Can PSF/AIX SAP OTF output be printed on PSF/MVS 3800?
ITEM: RTA000106716
Q:
ABSTRACT: Can PSF/AIX SAP OTF output be printed on PSF/MVS
attached 3800s?
SEARCH ARG: 3800 sap
TOPIC THREAD: PRINT
PSF/AIX
..
I have reviewed several items of SAP printing to 3800 using PSF/AIX and
still have some questions. My customer wants to make use of their
installed 3800 until they can get the cash to upgrade to new printers.
In the meantime several AIX SAP applications will be coming online that
will generate a large printing requirement. We have reviewed the
PSF/AIX OTF2AFP transform documentation and know what can be done using
PSF/AIX, but we are unsure if once we create the output via PSF/AIX and
then uploaded to PSF/MVS whether the 3800s will be able to print it.
Our concerns have to do with resources and format of PSF/AIX generated
data.
1) The 3800 uses Unbounded box fonts whereas we guess PSF/AIX will
generate an AFPDS datastream looking for Bounded box fonts (X1,2 etc vs.
all X0). We have both, but the PSF/MVS system is using the UB. Will we
be able to print?
2) For all PSF/AIX transforms (Postscript, ASCII and OTF) are all the
output datastreams image? Seems the 3800 would perform very poorly on
an image datastream.
Are you aware of anyone printing PSF/AIX transformed data on PSF/MVS
based 3800s?
A:
Yes, we do have a customer doing this with AFP Upload today for both
SAPscript and ABAP listings coming from SAP R/3. Their RS/6000s are
in Vermont, their MVS system is in Raleigh, and their 3800 is in
Charlotte NC. They're so pleased that they will be rolling this out
to other sites. I can give you a contact name offline, if you like.
To answer your second question first, the output of the PCL and the
PostScript transforms is full-page image. I would definitely NOT
send this to a 3800. The file will be enormous because you have to
produce uncompressed IM1 image out of those transforms, and the 3800
will not perform satisfactorily.
On the other hand, the output of the OTF transform is PTOCA (AFP
text), so the resulting AFP file will be smaller and print at a
higher speed.
The fact that the 3800 uses unbounded box fonts is not an issue because
the fonts are only referenced in the datastream; when the AFP file gets
to the host, PSF/MVS will resolve the fonts from their names in the
data. You may have to do some customization in PSF/AIX to ensure that
you call out fonts for which you have the unbounded box rasters on the
mainframe, but it can certainly be done. (Where the customization is
done depends on whether the SAP R/3 data is SAPscript or ABAP reports.)
If the customer does not plan to implement AFP Upload (optional feature
of PSF/MVS), then keep in mind that however they get the data to the
MVS host, they will have to reblock the AFPDS once it is transferred
to the MVS system (whereas AFP Upload takes care of all that for you
transparently).
Also, note that the document on using PSF/AIX with SAP R/3 does not
ship automatically with the feature tape at this time. You can either
download and print hardcopy from the PENPUBS disk (SAP2AFP LIST3820).
Thanks for using WWQ&A.
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:
sap2afp OTF sapscript r/3 sap ABAP MVS AIX PSF/AIX PSF/6000 PSF
PCL PostScript image uncompressed performance 3800 Upload AFP reblock
infoprint
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000106716 ITEM: RTA000106716
Dated: 01/1999 Category: XPSF6000
This HTML file was generated 99/06/24~12:43:34
Comments or suggestions?
Contact us