[comp.lang.postscript] resetting a printer through postscript

ddsharma@watmath.waterloo.edu (Desh D. Sharma) (07/20/88)

I remember reading in some articles some weeks (months?) back about being
able to reset a printer (Postscript of course) to it's cold startup stage
through Postscript code?  Did anyone save a copy of that article? If so
could you please send me a copy.

....desh
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shollen@odin.wright.edu (Sheila Hollenbaugh) (08/01/88)

Sorry to post this, but all attempts at email failed.  If such a beast
exists (a postscript program to reset a printer to its cold start state),
I would be interested in having a copy.  We frequently have a problem
with our Apple LaserWriters losing patches we have downloaded then
refusing the download because it has "already been done".  Any solution
which does not involve powering down the printer would be most welcome
as we do a lot of out management remotely.


Sheila Hollenbaugh             	 Wright State University Research Center
CSNET: shollen@SPOTS.Wright.Edu  3171 Research Blvd., Kettering, OH 45420
UUCP: ...!wright!shollen                            (513) 259-1382 
Subject: Re: resetting a printer through postscript

ggr@granjon.UUCP (Guy Riddle) (08/05/88)

The following reboots LaserWriters and probably most other PostScript printers:

	%!
	serverdict begin
	0 % or whatever your password is
	exitserver
	systemdict begin
	quit

You then have to wait a while until the printer is ready to listen
to you again.

		=== Guy Riddle == AT&T Bell Laboratories, New Jersey ===
				   ggr@garage.att.com

liam@cs.qmc.ac.uk (William Roberts) (08/09/88)

In article <1053@granjon.UUCP> ggr@granjon.UUCP (Guy Riddle) writes:
>The following reboots LaserWriters and probably most other PostScript printers:
>
>       %!
>       serverdict begin
>       0 % or whatever your password is
>       exitserver
>       systemdict begin
>       quit

Please don't do this - it makes life exceptionally difficult
for any spooler environment if the application arrogantly
resets the printer. Resetting my Linotronic because it isn't a
LaserWriter isn't going to help anyone....

If you want to see lots of bad examples like this, look in a
newish Apple LaserPrep file. There are suitable comments to put
round such code (if you use version 2 of the structuring
convention) but most people don't.
-- 

William Roberts         ARPA: liam@cs.qmc.ac.uk  (gw: cs.ucl.edu)
Queen Mary College      UUCP: liam@qmc-cs.UUCP
LONDON, UK              Tel:  01-975 5250

hess@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Caleb Hess) (08/11/88)

In article <569@sequent.cs.qmc.ac.uk> liam@cs.qmc.ac.uk (William Roberts) writes:
>In article <1053@granjon.UUCP> ggr@granjon.UUCP (Guy Riddle) writes:
>>The following reboots LaserWriters and probably most other PostScript printers:
>>
>>       %!
>>       serverdict begin
>>       0 % or whatever your password is
>>       exitserver
>>       systemdict begin
>>       quit
>
>Please don't do this - it makes life exceptionally difficult
>for any spooler environment if the application arrogantly
>resets the printer. Resetting my Linotronic because it isn't a

I have our system do this once a day, as routine preventive maintenance.
We have observed that application programs may leave garbage behind which
continues to occupy memory.  Doing a reset as described above is the only
way I have found, other than power-up, to ensure that printer's memory has
been completely reclaimed.  Is there any other way to deallocate memory or
do garbage collection in PostScript?  Granted, "properly written" programs
won't cause problems, but when users are allowed to dabble with PostScript
code, I can guarantee that not all the code that reaches the printer will
be properly written.

Note that this operation is password protected, in case you need to protect
your system against malicious rather than just careless users.

	C. Hess
	Indiana Univ. Computer Science Dept.
	Lindley Hall 021
	Bloomington, IN  47405
	hess@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu