[Info-vax] DCPS V. 2-7 and the dwindling supply of functional devices

[Paul Anderson]

In article 
<a7848837-d829-4b2a-99db-e7ff13119767 at a15g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
 shrloc <shrloc at msn.com> wrote:

> We are having a great deal of difficulty finding printer models that 
> work under DCPS. HP models that are on the SPD are either 
> discontinued or on indefinite back order. Other manufactures with 
> comparable models, such as Lexmark are readily available, but are not 
> on the SPD list.

I made many changes to DCPS over the years to get DCPS to work more 
easily with printers that were not on the supported list.  DCPS now 
assumes all printers have PCL interpreters, the PostScript 
synchronization step which many printers choked on was removed and LPD 
support was added.

Lexmark printers usually work just fine with DCPS.  There were no 
unusual changes to DCPS made for them.

> If there are little tricks that are needed to make them work, I would 
> like to hear about that as will.

Xerox printers required PostScript commands to be changed within DCPS.  
If you are trying a Xerox printer not on the list, but for which a 
similar model is supported, define the "product name" logical name:

    $ DEFINE /SYSTEM /EXEC DCPS$queuename_PRODUCT_NAME "printer name"

where "printer name" is one of the printer model names listed in the 
DCPS Release Notes.  This will often make DCPS send the appropriate 
commands for that printer and, if it is similar enough to the model 
you're using, may get the printer to work.

Many printers, such as Xerox models, also require the use of LPD 
instead of Raw TCP as a connection protocol.  Raw TCP is preferred 
because it's bi-directional and can return error messages, but 
sometimes you just gotta use LPD.

Paul