Thanks to the efforts of several people including some local technicians,
everything works. If you are ever going to share a printer between sun4c's
and PCs through an automatic switch box, this post will be a keeper.
My original query:
>System: Sparcstation 1, 16MB, 200MB hard drive
>Printer: HP Laserjet III
>OS: SUNOS 4.1.1b
>
>I have RTFMs, the FAQ, reference texts, and went to WAIS to look at previous
>summaries for sun-managers before posting this. If I missed something
>obvious, please forgive me.
>
>I have a Laserjet III connected to two PC clones and a Sparc 1 via an
>'intelligent' switch box (not buffered), which requires me to use hardware
>handshaking to talk to the printer instead of XON/XOFF, which worked fine
>with our manual switch box before. BTW, the PCs work fine with the new box.
>I cannot find any example or much talk about connecting a printer to a
>Sparcstation via hardware handshaking. If anyone can help, please do so.
>'printcap' entries and any insights welcome. BTW (again), our computer
>center installed the wiring. I looked at it, and it looks good for
>DTR/DSR-type communications.
>
>As always, I will summarize.
And here is the summary:
The box in questions is an MS-401 4-to-1 Automatic Switch Box, which is a
DCE (Data Communications Equipment) box. In order to
to make the Sun speak to it correctly, several things have to happen:
1) have the correct cable. This works for me:
SUN MS-401
2----------------------2
3----------------------3
7----------------------7
5----------------------6
This is not a misprint, and apparently this is all you need cable-wise...
2) You MUST use port A unless you go into your kernal files and patch port B
be equivalent to A's setup. Look in the System and Admin manual for more
details. B is apparently set up to be connected to a modem and handles
some key signals differently. Too much to reproduce here.
3) The correct options in /etc/printcap. I got some of these, most notably
crtscts, from the folks who replied. It is mentioned in the 'stty' man
page, and I did see it before I was mailed about them, even though the man
page is misformatted (to fix that, edit 'stty.1', go to line 818, and add
a line containing ".TP" before the line ".BR -crtscts"... Thanks, Glenn).
It is VITALLY important that there NOT be a "-" (hyphen) before the crtscts
entry; at least for my setup, it caused handskaking problems. Here is my
current, working printcap to use as a model. Please note I still need to
have separate spool directories for each queue defined... just haven't
fixed that yet:
lp|lw|LASER|laser|LASERJET|laserjet:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,-onlcr,-echo,-opost,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# HP 7550 plotter on host ch208c
2|plotter|lot|plot|HP 7550 pen plotter:\
:lp=:rm=ch208c:rp=plotter:sd=/usr/spool/plotter:
# Normal printing
dos|transp|HP laserjet:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/dos:br#9600:pl#60:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,-onlcr,-echo,-opost,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# HPLJIII as HPGL
hpgl|HP laserjet III as HPGL:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:pl#60:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:if=/usr/local/filters/hpljiii-hpgl:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# printcap file for HP Laserjet printer (portrait raster plot)
#lot|plot:\
# :lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:\
# :sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:vf=/usr/local/drivers/current/plotfile:
# printcap file for HP Laserjet printer (landscape raster plot)
lan|plan|land|pland:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:vf=/usr/local/drivers/current/plotland:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# printcap file for HP Laserjet printer (text, compressed font)
comp|fast|line|lineprint|lineprinter:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:pl#60:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:of=/usr/local/drivers/current/laserfast:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# printcap file for HP Laserjet printer (text, courier font)
cour:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/cour:br#9600:pl#60:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:of=/usr/local/drivers/current/courier:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# HPLJIII (text, elite pitch)
elite:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:pl#60:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:\
:of=/usr/local/drivers/current/courier-elite:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# printcap file for HP Laserjet printer (portrait byte-encoded raster plot)
tek|TEK:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:fs#40:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:vf=/usr/local/drivers/current/tekplot:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# printcap file for HP Laserjet printer (landscape byte-encoded raster plot)
tekplan:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:vf=/usr/local/drivers/current/tekplan:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,onlcr,-echo,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
# test entry for HP Laserjet III
rawljiii:\
:lp=/dev/ttya:sd=/var/spool/lpd:br#9600:\
:sh:lf=/var/adm/lpd-errs:\
:mx#0:ms=pass8,-onlcr,-echo,-opost,ixon,ixoff,crtscts:
I do use some public domain drivers and filters, as outlined. These do not
affect the handskaking operations; I checked.
4) Correct Laserjet console settings. Be sure to set DTR POLARITY=HI, and
ROBUST XON=OFF. Otherwise, normal settings for a 9600 baud serial
connection as desccribed in the Laserjet manual.
Thanks to the following responders:
rhallqui@rigel.uark.edu Roy S. Hallquist, Jr. (thanx for the
master printcap listing!)
tim@otis.hssc.scarolina.edu Tim White
jbarth@hptele7.telerate.com Jeremy Barth
ept@eptsun1.ctd.ornl.gov E P Tinnel
geanel@cn.laafb.af.mil Edmund L. Gean
ups!upstage!glenn@fourx.aus.sun.com Glenn Satchell
david@bdt.com David Beckemeyer
Until next time,
Joel L. Seber | Dry humor is wasted around here.
SUN Workstation Laboratory Manager |
Center for Manufacturing Research | -Joel L. Seber
and Technology Utilization |
Tennessee Technological University | recursive, adj.
Cookeville, TN 38505 | See 'recursive'
|
jls2013@tntech.edu |
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