[comp.protocols.nfs] MS Word,PCNFS, QEMM problem

geoff@hinode.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @ Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top) (05/03/91)

Quoth petersja@debussy.cs.colostate.edu (james peterson) (in <14660@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU>):
# The problem is that in order
#to print within Word (using PCNFS) one must execute the PCNFS command
#"net print" from the DOS shell within Word.  Doing this causes the screen
#to colorfully display a screenfull of blinking characters (
#looks like the entire character set), then the screen goes white, and the
#machine locks up in a major way.  It must be turned off to reboot.  The
#only other way to release a print job is to exit Word, which is not always
#convenient.

Alternatively, use the timeout option. If 5 minutes is too long,
tweak your AUTOEXEC to start PRT with a "-tNN" switch, which
sets the timeout to NN seconds. Thus

	PRT -t5 *

gives you a 5 second timeout, which is usually adequate unless you
print horribly complicated graphics that WfW has to munge over....

There is another way to kick the PC-NFS spooler, which I've emailed
to many people but (I realize from grep'ing through the archives)
I've never posted to comp.protocols.nfs. Here it is:

------------------------BEGIN-CODE-FRAGMENT-------------------------
/* This uses Microsoft C; adjust for your own preferred tools. */

#include <dos.h>
#define LP_PRINT_FILE           0x063
#define LP_STAT_OK              0
#define PRINTER_INTERRUPT       0x17

spool_print(n)
int n; /* set to 0: LPT1, 1: LPT2, 2: LPT3, -1: all */
{
        union REGS inregs, outregs;
        inregs.h.ah = LP_PRINT_FILE;
        inregs.x.bx = n;
        inregs.x.dx = (n < 0 ? 0 : n);
        int86(PRINTER_INTERRUPT, &inregs, &outregs);
        if (outregs.h.ah != LP_STAT_OK) {
                /* failure - details unimportant here */
        }
}
--------------------------END-CODE-FRAGMENT-------------------------

This works for all versions of PC-NFS up to and including 3.5. No
guarantee about future compatibility, but we'll do our best.

Cheers,
Geoff

-- Geoff Arnold, PC-NFS architect, Sun Microsystems. (geoff@East.Sun.COM)   --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--     Sun Microsystems PC Distributed Systems ...                          --
--            ... soon to be a part of SunTech (stay tuned for details)     --

09381@tanus.oz.au (Shane Pascoe) (05/13/91)

The screen problem is due to the wrong screen type being set in the Word 4.0 /
5.0 installation.
Shane Pascoe
Corporate WorkGroup Resources
Sydney Australia


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