jacques@INTECH.ARPA (02/11/88)
Because of our need to work with many diverse computer systems, we have
connected all our peripherals ( terminals and printers ) to a central
asynchronous data switch ( a Develcon DEVELSWITCH ) which in turn is
connected to all the asynch ports of the various CPUs. This arrangement
works great for terminal access since a simple dialog with the switch
alows a user to connect to any CPU easily. On the other hand, printing
from the VAX to one of the shared printers had to be implemented
through a custom program that negotiates with the switch and outputs the
data.
We would like to move to an environment where we can use the facilities of the
VMS job control system. To do this we need to put together a custom
print symbiont that provides the switch negotiation function as well
as other standard symbiont functions. As this appears to be a non-trivial
exercise, I would appreciate receiving any or all of the following:
- a copy of or a reference to a public domain symbiont that performs
a similar negotiation conversation function
- a copy of any PD symbiont that we can use as a sample
- opinions on the ease/difficulty of roll-your-own symbionts and advice
on how to proceed from here
Jacques Ouimet internet: jacques@intech.arpa
Intellitech Canada Ltd PSI mail: 302085800757::jacques
81 Metcalfe,Ottawa,ONT telephone: 613-236-7803