[WinMac] [S] Mac printing to HP LaserJet via NT

Matti Haveri(mhaveri[at]walli.uwasa.fi)
Wed, 18 Nov 1998 15:56:09 +0200

Recently I asked:

>I can't print from a mac to our Ethernetted HP LaserJet 5M via our NT
>server's spool.
>
>All I get is an error message [Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: ]. PC's
>can print OK through Ethernet and printing via mac's printer port is also
>OK.
>
>I've tried HP LaserJet 8.3.1 and LaserWriter 8.5.1. I've also telnetted to
>the LaserJet and set EtherTalk active but this didn't help either.

Here is the summary for my question. I still can't print via the NT spool
(I guess the NT's settings are still wrong or need a few Service Packs
more...) - printing directly to the HP is now OK, though. Thanks for all
who replied. I've condensed the replies together for easy reading:

The NT admin must define the printer queue as postscript; the HP printers
default to PCL I believe. The NT server may also need Services for
Macintosh (SFM) installed on it as well as the latest service pack 4 (SP4)
for bug fixes.

If you look in the properties of a printer on such a server and click on
the Print Processor button, you'll probably see 2 processor's listed,
Winprint and SFMPSPRT (get it? "Services For Macintosh PostScript
PRinTer"). Winprint has a number of Default Datatypes but SFMPSPRT only has
one, PSCRIPT1. I assume that stands for PostScript Level 1. So how do you
spool for Macs but let them use a printer's built-in PostScript processing?
Well, the Print Processor window has a 'Always spool RAW datatype'
checkbox. Maybe if that's checked it'll work.

The printer queues in NT, at least when in RAW mode, don't care whether
it's level 1/2/3 PostScript. That means your Mac can print to a level 1/2/3
PostScript printer through the NT queues. But what about non-PS printers?

There are many printers which don't have native drivers on the Mac. From
the early days, NT has included a PostScript rasterizer (MS bought the
TrueImage PS clone) but basically haven't improved it over the years. It's
stuck as a level 1, non color 300dpi max rasterizer. This rasterizer allows
Macs to print to non-PostScript printers. Before I understood the
limitations, I tried using an Epson Stylus Photo connected to the parallel
port on an NT box . Printing from FreeHand 5.5 through LaserWriter 8.
Results weren't encouraging, for a start it provoked BSOD a few times and
if output came out, it was useless.

Note that NT DOES support Postscript level 2 if you use the Adobe 5.0
driver for NT 4.0. We have found that it is best to use Adobe's postscript
driver for _all_ PostScript printers on both Win95 and NT.

Note also that Quark, Pagemaker, Freehand and other graphics and page
layout apps write their own postscript code so you have to be careful what
options you choose from within the applications (make sure you select the
right PPD from the app itself for example).

Another problem is where you eventually send the postscript code from, that
is, if you print from the mac but go through an NT spool (instead of
directly to the printer through Appletalk), you may encounter strange
things and postscript errors. This happens a lot when printing from Quark
with placed pictures, especially TIFFs. The problem is that a lot of print
servers (HP Jetdirect, etc) make assumptions on the code they receive
depending on the protocol that sent it. They see it coming SMB from an NT
workstation and assume that it is ASCII and was written from a PC and it
doesn't have the CTRL-D, etc (these are just examples, doesn't mean it
happens exactly like that). But the case is it was sent from a Mac and was
written in binary and Quark encodes postscript in a certain way (of course
adhering to Adobe's standards but deviating a little), etc, etc, so the
printer might get confused and spit out errors. Even if you leave the
default for the NT spool to RAW, you may get this behaviour sometimes
because the NT server is not touching the code but it is changing the
protocol that code travels in, it reaches the NT server in Appletalk
packages but then gets put into TCP/IP packages and sent to the printer...
Conclusion: Whenever possible, print directly to a printer using AppleTalk
from a Mac. (Another thing to try is changing the code to ASCII from within
Quark).

Maybe they should also check the security settings on the shared printer. I
believe for Macs to print they have to let the 'Everyone' Group 'Print'
since Macs don't have an authentication method that works with shared
printers (as far as I can tell).

If you really set EtherTalk active, then you should be able to see the
printer in the Chooser and print directly to it without going through the
NT server. You should use HP LaserJet Utility 3.2 for the purpose of
configuring the printer.

[Yes, of course (silly me!). I _had_ set Ethertalk active via Telnet (it is
also possible to configure it via printer's front panel) but I then tried
to print through NT's spool. After this reply I noticed that the LaserJet
appeared in the Chooser _also_ with its AppleTalk-name and now it prints OK
through Ethernet also!]

>What do I need to do to make only one printer name show up in the Chooser?

You could disable AppleTalk at the printer to prevent it from broadcasting
its service to the network, thus eliminating one of the Chooser entries.

However, it may be preferable to have Mac users print directly to the
printers rather than spooling to the NT server's queue, unless logging
printer usage is important or very large print jobs are typical.

Consider creating AppleTalk zones to distinguish where the print services
are coming from. For example, we use an "NT" zone for NT servers and print
queues, a "MAC" zone for AppleTalk print services and Mac file sharing, a
"NOVELL" zone for Netware servers and print queues, etc.

The shared printers established on your NT server can be in the NT zone,
and the AppleTalk print services which are broadcast from the printer's
JetDirect interface can be in the MAC zone. That way from the Chooser the
user can clearly tell whether they are setting up printing to an NT queue
or directly to the printer. Additionally, we also name the NT printers with
"NT" as a prefix at the server. Then there is no question whether a desktop
printer icon at a Mac client is pointing to a printer or to an NT queue.

On the NT server's Network control panel, select the Services tab and get
the properties of Services for Macintosh. From the General tab, set NT (for
example) as the default zone. I'm assuming you have a router or other
device where you will establish the zones. Be sure to list the MAC zone
first (on Cisco routers, anyway) if you want it to be the default zone for
all clients and printers. Otherwise use the HP LaserJet Utility to set
which zone a printer belongs to.

Another option to disable the broadcast of the AppleTalk name is to capture
the port for the printer at the NT server. This is only an option if you
set up the printer's port as an AppleTalk Printing Device. In that case,
highlight the port and click Configure; click the Help button for more
details. However, I've found more utility in just separating the printing
services by zones.

>I wonder what benefit I could have by printing via NT's spool?

The only benefit of printing through a NT print spool is for printers that
do not support EtherTalk or Postscript. For non-Postscript printers, an NT
with SFM installed will convert the Mac print job from Postscript to the
printer's language.

We only capture printers in lab situations. A lab full of only 25 Macs or
so tends to get confused when they ALL try printing to, say, a LJ 4000TN at
the same time. It doesn't do the printer any good either. So we capture the
printer and only allow the NT queue to appear in the Chooser. Works great.

 ...Conclusion: Avoid NT spooling and print directly to an Ethernetted
printer via EtherTalk.

--
Matti Haveri <mhaveri@walli.uwasa.fi>
<http://www.walli.uwasa.fi/~mhaveri/>






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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Wed Nov 18 1998 - 06:55:28 PST