Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!watdcsu!dsnow
From: dsnow@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Doug Snow)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: How Can I Un-Do WordPerfect LaserWriter Set-Up?
Message-ID: <4618@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 88 22:37:45 GMT
References: <1714@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <4592@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> <385@brambo.UUCP>
Reply-To: dsnow@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Doug Snow)
Organization: Arts Computing Office, University of Waterloo.
Lines: 74

In article <385@brambo.UUCP> sid@brambo.UUCP (Sid Van den Heede) writes:
>
>Close...But it's "serverdict", not "servdict".
>
The missing "er" was a typing mistake

>>We have a slew of lasers with both WP and Apple Users switching among the
I should have said, PC users (8,none and 1) on the 25 pin channel and
Mac users on Appletalk (who, incidently, must walk over to the printer
and flip the switch).

>You win!  The first parameter to setsccbatch specifies which port (the 

>So how do your WP and Apple users switch between the two modes?  Sounds
>like they have to go to the printer of their choice and change the switch.
You win!

>Or do you have your WP machines (you didn't say whether they are PCs) on
>AppleTalk, in which case setsccbatch is irrelevant for you.
Appletalk Boards for PCs are too expensive and Appletalk is too slow.

>   1) I don't understand why you're having a problem switching 
>      between batch mode and AppleTalk mode;
I'm not, it was the original poster who was having trouble with
appletalk after having downloaded WP's file.

>Finally, *why* is WordPerfect fiddling with the serial port communication
>parameters :-) ?  That is not something that such a program should be doing.
>It's the person who is connecting the devices together who must set 
>appropriate parameters, and only that person.  Once that person has gone to
>the trouble of getting it working, it should be left bloody well alone by
>software.

I agree completely. The original "laserwriter" support by WP was/is horrible.
The original LASERWRT.PS didn't work at all and PSCRIPT.PS is not much
better (We check our deliveries ever hour for version 5). The program
called INITLWRT.PS ( or something like that) purported to set the
LaserWriter to do DTR flow control, without checking the Postscript/Machine 
version. (Critical, as you pointed out). In fact, the first version of
this file used a 3 as the parameter to setsccbatch, and, as we've established,
this defines XON/XOFF flow control.

Why they did it, as I'm sure you know, is that WP (like DOS) 
does not support XON/XOFF flow control. It actually does EIA
flow control on pin 5, but that is a whole other conversation.
The file was supposed to
be downloaded once (since it modified persistent parameters) and is
not part of the emulation program. However I've seen people pour
this across to the printer everytime they power up their machine.
Not good. 

I agree with your complaint about software messing with communication
settings. Programs and machines should come with obvious(?) and specific
descriptions of their own anomalies with respect to communications.
I spend way too much time getting various programs on similar machines
to gracefully talk to a single printer. We have not yet solved 
the problem of MAC and PC users coexisting on the same printer. A fast
solution here would be a Chooser for the MAC that prints out the serial
port (I'm sure there is such a beast). I've yet to try getting PSCRIPT.PS,
MS-Words Laserprep file and Apples LASERPREP file to all go resident
with an exitserver (notice I got the "er" that time?) but this should
work. It wouldn't be that horrible in most situations if they had to
be prepended to all jobs (although LASERPREP for the mac is >30k!).

I am more than willing to discuss these problems and the various 
solutions and setups we have on the net. I was merely offering the original
poster a private conversation.
                                Doug

Doug Snow, ACO, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.

     dsnow@{watdcsu|watpix}.UWaterloo.EDU   ...!watmath!watdcsu!dsnow
     dougsnow@watdcs.NETNORTH dsnow@wataco.BITNET
     doug@artspas.watstar.waterloo.EDU