Article 30806 of comp.periphs.printers: Path: cs.utk.edu!not-for-mail From: shuford@cs.utk.edu (Richard Shuford) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm,comp.os.ms-windows,comp.periphs.printers,comp.os.msdos.misc Subject: Re: Printer cable from LN03R to 9 way serial Followup-To: comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm Date: 24 Aug 1995 17:49:58 -0400 Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville--Dept. of Computer Science Lines: 52 Distribution: world Expires: 14 Oct 1995 12:34:56 GMT Message-ID: <41is66INNoq7@duncan.cs.utk.edu> References: <41hutv$96g@lion.inmos.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: duncan.cs.utk.edu Summary: need PC driver that honors XON/XOFF flow control Keywords: XON, DEC, LN03R, flow control, MS-DOS, serial, Xref: cs.utk.edu comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm:13194 comp.os.ms-windows:571 comp.periphs.printers:30806 comp.os.msdos.misc:34096 In article <41hutv$96g@lion.inmos.co.uk> darren@buttercup.inmos.co.uk (Darren Carpenter) writes: > > I am trying to connect a DEC LN03R Scriptprinter to a 9-[pin] serial port on > an IBM Thinkpad. (Printer is serial only). > > [the] cable works fine on an HP LaserJet 2 > > When I send a 5-page AMIpro print to the printer it will print 2.5 ish pages > and then throw a error page.... It would help to know if you are using plain MS-DOS or Windows 3.1, but.... Your problem is mostly likely one of flow control. The native serial printer driver is probably expecting that the printer will signal a buffer-full condition by toggling the state of one of the RS-232 control signals. (The Data Terminal Ready/DTR line is a popular line for this use.) Most DEC serial printers, however, use exclusively the in-band XON/XOFF (Control-S/Control-Q, DC3/DC1) handshaking to prevent overrunning the buffer. Right now, the LN03R is sending the XOFF when its buffer is nearly full, but the Thinkpad is ignoring it. So you need to install a serial printer driver that honors XOFF. Sometime in the past, net-rumor reported that DEC had a floppy disk available via DECdirect or support channels containing some appropriate MS-Windows printer drivers. Try calling 1-800/344-4825 (or +1 603/884-6660) and asking if item FW-207S1-AK (3.5-inch disk) is still available for free. I haven't looked, but other people have reported that the Compuserve DECPCI library contains a collection of DEC printer drivers. Otherwise, or in addition, you may need an MS-DOS printer driver that honors XON/XOFF. One such driver is found in the file "xonxoff3.zip", which is available from the SimTel collection by anonymous FTP: file://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/msdos/printer/xonxoff3.zip (or from your regional SimTel mirror site) Today being 24 August, I may as well note that I don't know what you should do to make the LN03R work under Windows '95. Remember, the LN03R is a Postscript-only printer; it does not perform the ANSI-style control operations understood by most DEC printers, nor does it emulate a Hewlett-Packard product. -- ...Richard S. Shuford | "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many ...shuford@cs.utk.edu | advisers they succeed." Proverbs 15:22 NIV On 11 September, East Tennessee's telephone area code splits from 615 to 423. From darren@bristol.st.com Thu Aug 31 11:08:03 1995 Return-Path: Received: from daisy by CS.UTK.EDU with ESMTP (cf v2.9s-UTK) id LAA15372; Thu, 31 Aug 1995 11:07:57 -0400 Received: by daisy id QAA08988; Thu, 31 Aug 1995 16:11:28 +0100 Received: by buttercup.inmos.co.uk id QAA22375; Thu, 31 Aug 1995 16:05:17 +0100 Date: Thu, 31 Aug 1995 16:05:17 +0100 Message-Id: <199508311505.QAA22375@buttercup.inmos.co.uk> From: darren@buttercup.bristol.st.com (Darren Carpenter) Subject: Re: Printer cable from LN03R to 9 way serial To: shuford@cs.utk.edu (Richard Shuford) Status: R Hi Richard, Thanks for the reply, I have since found out that Pin 11 from the LN03R is pulled low when the buffer is full and the printer is setup for hardware handshaking. Subsequently connecting pin 11 at the printer end to DTR at the PC end works fine as long as both the printer and the PC is using hardware handshaking. Thanks again, Darren.