PSF/VM with PSF for AIX to IP60
ITEM: RTA000153770
Q:
Topic thread:
Printer Systems (PRINT - NA/ATS)
PSF/AIX
PRINT XPSF6000
I am not entirely sure that my analysis is correct here, so can you
please confirm:
o PSF/VM can print with PSF for AIX but only in Print Direct mode. This
means that control of the printer is from PSF/VM and so no other
printing can be done from PSF for AIX.
o The PCL2AFP module, which is a part of InfoPrint Manager, can be
obtained separately and so, if the IP60 were set up for IPDS then it
could be driven from PSF for AIX as an AFP printer.
o The IP60 can have multiple adapters, but only one can be active at any
one time. You cannot therefore send IPDS, PCL and PostScript files to
the printer seamlessly.
o PostScript files could be routed to a PSF for OS/2 system, converted,
and the re-routed to PSF for AIX for actual printing. For a single
printer with limited PostScript this would be achievable.
o PSF/VM could send its output to a PSF for OS/2 system. PSF/2 could
direct it on to PSF for AIX. They would need SNA communications from
the VM system to the OS/2 system.
o If the VM system is using PSF/VM to print only line data then it could
be replaced by VM-TCP/IP LPR to send the line data to a PSF for AIX
system, where the Page Definition and Form Definition could be used.
o PSF for AIX is almost gone. Beginning of December is the date that it
is withdrawn. Would InfoPrint Manager make things easier?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Question:
Customer has asked if the following printing system set-up will
work, customer wishes to run PSF/VM, attached to this will be PSF/AIX on
a RS6000 system, these will be connected via Ethernet. The customer
will be printing to an IP60. There will be terminals connected to the
RS/6000 that will wish to print. The customer wishes to send PCL,
Postscript and IPDS data to the printer. Customer has read some
documentation and thinks that this should work, after a brief
discussion with PSC though it seems the VM and AIX systems will
only talk to each other in Direct Mode.
A:
1) The InfoPrint 60 is an IPDS printer only and does not have native
PCL or PostScript support, so the comment about the adapters is
not applicable (as it would be for the 3130).
2) PSF/AIX, though withdrawn from marketing 11 Dec 1998, will
continue to be supported until 31 Jan 2001.
3) PSF/AIX does include both the pcl2afp and ps2afp transforms, and
also supports PSF Direct (as does InfoPrint Manager), so there is
no need for a PSF/2 in this configuration.
4) The ps2afp transform in InfoPrint Manager is a true Adobe rip,
and will transform PS L3 output at InfoPrint Manager 3.1. The
ps2afp transform in PSF/AIX is a Xionics rip; it supports
PS L1 and PS L2. The Adobe rip in InfoPrint Manager is faster
than the Xionics rip in PSF/AIX. This may or may not be an issue
depending on the complexity, size and level of PostScript the
customer wants to print.
5) The pcl2afp transform in PSF/AIX and InfoPrint is the same, at
least at this point in time.
6) If the customer has PSF/VM and does want to have the operator
control of jobs remain at the host, then they can use PSF Direct
(SNA LU6.2) with either PSF/AIX or InfoPrint Manager. Timers
can be set to allow the printer to be shared automatically
between the PSF Direct session and the LAN jobs.
7) As you said, if the customer is sending down line data, then it
is possible to use LPR to send print jobs down to PSF/AIX or
InfoPrint Manager, but it is *not* possible to pass parameters
(such as pagedef or formdef name) down to PSF/AIX or InfoPrint
Manager. Operator control would pass to the RS/6000.
It would be helpful if we understood more about the type of data that
they want to print from VM and where they want operator control to
reside.
I'm going to close this for now, but please reopen if you get more info
on the type of data from VM and would like additional information.
Note that there are some restrictions in PSF/AIX regarding mixed data
(line data with imbedded AFP structured fields) when it comes to
inline resources, so if they're considering that, we need to discuss
further.
Hope this helps.
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:
psf/6000 psf/aix psf aix psf/vm vm 3160 infoprint 60 ip60 direct lpr
sna tcp/ip pcl postscript pcl2afp ps2afp ipds print
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000153770 ITEM: RTA000153770
Dated: 12/1998 Category: XPSF6000
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