exnirad@brolga.cc.uq.oz (Nirad Sharma) (03/19/90)
Does anyone out there know what the codes are to start and stop transparent
printing through an ANSI terminal's local attached printer ? Note that this is
slightly different from just echoing output to the local printer. Transparent
printing in the context I am using refers to the use of the local printer by
other terminals while the pri{ter's terminal is bing used by its owner.
Any replies would be appreciated.
Nirad Sharma (exnirad@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au)
Continuing Education Unit,
The University of Queensland,
AUSTRALIAexnirad@brolga.cc.uq.oz (Nirad Sharma) (03/20/90)
I am posting the answer to my original question : >Does anyone out there know what the codes are to start and stop transparent >printing through an ANSI terminal's local attached printer ? Note that this is >slightly different from just echoing output to the local printer. Transparent >printing in the context I am using refers to the use of the local printer by >other terminals while the printer's terminal is being used by its owner. As I had already discovered, 'esc [ ? 5 i' starts ECHOING terminal output to the locally-attached printer while 'esc [ ? 4 i' stops echoing terminal output. The codes to turn on and off, respectively, transparent printing are 'esc [ 5 i' and 'esc [ 4 i' (no question mark). (This was provided by Tim Peiffer <peiffer@cs.umn.edu>.) I have been told that implementation of transparent printing poses problems, more specifically . . . >Date: Tue, 20 Mar 90 09:31:51 NZT >From: Jim Shaw <jim@unisys.co.nz> >Organization: Unisys New Zealand >Transparent print requires special driver support to enable multiple processes >to share one serial line ( tty & printer). . . >Typically a driver is written to use a different minor number for >communicating with the printer. A special ioctl call tells the driver what the >escape sequence to enable/disable tranparent print is. The driver then has to >synchronise physical writes to the port so that printer and terminal get the >correct data. >I am looking at implementing a driver to do this and would be interested in >keeping in touch if you have any thoughts, problems etc. The major stumbling >block is getting source/specs for the hardware level interface. I can't provide any help here but maybe someone else can help. I have my terminals connected to an Anvil board providing APS, "Attached Printer Support", which creates a separate prn device e.g. /dev/prn005 for /dev/tty005, which the OS treats as any other printer device. The Anvil board does all the work - it works like a charm. Thanks again for all the responses. Nirad Sharma (exnirad@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au) Continuing Education Unit, The University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA