[Info-vax] Direct print of PDF files on PDF compatible printers.

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 3/2/22 11:05, chris wrote:
> On 03/02/22 15:53, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 3/2/22 10:08, chris wrote:
>>> On 03/01/22 23:05, gah4 wrote:
>>>> On Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 9:16:42 AM UTC-8, Jan-Erik Söderholm 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Some of the Xerox laser printer models support direct print of PDF
>>>>> files.
>>>>> Now, we uses DCPS för most of our printing needs. So, should I look 
>>>>> for
>>>>> a way to setup a DCPS queue that will be transparent and just let the
>>>>> PDF file through (DCPS itself dosn't support PDF input)? Or is it
>>>>> simpler to just setup a queue using the telnetsym, lpd_smb or such?
>>>>
>>>> As well as I know it, PDF is a subset of PS.
>>>>
>>>> Enough of a subset that there is an automated process to convert
>>>> PDF into PS, and the program pdftops to do it.
>>>>
>>>> Are there printers that support PDF, but not PS?
>>>
>>> One thing that might solve the problem long term would be to port
>>> cups. Pretty foolproof and works out of the box on all the systems
>>> and os's tried here. Just about every printer model supported as well.
>>>
>>> You could argue that it's not the os's task to process pdf or any
>>> other format, other than transparently passing the data. Pdf should be
>>> handled by the pdf reader itself, as with most systems these days...
>>>
>>
>> Who would argue that? Most of us remember when printers were just
>> dumb boxes. Used to have to put a loop of punched paper tape in just
>> so it could find the beginning of the page!
>>
>> bill
>>
>>
> 
> Different world now, isn't it ?. Similar problems with terminals on
> unix, where the termcap file could be megabytes of special control
> character sequences. As I said, the os cups system is very flexible
> and keeps all the printer specific stuff in one place where it
> belongs, but like the termcap example, is quite bulky because of the
> myriad  of printer types. No easy way around that I guess.
> Can also be managed with a browser for setups and monitoring as well.
> 
> Might be worth looking at for vms.
> 

Or buying a $35 Raspberry Pi 2 and building a simple printer engine
sit between VMS and whatever printer you have.

bill