anyone know what I might be
doing wrong?  Please answer by mail and I will summarize to the net.
Thanks in advance.

Sebastian Seung

alen@cogen.UUCP (Alen Shapiro) (10/28/87)

In article <3056@husc6.UUCP> seung@husc8.UUCP (Seung) writes:
> I am working on an Apollo DN3000 running DOMAIN/IX.  Connected to
> it is an Apple LaserWriter.  Since I also have a Mac at home, I
> would like to be able to upload PostScript files to the Apollo
> and print them out on the LaserWriter.  What I have been doing is
> using the command-K trick to generate a file which includes
> LaserPrep as a header, followed by my print file.  I then transfer
> this file to the Apollo, and feed it to the LaserWriter.  The
> yellow light flashes, indicating that some processing is going on,
> but no page is ever printed.  Does anyone know what I might be
> doing wrong?  Please answer by mail and I will summarize to the net.
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Sebastian Seung

I have the same problem with our LaserWriter connected to a SUN 3
server, using the lpr command. The lpr command on SUN/OS states that
if the special characters '%!' are found alone on the first line, the
contents of the file are sent unfiltered to the LaserWriter. Using this
command (lpr) I got the above described results.

A QUICK HACK

A quick and dirty solution is to use a terminal interface program
(like tip or cu) on the LaserWriter tty-line (this will enable
XON/XOFF flow control) then send the file to the same /dev/ttyx
either by using 'cat' from another terminal or by using the
raw file transfer facility of tip/cu itself (tip uses ~> <FILENAME>
I believe).

This works although it bypasses the spooler which should be temporarily
disabled while the cludge is attempted.

I intended reporting the problem to SUN as a bug in lpr, but if same
is happening on Apollo I am at a loss to know the cause (of course
they might be entirely different problems - knowing Apollo - they
probably are :-))

--alen the Lisa slayer (it's a long story)