How to network a plotter without a JetDirect card

[MarkSyder]

Hi everybody.

I have a Calcomp Drawing Master plotter which was, until Friday, configured to print through a very old workstation. All other servers/workstations on the network treated the plotter as a remote printer via that workstation.

Then on Friday morning the inevitable happened - the workstation died. I made enquiries about a maintenance contract and received a response of incredulity that this workstation was still in use - it's so old that it hasn't been on a support contract since the year began with a 1.

I've transferred the user's information on to a different workstation (at least the vital stuff was backed up!) but now need to set the plotter up elsewhere. I have selected a server (the newest one, so it will be a long time before I have to do this again!), gone into SAM, and picked printers/plotters. Selected Actions -> add network based printer/plotter and there is only one option - add printer/plotter connected to HP JetDirect.

I have looked on the plotter and confirmed that it does not have a JetDirect card. It is connected by an ethernet cable. Ideally, I would like to see how it was set up on the workstation so I could copy it - but I can't do that because the workstation's dead!

Guidance appreciated.

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)

[Pete Randall]

Mark,

What is the ethernet cable plugged into if it doesn't have a JetDirect card? Are there any other connections? Parallel, maybe? In the old days, such things were attached via a parallel cable and defined as local printers, then all the other machines referred to them as remote.


Pete

[Devender Khatana]

Hi Mark,

It might have got some internal Jetdirect card then only it is connected through ethernet cable. Or your ethernet cable may be serving as serial cable. Can you check on some of the node where it was configured remote for its configuration.

To which port of that workstation it was connectecd ? Serial or parallel ? If it is configured as a Jetadmin printer earlier you can find it on workstation on which it was configured remotely by.


#cd etc/lp/interface

#pg printer_name |grep PERIPH

HTH,
Devender

[Alzhy]

Hmm.. when I dealt with Calcomp plotters some years back they were connected via Serial (at 19.2 or 38.4 Kbaud) to a Xenix machine that acts as the "rasterizer"/print-server. The Xenix node of course was ethernet connected and set up as an LPD server. All prints from our CAD/GIS workstations are submitted to the printer but the real action happens on the Xenix machine where print data (PS, HPGL/2 or raw) are converted to CALCOMP standard format before sent to the printer via serial port.

I presume the "workstation" you are referring to is that Xenix node and that is in fact what's connected via ethernet? If not, then your Calcomp may probably be a later model one that has its own ethernet card and the workstation that died was the rasterizer/printserver and its communications with the printer is no longer via serial port but ethernet.

[MarkSyder]

To clarify:

the plotter has a built-in ethernet card (not JetDirect)

the terminal (rasterizer) the plotter is attached to via serial cable is still working

the plotter shows on servers/workstations as a remote printer which is attached to the HP-UX workstation that died on Friday

There are parallel and serial ports on the plotter but they are not in use.

Mark

[MarkSyder]

Devender,

I've changed directory to /etc/lp/interface then done "grep -i periph " but it doesn't come up with anything. I then did "grep -li periph *" in case there was something wrong with my syntax: the string PERIPH appears in only four files out of 33.

Further suggestions would be much appreciated.

Mark

[Devender Khatana]

Hi Mark,

These files must be the same with which name the printers are configured on those workstations. Are these HPUx/Unix workstation ? See lpstat -t etc on these, which might conclude to earlier config on these. The complete entry containing this line must have the IP on which that printer was configured.This should give you a idea how the printer was configured earlier. Otherwise a typical card in your plotter do not give any idea, how it was working/configured earlier. ( Atleast I have not deal with any such object).

Is not your workstation working at all ? You may try to get this rectified if possible. Old things do not often crash easily there may be some minor problem.

Just a thought.

HTH,
Devender

[MarkSyder]

Hi Devender.

The plotter shows on other servers/workstations as being remote. It specifically shows the name of the workstation that died on Friday.

