Print, baby, print?
Wireless printing to a USB printer
I've had an HP LaserJet 3050 multifunction printer in my home office for quite some time now. This USB printer was chosen because it supports PCL-6 and Postscript, making it a great option for integrating with my Windows laptop, as well as printing from specialized apps on VMS via a SSH tunnel through my laptop (all I had to do was share the printer using LPD under Windows, then point the tunnel to the to the right port on the PC. Whenever I'm logged in, I can print from my work systems.)
But today, I wanted to be able to print from my home Hobbyist AlphaServer.
This printer is connected to my network via dedicated LinkSys WPSM54G, a wireless print server designed to work with multi-function printers. The latest release of firmware (1017) for the WPSM54G added the ability to print via port 9100, LPD, IPP, and even email (at least in theory). It should be noted that port 23 is open, too, allowing simple monitoring of traffic through the server.
My initial tests using DCPS v2.4 and IP_RawTCP on port 9100 proved futile, as it turns out that the print server does not allow bidirectional communications, which is essential for proper DCPS functionality. No problem, I switched to IP_LPD (the queue name is "raw", for a complete spec of "IP_LPD/host:raw") and things got a little bit better -- the LED on the printer started flashing. But still, no output.
A quick check of the printer settings allowed me to enable the printing of Postscript errors. Resubmitting my print job resulted in a page output with the error "OFFENDING COMMAND: papersize".
The closest thing in the DCPS System Manager's Guide was a reference to the logical DCPS$Sheet_Size -- not PAPERSIZE. The status page from the printer showed the default paper size was set to LETTER, the same as the default contents of the DCPS$Sheet_Size logical -- this wasn't helping. The only other reference in the LPD troubleshooting section 11.2.1 of the manual was for DCPS$queue_Product_Name. Since the HP LaserJet 3050 wasn't in the list of supported printers for v2.4, I defined the logical as "HPGENERIC", restarted the queue, and felt a bit of satisfaction when the printer successfully printed out a test .com file, with all the pretty DCPS formatting!
In summary, I'm able to print from OpenVMS to a USB-connected HP LaserJet 3050 via a 802.11n wireless D-Link router connecting to my 802.11g LinkSys printserver, with most of the regular DCPS functionality. If that's not a convoluted path to go 8 feet, I'm not sure what is! Now to see if I can print from my MacBook...
one comment:
Thank you very much.
I was able to use this information to setup my alpha to print to my kyocera Multi functional unit and a kyocera printer. I am sure it will work on my Konica Copier as well.
from dcps$startup:
$ @sys$startup:dcps$execution_queue – MeMine – ! P1 – Execution queue name
CNET::”ip_lpd/10.10.10.212:raw” – ! P2 – Serial Device name or
– ! PrintServer node name
DCPS_LIB – ! P3 – Logical name for library(ies)
“DATA=POST” – ! P4 – Default queue parameters
”/SEPARATE=(BURST,NOTRAILER)”- ! P5 – Default queue qualifiers
“”- ! P6 – Communication speed(serial
– ! devices only)
“”- ! P7 – Device characteristics
“0” ! P8 – Verify on/off
$ def/system DCPS$MeMine_nosync 1 ! Needed for this printer
Logicals to define:
using define/system
“DCPS$MEMINE_PRODUCT_NAME” = “UNRECOGNIZED”
print command:
PRINT/flag/PARAM=(DATA=ANSI,PAGE_ORI=LANDSCAPE,number_up=4) test.txt/que=memine
Thanks a bunch.
rafael () - 26-Feb-2009 - 13:43
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