Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!haven!purdue!decwrl!hplabs!hpda!hpcupt1!hprnd!hposdl!spero
From: spero@hposdl.HP.COM (Spero Koulouras)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: WordPerfect net blues
Message-ID: <920003@hposdl.HP.COM>
Date: 14 Jan 89 00:13:55 GMT
References: <1924@cfctech.UUCP>
Organization: HP Office System Division R&D
Lines: 19

An application writes to the printer in the same way that it
writes to a disc file (simplified example):

  1.  It opens the file
  2.  It then writes to the opened file     
  3.  And,  if well-behaved, it closes the file

  The problem is with point 3 above.  In the pre-network world there
  was no need to close the print file.  Data sent to the printer would
  pop out of the print head.  With the advent of network print spoolers,
  however, the file close became very important.  The spooler uses the
  close message to know that the complete file has been received.  In
  many spooler implementations data is not sent from the spooler to the
  printer until either a close is received or a timeout occurs.  The
  CTRL-ALT-PRTSC forces the file close message and causes the file to
  be printed.

  Spero Koulouras
  Hewlett-Packard