Form setting & Print walking up a line a page in Win2k

[Jenica1026]

We are using a Okidata Pacemark 3410 on a Windows 2000 Professional workstation (as a print server) printing ASCII text (no printer codes) from a Sun Unix box. I have found that I needed to set the print driver as Generic/Text on the Win2k box because I was not able to change page length and CPI manully or in the printer configuration on the Pacemark as I did before when it was attached to a Novell 3.12 print server. I found I had to set up forms under "print server" option in Win2k to change the page length/width and I was able to set CPI on the printer control panel of the Pacemark only if I chose Generic/Text print driver on Win2k. Setting page length and CPI in printer configuration or manually on Pacemark is ignored; however, is I use the Generic/Text print driver I can control CPI on conrol panel on the Pacemark.

I really have two questions - first I have noticed that there are 3 different places to set the form you are printing in Win2k (under the General, Advanced and Device Settings tabs) - can anyone tell me what the differences are or where to find this information? It appears that I need change the form in all three places to have the form work correctly - is this true? (What a pain!)

Second, I have setup a form with page width 13.50 and page length 11.00 inches and with 17 CPI press on the printer control panel, I am seeing a loss of at least one line per page so that the printout looks like it is walking up the page on continuous form paper. Obviously, setting the form a little longer will not correct this. Anyone have any suggestions? I do need to tell you that I have check two Pacemarks in this configuration and they are both doing the same thing. Also, I have the printer configuration on the printer set just like the Pacemark the users have been using through a Novell 3.12 print server and printing this same document from a SCO Unix box prints just fine. So there are two differences here a Sun Unix box instead of a SCO Unix and Windows 2000 Professional workstation instead of a Novell 3.12 print server. Does anyone have any ideas? We have looked at the okidata print servers which convert a parallel port to a TCPIP connection; however if you send a document of any lenght (150 pages say) the print job starts printing over again. Novell 3.12 is not working for some reason our print jobs leave Unix but never print. We would like to migrate this print server this week. Or find another solution quickly. Please help.

 

[pbxman]

This is not the furum to submit a question like this - it's an incredibly advanced question!
...i hope others out there are familiar with SUN, Novell, and Win2K..perhaps they have a more detailed explanation..

Here's mine:

Win2K doesn't care where you set printer preferences..as long as the pages are set for normal output - you mentioned 13.5 x 11.0..that is not a standard paper format. Pick 8.5 x 11 or 11x17, or 8.5 x 14. Also, make sure nothing is set to use margins, or any kind of marginal ID's such as a timestamp, or source stamp of the printer being used/document ID.

It's pretty simple how to make a printer print in Win2K..i believe (if paper size is correct) that your problem lies in the Novell box..in that case..start from scratch, and use TCP/IP with an NT print server to reassign your print tasks from SUN or Novell to NT. It's much easier and much more widely supported.

I hope something in my reply helps..this is probably the most complex issue yet posted in these forums..im glad im not you..but i gave it a shot anyway!


Good luck!
Pbxman
Systems Administrator

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[Jenica1026]

Thanks Pbxman for your reply - if you say this isn't the forum to ask this question - do you know of another I can get some help? I wish I wasn't me either since I need an answer real soon but I do thank you for giving it your best try. Thanks again.

 

[tlcscousin]

Try w2k server forum there are some pretty good people there.

 

[pbxman]

I'd also try posting this to the Sun:Solaris, Unix Scripting, and Novell Netware 3 forums here on Tek-Tips. Someone somewhere in there must know more about your situation.
Pbxman
Systems Administrator

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[Jenica1026]

Thanks again pbxman - can you atleast tell me what the difference is between the three different areas that you can change a form to print (General/Advance/Device Settings). It looks like I have to change them all to get the form size to print correctly on the printer. This is a real pain! If you don't know - where do you think I can get the answer - Microsoft site hasn't produced any info on this that I can come up with. Does anyone know?

 

[pbxman]

The General tab changes settings for the person logged on to the machine, and is usually used temporarily (for instance - printing an excel document in landscape, then switching back).

The Advanced tab changes the settings for All Users of the machine, and should be setup as an administrator since non-admin users will be unable to change these settings without elevated print permissions.

If it is a shared printer, you'd want to change the Advanced tab, since all users using the printer would then pull the settings from the Advanced tab's settings.

Device Settings are just that..device-specific settings associated with the printer you're using, and should not change once setup.

If it were me, i'd login ad admin, and go to the printer in question, click on the Advanced tab, and go through all settings there. That will set your defaults for all users printing to that printer.

I hope this helps in that aspect at least.

Pbxman
Systems Administrator

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