The workstation was reporting a fault with a memory card. I reseated the card, but the fault persisted. It was not like any modern memory card I've fitted - I looked in vain for replacement cards on Google, so I think the WS is no more.

Mark

[Pete Randall]

Mark,

What model was the workstation? I've got some old memory SIMMs tucked away in a bottom drawer.


Pete

[MarkSyder]

Thanks Pete.

It's a 712/60 and the memory card has a label on it that says A2575-60001

Mark

[Pete Randall]

Ouch! I thought you said it was "old", not "ancient". Mine were for 715(s). Partsurfer still shows memory for the 712:

http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi/main?sel_flg=partlist&model=9000%2F712&HP_model=A4010A&modname=Computer+9000%2F712+%28A4010A%29&template=main&plist_sval=Memory+%28SIMM%29&plist_styp=subcat&dealer_id=&callingsite=&strsrch=&keysel=Memory+%28SIMM%29&catsel=%3F&pictype=I&picture=%3F&uniqpic



Pete

[Bill Hassell]

The Calcomp plotter is using it's own brand of LAN card. Like any other non-HP LAN card for printers/plotters, the card only supports the lpr protocol (RFC 1179), so in SAM terms, this plotter is a "remote printer". SAM uses the term "Network Printer" when it really means: HP JetDirect LAN cards only. You're going to need the Calcomp manual to make sure the plotter still has a working IP address (and set it if needed). Then you are going to need the plotter's internal name from the docs. This can be quite a struggle with some of the LAN cards I've seen.

In the remote printer/plotter setup, you need 3 pieces of information: the local queue name (perhaps calplot or something similar), the plotter's IP address (SAM will call this the "Remote System Name") and the plotter's internal name (SAM: "Remote Printer Name"). You can't guess at the plotter's internal name, it must match what the LAN card uses. In a typical print server, there may be several printers attached so when you define a new print queue, you have to specify the remote server printer by it's internal name. It might be prn or plot or lp or text, etc. This is hardcoded into the LAN card. The Calcomp website may be of some help if you've lost the original docs.

Once you've defined the remote printer, just print a very simple file to the plotter and it should work OK, no additional server required.

[Andrew Rutter]

hi mark,

the memory is still available for those workstations if you needed some from resellers.

and the 715 and 712 both use the same memory.

the A2575-60001 is actually half of a product (A2829A) 64mb 2x32mb simms, and can be picked up quite reasonably.

they need to installed in pairs, so if by chance you have more than 2 pairs you could swap them around and get the workstation up and running to get the config.

if you need info on some reliable resellers in the uk let me know.

andy

[MarkSyder]

OK, we're making progress (apart from the formatting of one of the posts - I must report that!).

I have an identical workstation - I took a memory chip out of it and put it in the original workstation - same error message, so it isn't memory chip after all.

I then took the hard disc out of the original workstation and put it in the other workstation.

lpstat -t shows the following for the printer:

remote to: raw on printer_name.domain

I've set it up identically on the server I want to use and tried sending a print. It's hung - it gives every appearance of printing, but it's not actually doing anything.

I'm going for dinner now - I deserve the rest! I hope to have stacks of answers (or even just one 10 point one!) on my return.

Mark

PS - Pete, yes this is real state of the ark equipment.

[Pete Randall]

Mark,

Was that a typo or did you really mean "state of the ark"?

;^)


Pete

[MarkSyder]

Pete - it was deliberate: a play on words as you'd remarked on the WS being ancient.

Mark

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
Does the plotter have an ordinary serial or parallell port ? If it has, you can configure it as an local printer/plotter on one of your servers/workstations and then add remote queues on the other workstations.

[MarkSyder]

Hi everybody.

It's working. We had an equally ancient workstation which was no longer in use. I took the hard disc out of the faulty one, put it in the working one, and messed with the network settings till I got it to connect.

The plotter is now working as it did before and I am going to check the settings in depth ready for when this happens again - as it assuredly will.

Mark