Original_To:  JNET%"NOTABENE@TAUNIVM"
Date:         Sun, 11 Oct 92 16:57:00 MDT
From:         DIECKER@UNMB
Subject:      NB4 INSTALLATION WITH AN HPII
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Following is a slightly abbreviated version of a message I sent
to everyone a couple of weeks ago asking for help. I didn't get
any replies and I still have not been able to resolve the problem:


>I installed the HPII printer with NB4, but have been unable to print. The
>fonts are in another directory on the hard disk and I download those I use
>most each day with a batch file.

>NB4 seems to want control over the process by downloading fonts itself as
>you need them. Fine, but there seem to be two immediate problems.

>First, it searches for fonts with a .USP extension. All of my HP fonts have
>either an .R8P or .R8L extension, depending on whether they are portrait or
>landscape fonts.

>Second, it searches for these fonts only in the FONT subdirectory (under the
>main NB4 directory). My first quick and dirty response was to simply copy
>the font the program wanted from the subdirectory where I normally keep them
>into the FONT subdirectory and rename it with a .USP extension.

>This resulted in the printer spewing out about fifty sheets of paper with
>one line of garbage each.

>In the Quick Customization Guide I found the Build/install new typeface/font
>section. I got down to the part where the program asks one to enter the
>location of fonts to install. When I do that, I get the message "No
>uninstalled fonts found" and can't go any farther.

>So my FONT subdirectory remains empty. When the program tells me it can't
>find the .USP font it wants, it then asks if I want it to continue anyway. >If
I answer yes, mostly out of curiosity as to how it thinks it can
>print without a font, it causes the printer to spit out one sheet with one
>garbage line at the top (which is, I suppose, an improvement over fifty
>sheets, each with one garbage line at the top), and then locks up.


This past Thursday I talked to Michael at NBI, who said he was one
of the programmers. He spent about thirty minutes on the phone with
me, and seemed to know quite precisely how to manipulate the printer
driver. We renamed the .USP fonts in the driver to .R8L and .R8P and
changed some settings on the menus. I'm sorry I can't be more
specific because he took me through some of the steps quite rapidly
and I didn't have time to make notes. The problem remains. I sent
Michael a fax Thursday evening and missed a call from someone at
NBI on Friday.

At any rate, my question to members of the list is if anyone else
has had problems installing NB4 to work with an HP II. Both NB 3.0
and 3.1 ran the printer flawlessly. The printer is set up serial
because it serves computers from four offices. Every morning a
set of soft fonts we use most are downloaded from one of the
computers. The printer has 2.5 Mb of memory and has plenty left
after the fonts are downloaded.

One of the settings Michael had me change in effect told NB to
download fonts only as necessary. I get no error messages when
I give the print command, but the printer just prints garbage.
I've even turned off the printer to clear out any extraneous
electronic garbage, then turned it on again and done nothing but
give the print command. Same result.

Sorry this turned into such a long message, but we've had our copy
of the program for nearly a month now. As someone just mentioned
on the list, once you start working in NB4 you are committed,
because NB3 can't deal with the mode changes that NB4 makes. So it's
not just a matter of making files in NB4 and then printing them with
NB3.1

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Jimmy C Diecker
Latin American Institute
University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

BITNET  DIECKER@UNMB
INTERNET  DIECKER@BOOTES.UNM.EDU
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU