toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (08/22/90)
I have an Apple LaserWriter IIntx PostScript printer. On occasion I mess up and send it a straight ASCII text. It is then completely hung. The only way I know how to restore its sanity is to turn it off and back on again, which is a pain. We can't find a power CLEAR command in the PostScript books. Does someone know how to do this? Howcome the language doesn't seem to have a power clear command that resets the interpreter? The commands initgraphics and grestoreall don't do the job. Please help! Thanks. Tom Schneider National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 toms@ncifcrf.gov
ejb@think.com (Erik Bailey) (08/22/90)
In article <1851@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: >I have an Apple LaserWriter IIntx PostScript printer. On occasion I mess up >and send it a straight ASCII text. It is then completely hung. [...] > > Tom Schneider Try sending a PostScript EOF (^D). --Erik -- Erik Bailey | 7 Oak Knoll | Thinking Machines Corp. ejb@think.com | Arlington, MA 02174 | 245 First St. harvard!think!ejb | (617) 643-0732 | Cambridge, MA 02142 /earth is 98% full. Please remove any excess inhabitants.
royster@unccvax.uncc.edu (David Royster) (08/22/90)
In article <1851@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: >I have an Apple LaserWriter IIntx PostScript printer. On occasion I mess up >and send it a straight ASCII text. It is then completely hung. The only way I >know how to restore its sanity is to turn it off and back on again, which is a >pain. We can't find a power CLEAR command in the PostScript books. Does >someone know how to do this? I have had the same situation occur and found that the ASCII character 4 (decimal) clears our PostScript Printer. We have a NEC 890. I am certain that it will work on a LaserWriter, because the reference manual for the NEC 890 is the same as that for the LaserWriter with the word LaserWriter replaced by NEC 890. So try ASCII 4. Create a file containing that one character and send it to the printer to reset it. I hope that this helps. dcroyster -- David C. Royster royster@unccvax.uncc.edu (128.109.143.1) Mathematics Department fma00dcr@unccvm.bitnet UNC Charlotte, Charlotte NC Augustus F. Mobius Jewelers---Rings to fit every finger.
glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid) (08/22/90)
In article <1851@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: >I have an Apple LaserWriter IIntx PostScript printer. On occasion I mess up >and send it a straight ASCII text. It is then completely hung. The only way I >know how to restore its sanity is to turn it off and back on again, which is a >pain. We can't find a power CLEAR command in the PostScript books. You don't need a power clear command, in this case, I don't think. When you send it straight ASCII text, you will get an execution error. One of the side effects of an execution error is that the interpreter wants to flush the rest of the print job that caused the error; no point in trying to execute it. You need to send an end-of-file marker to the printer so the interpreter knows where the end of your erroneous print job was. You don't say from what computer system you are sending it PostScript, but I will hazard a guess that it's a PC compatible system. In any case, if it's a serial connection, you need to send it a control-D to get it to listen to you again. For that matter, you should send control-D at the end of every print job you send to the printer, so it will know the job is done and it can clean up after each one. I hope that's the ticket, anyway. -- Glenn Reid PostScript/NeXT consultant glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us Independent Software Developer ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn 415-851-1785
cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (08/23/90)
In article <1851@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>, toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: > I have an Apple LaserWriter IIntx PostScript printer. On occasion I mess up > and send it a straight ASCII text. It is then completely hung. The only way I > know how to restore its sanity is to turn it off and back on again, which is a > pain. We can't find a power CLEAR command in the PostScript books. Does > someone know how to do this? Howcome the language doesn't seem to have a power > clear command that resets the interpreter? The commands initgraphics and > grestoreall don't do the job. Please help! Thanks. > > Tom Schneider Have you tried sending ^D? This should flush the current job, and everything should be ready to accept another PostScript job at that point. -- Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer "The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of tyrants and patriots alike. It is its natural manure." -- Thomas Jefferson You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine!
toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (08/23/90)
In article <2626@unccvax.uncc.edu> royster@unccvax.UUCP (David Royster) writes: >So try ASCII 4. Create a file containing that one character and send it to >the printer to reset it. I tried: echo "\004" | lpr -Plaser and echo "\\004" | lpr -Plaser but they didn't work. Thanks for the suggestion. Erik (ejb@Think.COM), who had experience with a similar printer, kindly suggested directly sending a Control-D in a file, but this didn't work either. :-( Any other ideas? Tom Schneider National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 toms@ncifcrf.gov
nol2321@dsacg4.dsac.dla.mil (Jim Dunn) (08/23/90)
Another way of clearing the PS printer, or sending a CLEAR to the printer is to do the following from the DOS prompt or from a batch file: ECHO ^D >PRN Where "^D" is a CONTROL-D, if the batch file is created from the DOS command line, you can just press a D while holding the CONTROL key down, or press the 4 key while holding the ALT key down. C:> copy con d2prn.bat echo ^D >PRN ^Z OK? :) Jim
bobs (Bob Stayton, Yoyodoc) (08/25/90)
In article <4241@optilink.UUCP> cramer@optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes: >In article <1851@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>, toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: >> I have an Apple LaserWriter IIntx PostScript printer. On occasion I mess up >> and send it a straight ASCII text. It is then completely hung. The only way I >> know how to restore its sanity is to turn it off and back on again, which is a >> pain. We can't find a power CLEAR command in the PostScript books. Does >> someone know how to do this? Howcome the language doesn't seem to have a power >> clear command that resets the interpreter? The commands initgraphics and >> grestoreall don't do the job. Please help! Thanks. >> >> Tom Schneider This bit of Postscript code was posted some time ago. It reboots a LaserWriter, sending it thru its startup sequence, including generating the test page. Just send this to the printer as a regular print job. =========cut here=================== %! %reboots LaserWriters serverdict begin 0 % or whatever your password is exitserver systemdict begin quit =========cut here=================== bobs Bob Stayton 425 Encinal Street Technical Publications Santa Cruz, CA 95060 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (408) 425-7222 ...!uunet!sco!bobs /* I don't speak for my company and they don't speak for me. */
woody@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) (08/26/90)
In article <9448@scorn.sco.COM>, bobs (Bob Stayton, Yoyodoc) writes: > > > This bit of Postscript code was posted some time ago. It > reboots a LaserWriter, sending it thru its startup sequence, > including generating the test page. Just send this to > the printer as a regular print job. > =========cut here=================== > %! > %reboots LaserWriters > serverdict begin > 0 % or whatever your password is > exitserver > systemdict begin > quit This can also be used to defeat the setpassword "Vaccine". Since this "vaccine" thing has moved around rather widely already (a friend brought me some information that he got off echomac on FIDO NET!)8=} I might mention that to be fool proof, one would have to redefine cexec and quit. Perhaps to check for an additional password or such.. 8=} Cheers Woody
toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) (08/27/90)
In article <1505@chinacat.Unicom.COM> woody@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) writes: >In article <9448@scorn.sco.COM>, bobs (Bob Stayton, Yoyodoc) writes: >> >> This bit of Postscript code was posted some time ago. It >> reboots a LaserWriter, sending it thru its startup sequence, >> including generating the test page. Just send this to >> the printer as a regular print job. >> =========cut here=================== >> %! >> %reboots LaserWriters >> serverdict begin >> 0 % or whatever your password is >> exitserver >> systemdict begin >> quit I tried this, and found that it did reboot my printer. Then I sent a junk file to the printer and tried to reboot again. Nothing happened. I sent a few control-D's and that didn't help either. You see, the problem is that on occasion I send a text file directly to the printer by accident. It, of course, fills up the PostScript stack with junk that causes a lot of errors (I suppose, I don't have a link back from the printer to my Sun workstation.) I'm running Unix by the way, not DOS on a PC. On other occasions I'll send a huge file that the printer can't handle, and it dies silently. (The NeWS window system never dies like this, and always shows me that the PostScript code is in fact good code!) It seems that I may not be getting the control-D's across; anybody know how to do this in UNIX (sending a file with a control-D in it didn't work). It also seems that the reboot program given above simply never gets executed when the printer is fowled up. Thanks for your suggestions so far, but now what? Tom Schneider National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 toms@ncifcrf.gov
