prb@chinet.chi.il.us (Paul Botts) (12/13/90)
At my office we have a new LaserJet III with PostScript cartridge, and a 286-clone running Windows 3.0 and some Windows applications (PageMaker, Corel Draw, PowerPoint). The computer (and a couple of others) are run through an automatic switching box (CCAT-4, no buffer, using serial cables from the computers). Some of you have already guessed the problem: we can't print PostScript files through Windows 3.0 and the switching box. We get a printer error indicating that a non-PostScript character has been sent, and the printer stops. We can print PostScript documents fine through a non-Windows application (WordPerfect 5.0), and we can print everything if we connect the computer directly to the printer, bypassing the switching box. I have had several conversations with both Microsoft and the manufacturer of the switching box, and found a batch of letters to the editor in one of the desktop magazines from frustrated users having similar problems. The problem apparently is not restricted to LaserJet III's, but common to any PostScript printer hooked up to a switching box. Basically, Windows 3.0 doesn't like switching boxes, and the Microsoft people had few useful suggestions about what to do about it. Their whole attitude is that its not their problem, is the switching-box people's problem, and they say there are no plans to fix this in future versions of Windows. Now, it appears that this is not true of ALL switching boxes. One theory floating about is that parallel switching boxes with buffers can handle it. The Microsoft people said that may be true for some such devices, but probably not all, and they had no info on which brands might be better. The fact that we can print to a file, then go to the DOS prompt and copy the file to LPT1 (which is in turn rerouted to COM1 and hence to the switching box and then the printer), and get our PostScript output, tends to suggest that the serial interface is part of the problem for the WIndows/switching box interaction. Though as I said, we can print directly from Windows to the printer, through LPT1-routed-to-COM1-and-a-serial-cable, just fine. SOOO....has anybody else out there run into this problem? Found a solution? Does anybody know of a switching device (buffered or not) which has been proven to be able to handle this? prb@chinet.chi.il.us (Paul Botts)