From: dennisg@dngsun.East.Sun.COM (Dennis Govoni - Federal Area S.E. Washington D.C.)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux
Subject: LaserWriter NTR,and a "bug??"
Date: 9 Oct 1992 13:03:25 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: dennisg@East.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: dngsun.east.sun.com
Keywords: LaserWriter NTR

Hi,

It's been some time since I posted anything, mainly because I've changed jobs and you all know
what that can be like. I thought I'd post some information on my experiences with Apple's new
Printer the NTR which I broke down and just purchased. Maybe this could be included in the FAQ
(if it isn't already there)?

First, spending this kind of money always makes me uneasy. But since the printer is supported by
Apple I expected little problems in running under MAC and A/UX. For the most part this is
true.

First, this is really a very fine printer. It's RISC based and has 3 ports:

	1. 8-pin din for LocalTalk OR RS422
	2. Centronic paralle Interface
	3. RS232 as a DB-25 connector

All three ports can be used simultaneously (I haven't actually tested it). Be forewarned that
you need to read the installation directions *very carefully*. There are ways to set the state
of the port (8-pin) in such a way you can damage the printer. There is a switch on the back
that is set to "9". You must remember to set it to 0 *before turning the printer on*. These
settings (0-9) set the configurations of the 3 ports. You can also set them via the LaserWriter
Utility but must never be done when the physical setting is 9!


 It was very easy to install the controller into the Printer (You have to do this if the
dealer doesn't as this print engine is the same for the Personal LS). I then used
Farallon localtalk connectors and connected one to the Mac and one to the DIN 8 on the
printer (setting the switch on printer to "0" means DIN 8 is configured for LocalTalk).

The Printer comes with 3 disks with new LaserWriter and LaerWriter Utility and fonts. You
can install them under MAC and MAC-under A/UX (I just copied them under A/UX).

That's it for Installation!

The NTR is a 4 page/minute printer and seems to hold this rate even with most postscript
files I've tried.

Under MAC if you want to print "raw" postscript files, you use the Laserwriter Utility. I printed
a 7 page document produced by FrameMaker that had a mix of text and Graphics--very nice!

This worked the same using MAC under A/UX. But what about "pure" UNIX??

Using the Berkeley printing environment running under "lpd", everything works just fine; but
I thought I would also try setting up the System V spooler. You do this as follows:
(NOTE: <printer name> is the name you give the printer)


/usr/lib/lpadmin -p<printer name> -mat_interface -v/dev/null
/usr/lib/lpadmin -d<printer name>
enable <printer name>
accept <printer name>
/usr/lib/lpsched

Doing lp /etc/passwd resulted in a very nice header page "designed" for postscript printers
followed by the file /etc/passwd.

HOWEVER, when I tried to print the FrameMaker document, the printer started to flash as if
were printing, but then stopped and never printed the document! I'll spare you the gory details,
but after 3 hours of debugging (there is never an error generated; all looks fine), I 
narrowed it down to the at_interface script running the program "/usr/lib/ps/psrv" which
does page output reversal! This did not work on the document I had. Once this was set
to null in the script (meaning it didn't run), the document printed.

All-in-all I please with this printer, so far. We'll see how its duty cycle holds up.

BTW, I was able to purchase it locally for $1597.00 mainly because we have COMPUsa and even the
"little guys" will deal at this level because of the competition (COMPUsa was out of them but
the small company I dealt with just down the street was willing to meet their price). I couldn't find it any cheaper via mail order.

I looked at cheaper PS printers, but given I wanted to have a "bullet-proof" solution to both
MAC and A/UX environment, I decided to pay a bit more for the Apple. Besides, for those of
you married, YOU know what the spouse will do if you announced that you just bought a "white
elephant" ;->!

That's it so far! BTW, I get no kick-back from Apple. I'm just please I didn't screw-up!

---
Dennis Govoni				SUN Microsystems, Federal Area
dennis.govoni@East.Sun.COM		2650 Park Tower Drive, Vienna, VA 22180
					1-703-204-4250
<include/std.disclaimer.h>

I don't speak for SUN; I get in enough trouble on my own!