Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!ut-sally!husc6!think!ames!sdcsvax!ucbvax!G.CS.CMU.EDU!butcher From: butcher@G.CS.CMU.EDU (Lawrence Butcher) Newsgroups: comp.laser-printers Subject: Re: DEC Printserver-40 and Unix machines Message-ID: <8707151326.AA02261@brillig.umd.edu> Date: Wed, 8-Jul-87 18:44:11 EDT Article-I.D.: brillig.8707151326.AA02261 Posted: Wed Jul 8 18:44:11 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jul-87 05:47:46 EDT References: <8706241909.AA14049@brillig.umd.edu> <647@varian.UUCP> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 25 Approved: laser-lovers@brillig.umd.edu I used the SUN Decnet software to snoop the Ethernet packets sent between a VMS machine and the DEC Printserver 40. I guessed enough about the protocol to write a program to spool from the SUN to the printer via LPR. I did not discover what happens when there are exceptional conditions in the printer. The software will not survive changes that DEC makes to the printing protocol. I do not look inside Postscript files for structuring info. I wrote this bare-bones program simply to print my own Postscript documents directly from the SUN. I will send this (horrible hack) software to any programmer willing to improve it. The program could be converted to run under ULTRIX. The LPS40 is a complicated and polished product. It prints at a furious clip. The printer contains a microvax with lots of memory and no local disk. DEC provides VMS software to boot the machine over the Ethernet. Our LPS40 has never broken, but I assume that DEC field service would want to download diagnostics from a VMS machine. DEC's VMS spooling software gets interesting messages about printer status back from the LPS40. Without detailed documentation of the printing protocol it would be impossible to duplicate the quality of DEC's supporting software. Our printer is booted and managed from a VMS microvax, and most of our users spool thru the VMS machine. Lawrence.Butcher@g.cs.cmu.edu [[Editor's note: Anyone interested in this should contact Lawrence.Butcher directly. --Rick ]]