bjf@utcsstat.UUCP (Bruce Freeman) (08/22/84)
Unlike Research, users at our site do not just grab the typesetter whenever it is not busy and start dumping stuff at it. Like most sites we spool stuff to the typesetter. Currently this is done with a rather ancient spooling system which was originally written under PWB and later converted to V7. Well now we are going to 4.2BSD and this software has been declared dead. We plan to use MDQS but have run into what must be a fairly generic problem with typesetter spoolers. Unlike line printers, typesetters need attention from operators. The cassette must be changed when it fills up with paper (Guess what typesetter we have?) and so on. This means one must keep track of how much paper has been consumed and bother the operators to add more when you run low. Our question is how do you handle this at your site? The current plan, based on how the old system did it, is to pause() and wait to be hit by a signal which indicates the paper has been added. Then we simply pick up where we left off and continue on our merry way. Is this the only way or is there a nice clean way other sites handle this problem? We would be interested in hearing how you handle this problem. Curious, Bruce -- Bruce Freeman University of Toronto {decvax|harpo|ihnp4}!utcsstat!bjf