DCPS and unrecognized printers

[Bradford Hamilton]

Environment:
DCPS Version 2.5
OpenVMS Alpha V8.3
TCPware V5.7

In the DCPS Manager's manual:

"7.12 Printing on Unrecognized Printers
The DCPS software automatically obtains a printer’s product name before
printing jobs. It uses the product name to select and download device control
modules that are specific to the particular printer.
If you use the DCPS software with a printer whose product name it does
not recognize, the product name defaults to ‘‘HPGENERIC’’ if it is an HP
printer, and ‘‘UNRECOGNIZED’’ if it is not."

After installing DCPS, and setting up for an HP 2600n Color LaserJet (I know, not supported...)
a small ASCII text file is not printed, and the following error message appears in OPCOM:

"Queue BEAVER_PRINT: %DCPS-F-REQMODNOTFOUND, Required device control module LPS$$
INITPSDEVICE not found"

My understanding (from reading the above excerpt from the manual) is that DCPS should have downloaded and used the LPS$$HPGENERIC* modules, (or even LPS$$UNRECOGNIZED* modules) but does not seem to have done so.

Is there a way to "force" DCPS to use particular device control modules, or
am I SOL with this particular printer?

[Steven Schweda · Accepted solution]

I know nothing, but if the library does
contain the module which you want it to use,
and if you know the name which DCPS is trying
to use, can't you extract the desired module,
name the result as desired (by DCPS), and add
it (back) into the library under the name
DCPS is trying to use?

(As I recall, you need to stop the queue
before you can manipulate the library.)

[Bradford Hamilton]

Hi Steven,

Yes, I thought of that particular approach, and I will probably end up using it if no other better solutions come to light; however, (just as a fine point) I would create a custom library and a search list if I decide to go that route, so that if I upgrade to the latest version in the future, I will have retained that custom device module.

[Karl Rohwedder]

Hi,

the current version is V2.6-Eco3.
Pls. check, if your printer is now supported (SPD for V2.6 and the releasenotes for the Eco, the Eco supports some new printers).
I got the Eco from:
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/product_patches/hpdecprintsupervisor/dcps/openvms

Pls. note that V2,6-Eco3 contains a problem, when formatting A4 and using the NUMBER_UP qual (HP is informed about this).

regards Kalle

[Art Wiens]

A couple of things to look at:

Check what your DCPS_LIB logical points to. In my case it's a list of two, the first being the default:

"DCPS_LIB" = "DCPS$DEVCTL"
= "HPGENDEVCTL/DATA_TYPE=PCL"

Have a look at what modules are in the default library:

$ library/list sys$library:dcps$devctl.tlb

Directory of TEXT library SYS$COMMON:[SYSLIB]DCPS$DEVCTL.TLB;1 on 14-OCT-2007 11:16:25
Creation date: 10-OCT-2005 11:06:44 Creator: Librarian V09-27
Revision date: 10-OCT-2005 11:08:37 Library format: 3.0
Number of modules: 378 Max. key length: 39

There's lots(!) but my v2.5 also doesn't have that module in it.

There are many logicals that can be setup. Have a read through:

(Suddenly OpenVMS documentation site isn't available for me to get you a handy link for the DCPS manual! Sorry)

Anyways, the manual is pretty good. And the samples in the startup command procedure(s) help as well. Have a look at the various sys$startup:dcps$*.com 's for clues.

Cheers,
Art

[Bradford Hamilton]

Hi Art,

You're absolutely right - the V2.5 library does not contain the modules I "need"; hence, the question.

[Bradford Hamilton]

Hi Karl/Kalle?

At this time, I am "stuck" with V2.5. I did download the V2.6 ECO, and extracted the DEVCTL library. I found an entry for "HPCLJ2605*". My printer is a 2600n, but I said, "What the heck...". I copied the DEVCTL library to my SYS$LOGIN:, modified DCPS_LIB to be a logical search list, (pointing to sys$library and the 2.6 version in my home directory) stopped, reset, and deleted the execution queue, stopped the symbiont, made the proper modification in DSCP$STARTUP, and restarted DCPS.

In short, still no luck - DCPS does not seem to recognize the printer as either HPCLJ2605, HPGENERIC, or UNDEFINED, and I received the same error message as before. I guess I'm going to try Steven's suggestion, if no other work-arounds show up, but I'm not even sure his suggestion will work.

I'll report back after I try this last method...

[Bradford Hamilton]

Hi All,

I attempted to "fool" DCPS by cloning the HPGENERIC device control module as LPS$$INITPSDEVICE; the printer still does not print, but stalls instead.

So I guess my question now becomes, "Is there any way to force DCPS to recognize my printer?"

Or will I have to resort to the "dreaded" LPD?
:-)

[Karl Rohwedder]

We have some printers, which only work when connected via DCPS/LPD, Rawtcp does not work.
When using LPD I think, a logical name DCPS$...PRINTER_NAME must be defined.

regards Kalle

[Art Wiens]

Try defining:

"DCPS$queuename_NO_SYNC" [exec] = "TRUE" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)

The manual and release notes offer more info on queues that stall.

I guess the other question I would have is does your HP2600 support PostScript? If not you should setup PCL type default with another logical:

"DCPS$queuename_PARAMETER" [exec] = "page_orient=landscape,data_type=PCL" (LNM$SYSTEM_TABLE)

Cheers,
Art

[Bradford Hamilton]

Hi Art,

Yes, NO_SYNC was already defined. :-)

Your other suggestion intrigues me; my reading of the manual indicated that it was not necessary to set up PCL as a data type, that DCPS would "drop" to PCL mode if PS was not detected.

I'll give it a try.

[Bradford Hamilton]

After trying Art's suggestion regarding forcing PCL, (sorry-didn't work!) I decided to check the HP website for 2600n specs. No PS or PCL support for this printer (duh!). My apologies for wasting folks' time...

[Art Wiens]

The "official position":

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&prodSeriesId=446153&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=446153&objectID=c00296495

An HP printer that doesn't support PCL ... heresy!!

Cheers,
Art