tohall@mars.lerc.nasa.gov (Dave Hall (Sverdrup)) (10/02/90)
What I am looking for is help on interfacing an HP Laser Jet IID printer to my
UNIX-based system from Concurrent Computer (Moedl SLS-5550-02). I am pretty
well convinced that my problem is in software. I can 'cat' a short file to the
appropriate device (/dev/tty1) but it will not handle anything much longer
without a 'cat output write error'. The printout is cut off at about 3.5
pages. The printer interface is set up to run a concurrent-supplied shell
script called 'generic'. I think that what I need is a device handler in
shell script, C or Fortran that is compatible with the HPLJ IID. Has anyone
else run into this problem? Please forward any useful info you may have to me
via E-mail. Thanks in advance for your help.
The Concurrent service people have recommended I convert my HPLJ to a
post script interface by adding a special font catridge and buying some
additional Postscript software. I don't like this solution for several
reasons:
1) Costs more money. It should be possible to hook up my HPLJ as a simple
serial character printer without a big investment.
2) Compatibility. I want to share this HPLJ between my IBM-PC clone and the
Concurrent. The PC does not need or want postscript interface.
3) The salesman told me that it was 'no problem' to hook up the HP (HA!).
Articles to: concurrent@soma.bcm.tmc.edu or uunet!soma.bcm.tmc.edu!concurrent
Administrative stuff: concurrent-request@soma.bcm.tmc.edu
Stan Barber, Moderatorstevev@greylady.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) (10/04/90)
It sounds like a flow control problem to me. Our 5400 generally uses DTR handshaking on serial lines, and if you don't have your printer configured to do DTR handshaking then it will drop portions of a document when the printer buffers overflow. Try configuring the LaserJet with DTR handshaking, or set it up for XON/XOFF and then use "stty ixon </dev/<printer tty>" (I hope that's right) to enable XON/XOFF on that tty. -- Steve VanDevender stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu "Bipedalism--an unrecognized disease affecting over 99% of the population. Symptoms include lack of traffic sense, slow rate of travel, and the classic, easily recognized behavior known as walking." Articles to: concurrent@soma.bcm.tmc.edu or uunet!soma.bcm.tmc.edu!concurrent Administrative stuff: concurrent-request@soma.bcm.tmc.edu Stan Barber, Moderator