OSPRINT - OS/2 PRINTING TIPS AND INFORMATION 11/02/94 ================================================================ OS/2 PRINTING TIPS AND INFORMATION ================================================================ The most frequently asked questions about printing from OS/2: ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Can I use an automatic print-sharing device with OS/2? No. OS/2 does not support automatic printer sharing devices because of the architecture required to assign the printers to the operating system. Manual printer sharing devices, however, are supported. To save processor cycles, the OS/2 parallel port device driver uses the hardware interrupt capability of the parallel port, rather than the polling method used by DOS. You would notice an unacceptable loss of system performance if OS/2 kernel device drivers includes a polling "wait-loop" mechanism to continuously check the status of devices (such as printers), rather than the current implementation using hardware interrupts. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. My printer is not on the list of OS/2 supported printers, is there any way for me to still use it with OS/2? Yes. You might be able to run your printer in an emulation mode. Refer to the documentation that came with your printer to determine if the printer can be configured with settings that allow it to emulate other types of printers. When a printer is in emulation mode, the printer device driver of the emulated printer needs to be installed. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. When I try to print from OS/2 I get error message, SYS0004. What does this error message indicate? SYS0004 is probably an indication that you do not have a printer object on your desktop. If you do have one, verify that it is properly configured. Refer to the OS/2 documentation for instructions on setting up a printer object. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ADDITIONAL TIPS AND INFORMATION ============================================= Printing From the Upper/Lower Trays on the HP Family Printers ---------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPTOMS: Unable to print from the lower tray from an HP Family printer running OS/2 2.x. RESOLUTION: Add a new form and set it for the lower cassette. NOTE: The steps listed below are ONLY for PM printing. Basic printing which is primarily for non-PM programs, including DOS, Windows, non-PM OS/2 applications is done from the command line. PROCEDURES: 1. Open the settings for the appropriate printer object. a. Select the the printer object. b. Select the arrow located on the open line. c. Select Settings. 2. Select the Printer Driver tab. 3. Define a new form set for the lower cassette. a. Select the HP Printer Icon b. Select the Forms button. c. Type the name for a new user defined form. d. Select the appropriate size for the new form. e. Select OK. f. Select the new Form name for the lower cassette in the Paper Source box NOTE: To use the lower cassette tray, a different form must be defined and/or set. If the same paper source is defined in both the upper and lower cassettes, the paper is pulled from the upper tray by default. g. Select the Device Defaults button and select the appropriate form under the FORM option and select OK. h. Select OK to return to the settings notebook. i. Select Job Properties and verify that the appropriate form is also selected under the FORM option and select OK. 4. Close the Printer settings and the changes take effect. NOTE: To use one form for the first page of your document and a different form for subsequent pages, select the Device Defaults button and select Automatic Mixed in the paper feed option. Two lists appear, one form is selected in the First Page list and a different form in the Remaining Pages list. Incorrect Characters on Printout When Trying to Print Under OS/2 2.X ---------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPTOMS: First characters of a printout are incorrect when trying to print under OS/2 2.x. Sometimes referred to as ASCII garbage. RESOLUTION: 1. Ensure that the correct printer driver is being used. 2. Make sure the printer being used emulates the selected driver 100%. Some printers do not fully implement emulation. There is a file named PRDESC.LST located on Printer Driver diskette 1 which lists the supported printers. On Service Pak (XR06055) and above systems, PRDESC.LST can also be found in the \OS2\INSTALL subdirectory. PROCEDURES: 1. Open the Settings Notebook for the Printer object. 2. Select the printer object. 3. Select the arrow located on the Open line. 4. Select Settings. 5. Select the Printer Driver Tab in the Settings notebook. 6. Ensure that the Correct Printer is highlighted in the Default printer driver window. If not, Select the correct Icon. 7. Select the Output Tab and ensure that the Correct port is highlighted in the Output port window. If not, select the correct port. 8. Close the Settings Notebook. Print Job Spools Through the Lan But Does Not Print on Systems Running OS/2 2.X ---------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPTOMS: When you send a job through the LAN, the printing gets spooled but it does not print on systems running OS/2 2.x. RESOLUTION: Change the line PRINTMONBUFSIZE in the CONFIG.SYS from: 134,134,134 to 2048,134,134. Change should be made on the Server to resolve the problem. PROCEDURES: 1. Goto an OS/2 command prompt. 2. Type E CONFIG.SYS and press Enter. 3. Scroll down to line. PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134 4. Change PRINTMONBUFSIZE to = 2048,134,134. 5. Save the file and restart the system for the change to take effect. NOTE: This sets the parallel-port device-driver buffer size. Each number corresponds to the buffer size for LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3 respectively. The minimum value that can be specified is 134 bytes and the maximum is 2048 bytes. Changing these values allows an increase the size of the parallel-port device-driver buffers and thereby increase performance of data. Unpack Error Message during Printer Driver Installation ---------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPTOMS: When installing a Printer Driver under OS/2 2.1 the "The files associated with this printer driver could not be unpacked" error message appears. RESOLUTION: 1. There are two OS/2 2.1 packages available: 6.514 L = uncompressed package 6.514 M = compressed package. Use the printer driver diskettes from the original installation package to avoid the problem. a. The Uncompressed package has three (3) printer driver diskettes and the compressed package has two (2). b. The Uncompressed diskette package contains 25 3.5-inch diskettes with blue labels 31 5.25-inch diskettes with blue labels c. The Compressed diskette package contains 20 3.5-inch diskettes with salmon labels 25 5.25-inch diskettes with salmon labels NOTE: The update in packaging also affects the CD-ROM package. 2. If the original installation diskettes are not available, determine what OS/2 2.1 package was used, and follow the instructions below to unpack printer drivers manually or on how to obtain a package to resolve the problem. PROCEDURES: 1. Type SYSLEVEL at an OS/2 Command Prompt to display the type of package installed on the system. Uncompressed = syslevel XR02010, Type0. Compressed = syslevel of XR02010, Type 2. 2. If you do not have the correct printer driver diskettes, copy the UNPACK.EXE and UNPACK2.EXE files from OS/2 2/1 diskette 2 for the printer driver being installed. These files should be used instead of the files in the \OS2 subdirectory. a. Rename UNPACK.EXE to UNPACK.BAK b. Copy UNPACK.EXE and UNPACK2.EXE from the OS/2 installation diskettes for the Printer Drivers being installed (i.e., 6.514 M) into the \OS2 subdirectory. c. Using the normal procedure for printer driver installation, select "Other OS/2 Printer Driver" on the "Install New Printer Driver" window and then select Refresh. You can also get the OS/2 2.1 Compression Compatibility Package from CompuServe, the OS2BBS, the HelpCenter or IBM Support Center.