From: norm@godel.une.edu.au (Norman Gaywood)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.printers,comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: LaserWriter IIg problems
Date: 12 Jan 93 21:43:03 GMT
Followup-To: comp.periphs.printers

am@frors65.circe.fr (Alain Merigot) writes:

>>We just got an Apple LaserWriter IIg to add to our Sun Sparc network.  We've
>>had a IINTX for over a year and have been very happy with it.  I now find that
>>the IIg will simply not print some PostScript files that the IINTX handles 
>>with no trouble at all.  The IIg flashes for a while, indicating that it's 
>>receiving data, but nothing prints.

>We have a similar problem. According to apple hotline there is problem when 
>mixing Adobe and bitmap (truetype, TeX) fonts. There does not seem to exist a 
>way to overcome the problem (nor to downgrade!). But if somebody knows
>one, I would
>be *VERY* interested !

This is interresting. More problems! Our IIg has been hanging quite often as
well. We have it connected to a DECstation. I have have always blamed it on
reasons in the following note. As of yet I have not been able to get the
ROM upgrade mentioned. This article was posted to this group a while ago.

In article <leoj18INNeak@ai.cs.utexas.edu>, fletcher@cs.utexas.edu
(Fletcher Mattox) wrote:
> 
> Our new LaserWriter IIf, under certain conditions, sends "spurious"
> EOFs (control-Ds) back to the spooling software (psif, from Adobe's 
> Transcript 1.0).  Our LaserWriter I's don't do this.
> 
> Is this change documented anywhere?  Specifically, does anyone
> know under what conditions a IIf will emit an EOF?  I'd like to
> arrange for psif to deal with it, but so far I've been unable to
> dertermine exactly what triggers it.
> 
> Thanks
> Fletcher

This is a known problem for which Apple have released a Revision 2.0 ROM
upgrade. Contact your local Apple dealer for more details. Below is an
extract from Apple's announcement of the upgrade.
---------------------------------------

Some customers have reported these problems with their LaserWriter IIf and
IIg printers that are the result of several anomalies with the LaserWriter
IIf/IIg Revision 1.0 ROM set:
 
* The inability to place the LaserWriter IIg in different zones or to
  rename it on an EtherTalk network.
 
  Note
  ----
  This does not apply to the LaserWriter IIf because it does not have
  EtherTalk capabilities.
 
* The inability to return proper font outlines to a limited number of font
  manipulation packages using the PostScript "pathforall" operator.
 
  In this situation, the application cannot retrieve a bitmapped font from
  the printer when the application requests one.
 
* Incompatibility with spoolers resulting in incomplete print jobs,
  printing errors, and the inability to capture the printer on the
  spooler.
 
* Serial port errors resulting from the printer echoing an extra
  end-of-file indicator (Control-D).
 
  In this situation, the printer status indicates busy when actually it is
  idle.
 
* Difficulty connecting some third-party hard drives to a LaserWriter IIf
  or IIg.
 
  When using the LaserWriter Utility, the user is unable to "see" the hard
  drive attached to the LaserWriter.
 
  Note
  ----
  Some third-party hard drives may not be compatible with Apple products,
  regardless of this ROM upgrade.  Check product compatibility with the
  hard drive manufacturer.
 
 
To address these issues, Apple is offering a LaserWriter IIf/IIg Repair
Extension Program.
 
Program Details
---------------
The LaserWriter IIf/IIg Repair Extension program provides a free ROM
Upgrade Kit to a customer whose printer is experiencing any of the problems
described above.
 
Both the cost of the kit and cost of shipping the kit to an Authorized
Service Provider are covered under this program.  Labor reimbursement for
installing the ROMs in in-warranty or out-of-warranty printers is not
included in this program.

Rod Van Cooten
Microcomputer Support Group
University of Melbourne, Australia

--
Norman Gaywood. Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computing Science.
University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
Internet: norm@godel.une.edu.au, phone: +61 67 732412, fax: +61 67 733312
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.printers