Subject: [netatalk-admins] Lost spooled print files.

From: Andrew Croke <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 20:02:40 +1000 (EST)

Good morning,

I wondered whether somebody might be able to steer me in the right
direction to get my laser printer working from my Mac via my Linux (2.0.0)
machine? Apologies if this is a common question. 

I have exported the printer via papd.conf with something like:

HP LaserJet:\
	:pr=lp:\
	:op=apcr:

I can see the printer from chooser OK but when I print to it I get a 0
byte single entry in my spool directory and nothing prints. The Mac
eventually tells me that there is a problem.

I have also tried telling it the correct spool directory to dump the file
into to no avail. Could it be something like number of bits coming from
the Mac to the Linux OS?

The printers I have tried are a HP LJ6MP on /dev/lp1 and a Laserwriter
IINT on /dev/cua1 and they appear to have done the same thing.

I have "a2ps" in between doing ascii to postscript filtering and either
dumping a file by "cat file_name >> /dev/lp1" or doing a straight lpr
<file> from the Linux box works OK.

Is there something I should also do to set up the printer? 

I hope this makes sense to you and that you have an idea of where I have
messed up.

Cheers,

Andrew Croke

--------------------------------------------------------------

Andrew Croke				P.O. Box 451
University of Melbourne			Nth Melbourne 3051

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From: "Steven N. Hirsch" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 07:03:18 -0400 (EDT)

> eventually tells me that there is a problem.

My sympathies.  I spent all day last Saturday working on this exact issue.
Turns out that a couple of things were necessary:

- Upgrade to LaserWriter 8.  This implies that you must also upgrade to
System 7.1 or newer, though this fact is not mentioned in the FAQs.

- Do not turn off background printing.  For some reason, my system
absolutely refuses to print over netatalk unless background printing is
switched on.

Give these two ideas a try.  Good luck!

Steve

---

From: Andrew Croke <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 13:09:03 +1000 (EST)

I think I have narrowed it down to 

a2ps (postscript filtering) looks purely for text or PS headers and routes
to the right filter.

the HP LaserJet 5MP and 6MP  uses its own PJL (Printer Job Language) 
header just prior to the standard Adobe header.

I am using the HP 4 PPD file and things are working just fine. I think it
could possibly be gotten around by editing the /etc/magic file and adding
the Hewlett Packard headers for PJL so that the job gets accepted by a2ps
but this may be a good one for the next rev. of a2ps.

Thanks for your help Steven.

Cheers,