Re: OpenVMS spld output to netwrkd Apple Laserwriter?

[mathog@seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu]

In article <1996Apr16.185452.1@dymaxion.ns.ca>, rr@dymaxion.ns.ca (Rod Regier) writes:
>We are looking for a way to support spooled output from a networked
>OpenVMS (V6.2) platform to a networked Apple Laserwriter.
>
>The OpenVMS system is licensed for DECnet and TCP/IP
>Services for Open VMS.
>
>(1) Digital's recommended supported solution is to use DCPS Open,
>    which apparently requires Pathworks for OpenVMS (Macintosh)
>    to provide Ethertalk or Localtalk transport.
>
>    Because of the additional licensing costs,
>    and the fact that Pathworks is involved, this is *not*
>    a very attractive solution.

Ah, but it is very attractive, since the Pathworks/Mac server in
conjunction with DCPS does an absolutely wonderful job of queuing to
Ethertalk printers.  This setup gives me no problems at all (well, almost
none, there is that one pesky LaserWriter 16/600 which jams on job
collisions, but I'm 99.99% sure the problem is with a bug in it since no
other type of printer does this).  It is easy to configure, never gives me
problems, and recovers nicely from net outages and so forth.  I'm quite
happy with it. 

Only one problem (with any of these methods) - you have to keep the users
from renaming their printers whenever the mood strikes them.

>
>(2) The Apple Laserwriter product is alleged to have LPD/LPR
>    capability, which could be driven by TCP/IP Services for
>    OpenVMS LPR/LPD functionality.

News to me.  Where did you see this?

>
>    Because the TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS LPR/LPD capability
>    (UCX$LPD_SMB) is designed around the assumption that the
>    remote host will be handling the end-of-job processing
>    (such as the character sequence to force out last page),
>    and so offers no capabilities in that area.
>
>    This presents a major difficulty with Apple Laserwriter 
>    support because, to our knowledge, the Apple Laserwriter
>    has no end-of-job processing capability, which means that
>    it would be most difficult to force out the last page of output.
>
>    We want to avoid having to add to the spooled print request
>    data on the OpenVMS side.
>
>
>Can anyone suggest another approach, or a means of resolving
>the problems with (2)?
>

Yes. There is a shareware or freeware LPD for Macs (68xxxx only, I think).
You could set up an old Mac as an LPD spooler and have it take jobs from
the VMS machine and forward them on to your Ethertalk printers.  There is 
similar software for Unix machines.  Ditto for Windows, although in that 
case the printer would have to be physically attached to the server, which 
is not so attractive.  I'm not sure that once you factor in reliability, 
complexity, and cost that any of these is a better choice than buying the
Pathworks pieces. 

I vaguely recall reading of another supplier of a VMS to Ethertalk connectivity 
software, but I can't recall the name of the firm.  If they are still 
around they might be a bit cheaper than Pathworks.

Good luck,

David Mathog
mathog@seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu
Manager, sequence analysis facility, biology division, Caltech