pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org (Bob Monio) (03/04/91)
One of our customers has installed the latest update of the Specialix driver on his M/120 (Version 3.11 running under Risc/OS 4.51). In doing so we found that it cured the terminal hangs and in conjunction with wcat (a patch given to us to help fix problems with lpsched) we were able to clear up the truncated output to his printers. But we found some behavior that has created a few problems. It seems that the default behavior of the ports is now -ixon, -ixoff, and -ixany. Since his printers use xon/xoff flow control only these needed to be turned on in order to allow flow control to work correctly. Since some of his printed output is spooled and the rest is not, we figured we would put a shell script in place to keep the port open with ixon, ixany, and ixoff on. Once running, the ports tty characteristics change correctly. Any output sent to the port via cat, etc., works fine. But once a spooled job gets sent to the printer and printed, the characteristics of the port are reset to the original default settings. This occurs even with the shell script still running. Since this behavior is inconsistent with behavior we've had in past with other machines, etc., this would seem to be a bug. For the time being we've managed to get the software vendor of the package he is using to spool to that particular printer, which has bypassed the problem. But there are other customers that use M/120s who will be installing this driver soon that are not going to be as lucky. Is there any information available on when a patch and/or release update will be out with this problem fixed? Thanks for your help. -Bob -- Robert A. Monio "Sometimes I wish that people would International Quality Institute, Inc. take this war more seriously. Peace pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org is going to be a hell of a letdown." ..uunet!rosevax!sialis!dmshq!pnessutt -- George S. Patton, Jr.
trevc@moosehead.mips.com (Trevor Cotton) (03/05/91)
In article <8467@dmshq.mn.org>, pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org (Bob Monio) writes: > One of our customers has installed the latest update of the Specialix > driver on his M/120 (Version 3.11 running under Risc/OS 4.51). In doing > so we found that it cured the terminal hangs and in conjunction with wcat > (a patch given to us to help fix problems with lpsched) we were able to > clear up the truncated output to his printers. > > But we found some behavior that has created a few problems. It seems > that the default behavior of the ports is now -ixon, -ixoff, and > -ixany. Since his printers use xon/xoff flow control only these > needed to be turned on in order to allow flow control to work > correctly. Since some of his printed output is spooled and the rest > is not, we figured we would put a shell script in place to keep the > port open with ixon, ixany, and ixoff on. Once running, the ports tty > characteristics change correctly. Any output sent to the port via > cat, etc., works fine. But once a spooled job gets sent to the > printer and printed, the characteristics of the port are reset to the > original default settings. This occurs even with the shell script > still running. Since this behavior is inconsistent with behavior > we've had in past with other machines, etc., this would seem to be a > bug. > > For the time being we've managed to get the software vendor of > the package he is using to spool to that particular printer, which > has bypassed the problem. But there are other customers that use > M/120s who will be installing this driver soon that are not going to > be as lucky. Is there any information available on when a patch > and/or release update will be out with this problem fixed? > > Thanks for your help. > > -Bob > > -- > Robert A. Monio "Sometimes I wish that people would > International Quality Institute, Inc. take this war more seriously. Peace > pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org is going to be a hell of a letdown." > ..uunet!rosevax!sialis!dmshq!pnessutt -- George S. Patton, Jr. This is a 'known problem' with Specialix 3.11 for RISC/os. Rather than hold up shipments of 3.11 ( which cured other, more serious problems with modems etc ) it was decided to fix this specific problem in a subsequent release, and work began on that release as soon as the problem was discovered. Version 3.12 of the Specialix driver for RISC/os is currently in QA in Specialix UK. This version sets up the port defaults to be the same as for 'MIPS supplied' serial ports. Users of the Unix print spoolers should configure them to set all the port characteristics that they rely on using /etc/printcap for lpd or the model file for lp. ( this is a good habit to get into anyway ) For other uses of the serial ports, a workaround is a shell script or small program that opens the port, sets the line parameters as required, and then goes to sleep, keeping the line open. ( again, applications should not really rely on 'defaults', but I know that many do ) --trevc-- Trevor Cotton, MIPS Computer Systems Inc. MS 6-05, 930 DeGuigne Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Tel: +1 408 524 7286 Fax: +1 408 524 7521 Email: {wyse,ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!trevc trevc@mips.com
jpp@specialix.co.uk (John Pettitt) (03/05/91)
pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org (Bob Monio) writes: >But we found some behavior that has created a few problems. It seems >that the default behavior of the ports is now -ixon, -ixoff, and >-ixany. Since his printers use xon/xoff flow control only these >needed to be turned on in order to allow flow control to work >correctly. Since some of his printed output is spooled and the rest >is not, we figured we would put a shell script in place to keep the >port open with ixon, ixany, and ixoff on. Once running, the ports tty >characteristics change correctly. Any output sent to the port via >cat, etc., works fine. But once a spooled job gets sent to the >printer and printed, the characteristics of the port are reset to the >original default settings. This occurs even with the shell script >still running. Since this behavior is inconsistent with behavior >we've had in past with other machines, etc., this would seem to be a >bug. I am sorry that you are having problems with one of our cards, below is a summary of my thoughts on the matter. If you have any further information/questions please feel free to email me. General support questions should be addressed to support@specialix.com or support@specialix.co.uk (both go to the same list). If the port is already open then the setting should remain static, we use a printer script that does the following: sleep 20 >/dev/ttywhatever stty settings for port .. rest of script to output data. However if you are doing this and having problems then it would appear to be a bug. We will investigate this. We have an outstanding bug report for the differing initial setting and that is being fixed at the moment. I will ensure that your bug is also investigated before 3.12 hits QC. -- John Pettitt, Specialix International, Email: jpp@specialix.com Tel +44 (0) 9323 54254 Fax +44 (0) 9323 52781 Disclaimer: Me, say that ? Never, it's a forged posting !
pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org (Bob Monio) (03/08/91)
In article <1991Mar5.080859.19962@specialix.co.uk> jpp@specialix.co.uk (John Pettitt) writes: >pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org (Bob Monio) writes: >>But we found some behavior that has created a few problems. It seems >> [rest of message deleted] >I am sorry that you are having problems with one of our cards, below >is a summary of my thoughts on the matter. If you have any further >information/questions please feel free to email me. General support >questions should be addressed to support@specialix.com or >support@specialix.co.uk (both go to the same list). I responded to Trevor's message via email. Thanks for responding though. >If the port is already open then the setting should remain static, >we use a printer script that does the following: > >sleep 20 >/dev/ttywhatever >stty settings for port > .. rest of script to output data. The script that I was using did this but it also spawned itself after a certain period of time. This ensured that the port was always open with the stty settings that I had chosen. Unfortunately though, any lp job which used a stty command to set the port would cause it switch to the new settings during the duration of the lp job and when completed it would switch back to the original defaults. This was regardless of the fact that the sleeping shell script was still running at the time with the port supposedly open with the settings it had when the script was started. >However if you are doing this and having problems then it would appear >to be a bug. We will investigate this. We have an outstanding bug report >for the differing initial setting and that is being fixed at the moment. >I will ensure that your bug is also investigated before 3.12 hits QC. Thanks. Should you need any help with it, please let me know. I've given Trevor Cotton the same information also. -Bob -- Robert A. Monio "Politicians are the lowest form of International Quality Institute, Inc. life on the earth. Liberal Democrats pnessutt@dmshq.mn.org are the lowest form of politician." ..uunet!rosevax!sialis!dmshq!pnessutt -- George S. Patton, Jr.