Connecting HP Laserjet 5 to PSF for AIX
ITEM: RTA000152434
Q:
Topic thread:
Printer Systems (PRINT - NA/ATS)
PSF/AIX
PRINT XPSF6000
This afternoon I tried to connect a HP Laserjet 5 to a AIX/PSF platform.
If we use the procedure from the manual 'Printing Administration
2.1' (S544-3817-03) it results in an error which states that the AIX
queue already exists.
This procedure describes the following:
1. Create a AIX printerqueue (name SB1)
using the provided driver from the AIX cd
2. test this queue using the lp command
3. add a printer in PSF and set the name to the name that was used
above; but this will result in an error˘
We then changed the qprt -P pcl command to qprt -P SB1 and
used as PSF queue name SB. This will result in two AIX
queues (when checked with the lpstat command) like:
SB1 hp@sb
SB dev1
When we then print something with PSF the file will first pop-up in the
SB queue and a few seconds later it will show in the SB1 queue and
transferred to the printer. I wonder why it has to be this way and so
does the customer˘
The other problem is that when you print something from AIX or
PSF the printfile will use letter sized paper as a default
I tried several things in smit but there is no option to change this.
I have feeling it is defaulted in the printerdriver for the HP,
I looked into this file but it is all coded. (/var/psf/@local/sb)
A:
When PSF/6000 (and later PSF/AIX) were designed, like our other PSFs,
they were designed to use the native operating system spooling
subsystem as much as possible in order not to "reinvent the wheel".
For driving IPDS printers, it was not so much of an issue since the
operating systems themselves (with the possible exception of OS/400)
did not drive IPDS printers natively; therefore, PSF had to own the
function of a printer driver (formatting, error recovery, etc.).
However, for non-IPDS printers in the OS/2 and AIX worlds, the operating
systems already had drivers and spooling subsystems that could drive
PCL or PPDS printers. Therefore the decisions were made to utilize
the existing capabilities of the operating systems and not to duplicate
functions the operating systems already provided. That's why when
PSF/AIX prints to a PPDS or PCL printer, what PSF/AIX really is doing
is preparing the PPDS or PCL datastream from the input file, then
requeuing that PPDS or PCL to the AIX qdaemon which then handles the
communication and any recovery issues with the printer device itself.
As time has passed, our production customers have demanded more
capability than the base AIX spooling subsystem can provide, thus the
implementation in PSM and InfoPrint Manager which bypasses the AIX
spooling subsystem. Both PSM and InfoPrint Manager are designed in such
a way that they use the existing AIX drivers and AIX print commands to
communicate with the printers; however, jobs no longer go through
the qdaemon, and you will not see any entries for PSM or InfoPrint
Manager printers in the /etc/qconfig.
That's kind of a long historical explanation of why PSF/AIX requeues
jobs to the qdaemon and existing AIX printers.
Because of this requeuing design, it can be confusing to define PCL or
PPDS printers to PSF/AIX, particularly when the examples in the books
(at least back in PSF/6000 days) used names that easily confused the
reader. As you've discovered, the PSF queue and the underlying AIX
queue to which the PSF queue points must have different names. This
is because both AIX and PSF/AIX put entries in /etc/qconfig, and each
queue stanza (though not each queue device stanza) must have a unique
name.
So when you defined your PSF queue called SB, you should have coded
the "COMMAND to execute for printer output" as:
qprt -P SB1 -dp -Z˘ -o -fv
where "SB1" is the name of the AIX printer previously defined. You
can verify this command under Device Options (under Show/Change
Characteristics of a Printer).
Since you say the AIX printer defaults to letter-size whether you
print from AIX or from PSF, I agree with you that there's something
in the AIX virtual printer set up. You didn't mention the AIX level,
but I'm going to assume AIX V4. You mention a file in a directory that
I'm not familiar with and don't see on any of the AIX systems I can
browse, and that is /var/psf/@local/sb. Do you mean /var/psf/sb?
That is the binary version of the PSF printer profile (the rough
equivalent of AIX colon files for virtual printers). That would not
come into play here since you say that the paper size problem occurs
when printing from AIX. What will need modification is the AIX virtual
printer definition or colon files. For every AIX defined printer,
there is a customized colon file created in the directory called
/var/spool/lpd/pio/@local/custom. This is also a binary file and cannot
be edited directly; you will need to use the AIX smit panels or commands
to change the default values for a virtual printer.
Note that it is somewhat risky to add, delete or modify virtual printers
while printing is going on, although there is a fairly recent AIX PTF
that helps eliminate problems in this area. I don't have the PTF
number handy, but can find it if you're interested.
Hopefully you're on AIX V4, so you can use the smit panels to change the
default paper sizes. The following instructions were generated on an
AIX 4.2.1 system for an AIX JetDirect-attached printer using the
hplj-5si colon file.
From the AIX command line, enter "smit chpq" or "smitty chpq". From
the list, select the print queue name (SB) that you want to change.
Then select the first option "1 Printer Setup".This will bring up
a panel where you'll see a list of the different paper sizes for the
different input bins. You can list the valid paper sizes in the
predefined colon file by pressing PF4 or selecting the List button.
Select the one you want from the list, then press Enter or DO to make
the change. Then run a test AIX job to make sure that your change took
effect.
If you need a paper size that is not one of those listed, then you'll
need to modify the colon file for the printer. A question of that
technical depth on AIX printing would need to be queued to the AIX
PRINT WWQ&A queue rather than to PSF/AIX.
Let me recommend a couple of books on AIX printing and also an internal
use only web site with lots of good AIX printing information:
- AIX Version 4 Guide to Printers and Printing (SC23-2783)
- AIX 4.3 Guide to Printers and Printing (SC23-4130)
- Printing for Fun and Profit Under AIX V4 (GG24-3570)
I hope this helps. Please reopen if you have additional questions.
Thanks for using WWQ&A/ViewBlue.
Q:
Thanks for your information.
The customer is on AIX 4.3. I tried also on a test system with
AIX 4.2.1 and I have installed the HP laserjet 5si again there.
and surprise˘ all the options are there , papersize etc...
I have opened a PMR with our support center, because I suspect
a software bug in the HP LaserJet 5SI prt driver for AIX 4.3.
A:
Thanks for the update. You might be able to copy the predefined colon
file for the hplj-5si from the AIX 4.2.1 system to the AIX 4.3 system
as a workaround, and then create a new printer using that, but I'd
prefer to let the AIX Support Center comment on that as there may be
some ramifications that I'm not aware of.
Closing.
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:
psf/6000 psf/aix psf aix psm laserjet hplj-5si colon virtual printer
letter paper size wrong incorrect error queue spool respool queue
queuing double queueing
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000152434 ITEM: RTA000152434
Dated: 09/1998 Category: XPSF6000
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