PSF/AIX: Support for Postnet barcode?

ITEM: RTA000096268



Q:                                                                              
ABSTRACT:     PSF/6000 Postnet                                                  
SEARCH ARG:   postnet                                                           
TOPIC THREAD: PRINT                                                             
              PSF/AIX                                                           
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I have a new user of PSF/6000 with a 3160 who wishes to produce                 
Postnet barcode. I know the 3160 AFCCU has BCOCA, but how do we                 
implement on PSF for AIX? He has PPFA, but my searches have led                 
me to 5799-DGX and several items concerning using fonts and ASCII               
code pages. Again, what is the best way available today to do Postnet           
in this environment?                                                            
                                                                                
Q:                                                                              
There are two options for doing Postnet barcode from PSF/AIX to an             
AFCCU printer (including the 3160).                                             
                                                                                
1) Purchase the Postnet Barcode font RPQ for $1975 and use PPFA to              
   create a pagedef that calls out the Postnet font.  They will need            
   to have calculated the check digits and have that as part of the             
   data.  One problem with this approach is that the Postnet RPQ is not         
   currently available on AIX media (and we are addressing that with            
   Font Development; same is true for MICR fonts).  However, it is              
   possible to purchase the fonts and either install them on one of the         
   currently supported systems (MVS or VM preferably), then download            
   them in binary format to the AIX system; alternatively you can               
   NFS-mount them.  Or as a final option, we can work with you if the           
   customer agrees to purchase a license to get you the fonts on tape           
   or diskette.                                                                 
                                                                               
2) A less expensive approach would be to use the BCOCA support in the           
   AFCCU printers, as you mentioned.  If you have current maintenance           
   for PPFA, ACIF and psf.base, you will have the code necessary to             
   code a pagedef with the new BCOCA support.                                   
                                                                                
However, in checking license information, our records do not show that          
your customer has purchased the PPFA option.  If that's correct, then           
your customer will need to buy and install PPFA ($2460 base OTC) for            
either of the above options.  Alternatively, they wish to consider              
a FormsPac from PSC Services.                                                   
                                                                                
One last note, my research shows that Postnet is not a resident font            
supplied with the 3160, although OCR is.  So although PSF/AIX supports          
resident raster and outline fonts, that's not an option for Postnet.            
                                                                               
I hope that helps.                                                              
                                                                                
4/96                                                                            
                                                                                
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:                                                  
AIX PSF/6000 PSF/AIX BCOCA AFCCU 3160 3130 POSTNET PPFA                         
font acif barcode bar code                                                      
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                               


WWQA: ITEM: RTA000096268 ITEM: RTA000096268
Dated: 01/1999 Category: XPSF6000
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