NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/comp/sys/3b1/3322

Internet Message Format | 1992-09-08 | 3.7 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Don Nichols (DoN.))
Newsgroups: comp.sys.3b1,comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: Printer Blues
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Date: 10 Sep 92 01:18:11 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Terry McDonald) writes:
>From tmcdonal Tue Sep  8 16:38:27 EDT 1992
>Article: 5986 of comp.sys.3b1
>Newsgroups: comp.sys.3b1
>Path: magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!tmcdonal
>From: [e-mail] (Terry McDonald)
>Subject: Printer Blues
>Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
>Sender: [e-mail]
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>Organization: The Ohio State University
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>Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 22:59:42 GMT
>Lines: 41
>
>Greetings
>
>I am having a terrible time attempting setup
>and print documents.  I recently connected
>a Diablo630 printer to my 7300.

    By which means - the Parallel port, or (one of) the serial port(s)?
>
>After I selected the printer type and tried
>to print a document I get an error message:

    [ ... ]

>so, I went back to the setup and selected 'Other' as
>the printer.
>
>When trying to print on Other - it says that the
>printer is not connected or turned off...

    Is other set to use the same port to which the printer is
connected?  Other can be either serial or parallel.
>
>The Printer - when I turn it on (unless I hit a pause or
>break button) goes through what seems like an endless test
>of numbers/letters (abcdef...) line after line.

    Is the self-test switch on the printer on?  (I have no documentation
on this printer, so I can't tell you where to look.  It may be disguised as
a special baud rate, like all switches off, or all switches on.)  Does the
printer have both serial and parallel ports?  If so, is the printer
configured to use the proper port?

    Do you even *have* any documentation for the printer?

    Also, you should not be using the "print screen" button with a
Diablo of any flavor.  That will do a graphics dump of the screen, rather
than printing the text.  The bit patterns for the pixels may well look like
a self-test printout at some portion of the screen.  Also, the random binary
patterns that a screen dump represents may be generating a self-test escape
command sequence, which the printer is cheerfully obeying.

    To test it, you should ask it to print some plain text file, like
e.g. "ls -l /bin | lp -DOther" (With the -DOther in case you haven't told
your configuration screen that "Other" is your default printer.

>Can anyone give me some advice?

    Well, ... I could suggest that you include more information than you
could possibly imagine we might need in your article, on the off chance that
something would give us a clue as to what is *really* happening.

    Does the printer go into this self-test mode even if it is not
connected to the computer?  If so, then your first task is getting the
documentation, reading it (preferably with the power off to your printer, so
you don't use up too many boxes of paper), and using that information,
configuring the printer properly before attempting to use it with the
computer.

    Good Luck
        DoN.

--
Donald Nichols (DoN.)     | Voice (Days): [phone] (Eves): [phone]
D&D Data                  |  Email: <[e-mail]>
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