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From: mrf@FTP.COM (Margaret Forsythe)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: re: Printing with PC/TCP
Message-ID: <9106141956.AA01388@ftp.com>
Date: 14 Jun 91 19:56:56 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mrf@ftp.com
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 75


Dear Adam;

>Is there a way to make PC/TCP and/or Interdrive talk directly to a
>network printer as in PC-NFS?  

We have a print redirector that is capable of redirecting
printer output to a remote printer.  Unlike PC/NFS, our print 
redirector (PREDIR) is not confined to using NFS print capabilities
on a suitably equipped server.  You can use NFS printing, LPR, other
network printing programs (i.e. Novell's), or any other commands
that can be used at the DOS command line to accomplish remote
printing.  This allows our product to have greater flexibility than
Sun's PC/NFS, but it also means that our print redirector is
much harder to configure correctly.  We are aware of this problem,
and we are working on better documentation and a configuration
utility to make it easier.

In the meantime, PREDIR is harder to configure than PC/NFS, but
once configured, should be just as easy to use.

>lpr works just fine, but I want to set
>up applications for users (i.e. Microsoft Word, Lotus) to print
>directly to network PostScript printers instead of printing to a file,
>shelling out or exiting the program, and using lpr.

If LPR works fine for you, we should be able to configure 
PREDIR so that it will use LPR to print your files correctly 
(using hot-key printing, print on exit, or print on timeout).
There are some problems that other customers have seen with
our PREDIR product that you may be experiencing.  

	DOS 3.2 -- if you are using DOS 3.2, our print redirector
	        will not function reliably (lost bytes in files
		that may also cause printer hangs on a PostScript
		printer) if it is used to redirect lpt1.  This 
		problem can be eliminated by redirecting
		lpt2 instead, and making your applications print
		to lpt2.

	PostScript printers -- we have had many customers report
		problems printing to PostScript printers using
		LPR.EXE.  Most of these problems are due to
		the fact that LPD adds a header page which is
		not in PostScript format.  To avoid this problem,
		it is necessary to use the -h option to suppress
		printing of the header page.  If you use the
		PREDIR PROG parameter and set it to LPR.EXE,
		that command will not accept arguments.  Instead,
		you must create a batch file for PREDIR to
		execute with the following line:

			c:\<full-path>\LPR.EXE -h %1

		Include on this line any other lpr options that
		you use at the DOS prompt for successful printing.
		Then, set the PREDIR PROG parameter to the 
		path and name of this batch file.  This should
		result in a properly printed file.

>Please help!  I want our site to switch to this TCP/IP package from
>PC-NFS, but this is a necessary feature.  

We would be happy to help you configure and use PREDIR.  If you have 
actually encountered a bug in our software, we will try to fix it and/or 
help you work around it.  Please give us a call at (617) 246-2920, or 
e-mail us at support@ftp.com with your full configuration information,
and what types of problems you have encountered trying to print.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Margaret Forsythe     Technical Support Manager	     FTP Software, Inc.
(617) 246-2920	      FAX:  (617) 245-7943	     E-mail:  mrf@ftp.com