RE: [WinMac] NT/Mac print problems

Dan Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Mon, 17 Aug 1998 10:28:31 -0400

        Dear Laura and Tom:

        This issue comes up all the time, and is addressed in Microsoft's Knowledge
base as article I.D. Q158903. It was also mostly discussed in a Q&A in the
8/3/98 issue of MacWeek (the last issue) on page 20 in John Rizzo's
"Backpanel" column, for QuarkXPress users.

        In any case, you need to set up the LaserWriter print dialog boxes to send
the job as ASCII, instead of a binary dump which is the default. You'll need
to set each LaserWriter Chooser Extension and/or AdobePS Extension, since
they each have separate preferences.

        Also, be careful of embedded graphics: This is where TBCP (Tagged Binary
Core Protocol#) can get tripped up. As it turns out, the PostScript
interpreter in your printers is expecting ASCII because it is coming from
Windows, and not from a Mac where the default protocol is AppleTalk and
binary. **This is also probably where Laura's "explanation" derived from:
Large files would have placed graphics in them, and are probably not ASCII
encoded properly, causing the garbage to be printed.**

        Another solution, for smaller shops, is to bypass the NT Spooler and print
to the PostScript printer directly. You will then see two versions of the
printer in the Chooser: One for the direct connection with the actual
embedded printer name, and one for the spooler with the name as assigned in
NT. They will also have different Icons in the Chooser.

# Note: John Rizzo called this "Tagged Binary Code Protocol" in his article.

 -----------

        From Microsoft's Knowledge Base:

Garbled Output from Macintosh to Shared PostScript Printer
Last reviewed: October 20, 1997
Article ID: Q158903
  
  

The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0

SYMPTOMS
Print jobs from Macintosh clients may be printed incorrectly, often
producing multiple PostScript error pages. The problem seems to happen only
with complex print jobs that contain graphics.

CAUSE
This behavior occurs when the AppleTalk protocol is not used to connect to
the printer. This is because there are two predominant binary encoding
schemes, "standard protocol" and "Tagged Binary Core Protocol" (TBCP).
PostScript originally supported several text encoding schemes, plus
"standard protocol" binary. Other languages originally supported one or more
text encoding schemes, plus TBCP. Standard protocol and TBCP are mutually
incompatible; neither is a subset nor an extension of the other.

AppleTalk was designed to support PostScript printing, and although
AppleTalk's Printer Access Protocol (PAP) can transmit TBCP on the wire,
nearly every binary print job over PAP is PostScript using standard protocol
encoding. As a result, many print devices assume that all binary data that
arrives over AppleTalk is encoded with standard protocol.

Similarly, PC-based network printing protocols, such as DLC and LPR, were
designed to support PC clients. When those clients send PostScript jobs,
data is almost always encoded as text; when those clients send non-
PostScript jobs, binary data is almost always encoded as TBCP. As a result,
many print devices assume that all binary data over non- AppleTalk protocols
is TBCP-encoded, even though the network protocols can correctly transmit
standard-protocol-encoded data.

The Windows NT printing architecture lets you receive a print job, in any
language, from any client, with any encoding scheme, and send that job over
any available protocol to any network-attached print device. This
flexibility lets Windows NT deliver Macintosh print jobs over an LPT port
connection (both DLC and LPR). It also lets Windows NT deliver PC print jobs
over AppleTalk. If this violates the print device's binary encoding
assumptions, you receive incorrect output.

A Windows NT print server can receive PostScript jobs from Macintosh clients
with binary data encoded in the standard protocol scheme. It can send those
jobs over an LPT port connection (either DLC or LPR) to a network or locally
attached print device that assumes all DLC, LPT port, or LPR jobs use TBCP
encoding. In this case, jobs will be printed incorrectly.

RESOLUTION

        1. Use AppleTalk to connect to the printer.

        2. When you create PostScript print jobs (on any platform) that might be
printed over a network, use "ASCII" or "text" encoding rather than binary
encoding. This is an option in the PostScript driver made by Adobe
Corporation for 16-bit Windows and Macintosh clients. The Windows NT
PostScript driver always uses text encoding. Desktop publishing programs (on
any platform) often generate their own PostScript code, completely
independent of the operating system's driver. According to the Adobe Serial
and Parallel Communications Protocols Specification, programs capable of
both binary and text encoding should provide a user interface to select
either scheme. The ability to switch modes can usually be found in the
Printer Driver dialog box.

MORE INFORMATION
The third-party product discussed in this article is manufactured by a
vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
regarding this product's performance or reliability.
  
 -------------

        Cheers!
        Dan Schwartz

At 08:42 AM 8/17/98 -0400, Tom Roth replied to Laura Bryson:

>>From: "Bryson, Laura" <bryson@osn.state.oh.us>
>>I have a very similar problem with our Macs. We have Macs and NT
>>Workstations on an NT network, plus LaserWriter 8500 and HP LaserJet
>>printers. If the Macs use the NT print queues to print large postscript
>>jobs or graphics or PageMaker documents, then the printer spits out
>>postscript error messages. However, all of our printers are connected
>>to the network using Rj45 cables (and HP JetDirect cards for the HPs),
>>and the printers are setup using Appletalk and TCP/IP so the Macs can
>>print these print jobs thru Appletalk to the printers just fine.
>>
>>The explanation that I was given as to the nature of the problem was
>>that NT's Services for Macintosh could not handle large postscript jobs.
>>If anyone else knows why or another way around the problem, or some way
>>to fix it, that would be great news!
>
>I've never encounter such a problem and we print very large postscript
>files (sometimes 100MB or more!) from our Macs through our NT Server's
>print queues and onto LaserWriters 16/600, Pro 630 & 8500 as well as an HP
>DesignJet 2500. Whoever told you that probably doesn't like Macs.
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> Tom Roth Wake Forest University School of Medicine
> tomroth@wfubmc.edu Dept of Biomedical Communications
> Tel 336.716.4493 Medical Center Blvd
> Fax 336.716.2808 Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1011
> ______________________________________________________________________
>

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