Very Computer

Platform: SPARCstation 5, Solaris 2.5, no patches,
          HP LaserJet III w/PostScript cartr.
          connected with a 19200 bps serial line to the SPARC

I've experienced flaky behaviour for this printer, when using the
spooler on the SPARCstation.  Occasionally printing works OK, but on
other occasions, the printer gets stuck in "PROCESSING DATA", and
nothing comes out.

Using lprm doesn't work.  But if I do a
        lpshut
        rm -r /var/spool/lp/tmp
        /bin/sh /etc/init.d/lp start
reset the printer, and start again, the file prints.

This could be caused by a flaky serial connection, but the fact that
*if* it prints, it will print correctly even large files, makes me
doubt this.  The same printer also worked perfectly well with a much
longer serial line, and 19200bps to an Ultrix box.

It does seem to be related to having more than one job in the print
queue, but I haven't been able to prove this conclusively.

I've been searching comp.unix.solaris on Deja News for this problem,
and I've found many mentions of problems with the 2.5 print spooler,
but I haven't stumbled over any conclusive solutions/patches for the
print spooler.

Right now I'm wondering whether to look for such patches, or to
install LPRng
        <URL:ftp://iona.ie/pub/plp/LPRng/>

Insights into this, will be helpful!

Thanx!

- Steinar

--
===================<URL:http://www.metis.no/private/sb/>===================
Steinar Bang, NCR Norge AS, METIS Solutions
P.O.Box 1094, N-3194 Horten, Norway

Quote:> It does seem to be related to having more than one job in the print
> queue, but I haven't been able to prove this conclusively.
> I've been searching comp.unix.solaris on Deja News for this problem,
> and I've found many mentions of problems with the 2.5 print spooler,
> but I haven't stumbled over any conclusive solutions/patches for the
> print spooler.

The queue entry that didn't print, had a size of 79613 bytes
(curiously enough, the exact same size of a completely different .ps
file in the same directory), while the file itself, and the entry in
the queue for the remote printer, had a size of 549265 bytes:

  % lpr poa03.ps
  % lpq
  hp-ps is ready and printing
  Rank   Owner      Job             Files                       Total Size
  active sb         3               poa03.ps                    79613 bytes
  % lpr poa03.ps
  % which lpr
  /usr/ucb/lpr
  % lpr -Pibm-ps poa03.ps
  % lpq -Pibm-ps
  ibm-ps is ready and printing
  Rank   Owner      Job             Files                       Total Size
  active sb         002             poa03.ps                    549265 bytes
  % ll *.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     909046 Sep 29 09:47 96-05-01.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users    3816341 Sep 29 11:06 97-04-14.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     772277 Sep 29 11:12 97-04-15.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     237954 Sep 29 11:15 97-05-02.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users    3800270 May 21 14:30 97-05-15.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     755010 May 21 14:30 97-05-16.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     342009 Sep 25 15:13 d4.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     339394 Sep 25 17:27 directions.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     141621 Oct 27 16:30 faen.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     730451 Sep 29 10:02 old.97-05-16.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users    3591237 Oct 29 17:09 poa .ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users    3637169 Oct 29 17:13 poa-4up.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     138387 Sep 29 12:12 poa-cpp.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users    3591237 Oct 29 17:12 poa.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     878998 Oct 29 17:14 poa01.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users    1643879 Oct 29 17:14 poa02.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     549265 Oct 29 17:14 poa03.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     557706 Oct 29 17:15 poa04.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     181922 Oct 29 17:15 poa05.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users      79613 Oct 21 13:50 svarte.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users       9941 Sep 25 14:21 test.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     112003 Oct 21 13:50 tull.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     753128 Sep 30 10:05 voyager.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users     522357 Oct 20 15:22 voycorba.ps
  -rw-rw-r--   1 sb       users      18668 Sep 30 15:50 zappa.ps
  %

Strange...

Quote:> Right now I'm wondering whether to look for such patches, or to
> install LPRng