tdd@convex.cl.msu.edu (Thomas D. Davis) (08/27/90)
In article <1854@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: > >It seems that I may not be getting the control-D's across; anybody know >how to do this in UNIX (sending a file with a control-D in it didn't work). >It also seems that the reboot program given above simply never gets >executed when the printer is fowled up. > Your post last week showed you trying to do something like: echo "\004" | lpr. This doesn't do what you want. To echo a CTRL-D, you need to precede the CTRL-D with a CTRL-V (this tells csh that the next character is to be taken literally). Also, remember to use the -l parameter on the lpr call so your print filter passes the control character through to the printer (actually, you can just as easily do "echo ^D > /dev/ttya" and skip lpr/lpd altogether). This should always "unzap" your printer. -- Tom Davis | The above statement shall be construed, Network Software Services | interpreted, and governed by me alone. Michigan State University | EMail: tdd@convex.cl.msu.edu
bobs (Bob Stayton, Yoyodoc) (08/28/90)
In article <1854@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> toms@fcs260c2.ncifcrf.gov (Tom Schneider) writes: >In article <1505@chinacat.Unicom.COM> woody@chinacat.Unicom.COM >(Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) writes: >>In article <9448@scorn.sco.COM>, bobs (Bob Stayton, Yoyodoc) writes: >>> >>> This bit of Postscript code was posted some time ago. It >>> reboots a LaserWriter, sending it thru its startup sequence, >>> including generating the test page. Just send this to >>> the printer as a regular print job. >>> =========cut here=================== >>> %! >>> %reboots LaserWriters >>> serverdict begin >>> 0 % or whatever your password is >>> exitserver >>> systemdict begin >>> quit > >I tried this, and found that it did reboot my printer. Then I sent a >junk file to the printer and tried to reboot again. Nothing happened. >...stuff deleted... >Thanks for your suggestions so far, but now what? > I also work with LaserWriters from Unix machines, and have on occasion sent a text file by accident. It takes awhile, but eventually the LaserWriter times out on bad jobs and clears itself. I would try three things, in this order: 1. Download erhandlr.ps to your printers. This contains the Adobe error handler procedures. Then a bad Postscript file just generates an error page and the printer is ok. If you don't have it I can send it to you. 2. You might try is changing the Unix lp spooler script to check the first line of the file. If it doesn't start with %!, then convert the text file to Postscript or send out a Postscript message like "You are trying to print a file that is not valid Postscript". Our lp script does the former and includes this: while [ "$copies" -gt 0 ] do for file do if [ `head -1 $file | cut -c1-2` = '%!' ]; then /bin/cat $file echo "\004" else /usr/bin/psprint $file echo "\004" fi done copies=`expr $copies - 1` done Our lp script is in the /usr/spool/lp/interface directory on SCO Unix. Here "psprint" is a filter that converts text files to simple Postscript in Courier font. 3. I would check for communication problems between the printer and the spooler. I imagine the spooler is still trying to send the job, even though the printer may be telling it that it's junk. The line might be getting hung at the spooler end instead of the printer. Try disabling and enabling the printer to see if that clears a jam. Or even try physically disconnecting the printer momentarily to see if the printer will reset. Hope some of this helps. bobs Bob Stayton 425 Encinal Street Technical Publications Santa Cruz, CA 95060 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (408) 425-7222 ...!uunet!sco!bobs /* I don't speak for my company and they don't speak for me. */
stephenf@softway.sw.oz.au (Stephen Frede) (08/29/90)
Lots of people have suggested control-d and various other reset type things. Another possibility is that the interpreter is hung trying to execute something in the random text you sent. You might try a control-c, followed by a control-d. The other thing to try, if you can get access to the device or otherwise read what the printer is sending back, is to send a control-t and see what (if any) status message it sends to you. Regards, - Stephen Frede Softway Pty Ltd, P.O. Box 305, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012, AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 2 698 2322; Fax: +61 2 699 9174; Telex: AA27987 domain: stephenf@softway.oz.au UUCP: ...!uunet!softway.oz!stephenf