Precedence Network Computer and NetManager
Printing

1. How do I get my NC to print over LanManFS to an NT server?

   • Look in the !NFSBoot.Desktop file. You will see three lines commented out that look like this:

     |RMEnsure OmniClient 0.00 RMLoad <Login$Dir>.Modules.OmniClient
     |Set LanMan$NameServer  -->Set-Me-Correctly<--
     |RMEnsure LanManFS 0.00 RMLoad <Login$Dir>.Modules.LanManFS -i
     

     Uncomment these lines and alter the LanMan$NameServer line to contain the IP address of the domain controller (probably just the NT servers IP address itself). e.g.

     RMEnsure OmniClient 0.00 RMLoad <Login$Dir>.Modules.OmniClient
     Set LanMan$NameServer 192.168.100.5
     RMEnsure LanManFS 0.00 RMLoad <Login$Dir>.Modules.LanManFS -i
     

   • When the NCs are rebooted, they will load LanManFS and the OmniClient module (required for OmniPrint).
   • Set up !Printers (run !Printers when logged in as ncadmin) to print to a file. Set the filename to

     OmniPrint#LanMan;<server name>;<printer sharename>:

     You may need to specify a user name and password which can be specified after the printer sharename e.g. if the server is called MYSERVER, the printer is shared as laserjet and it should be accessed with the username print and password print, use the following filename:

     OmniPrint#LanMan;MYSERVER;laserjet;print;print:

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2. How do I speed up printing to the NetManager from the NCs

   This is pretty simple and is very similar to printing to an NT server. Firstly, configure the printers on your server and test that you can print over NFS.

   Follow the instructions above for printing to an NT server and set the file name to be:

   OmniPrint#LanMan;MYSERVER;<printer name>;nobody:

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3. When printing over NFS, my HP laser printer with JetDirect card always prints an extra page containing details about the print job

   When a Unix print job is submitted by NFS, it asks for a banner page by default, which is passed along the line through the LaserJet. There should be an option to switch off the banner page on the printer (e.g. on the HP 4000 with a new JetDirect card, you can telnet in and type banner: 0). However, some older versions of the JetDirect card do not have this option and you will then need to do a small amount of tweaking at the server to create an aliased printer which forces the banner off:
   • Log in as root
   • Type joe /etc/pcnfsd.conf
   • Add a line of the format:

     printer <alias name> <real name> lpr -h -P <real name> $FILE

     For example, if your printer is defined as laserjet in /etc/printcap and you want to define an alias called ljfixed which will not print a header you should use the following line:

     printer ljfixed laserjet lpr -h -P laserjet $FILE

   • Type Ctrl-K followed by X to save the file
   • You can then reboot the computer or alternatively:
     • Type ps ax | egrep pcnfsd
     • Look for a line that looks like:

       257 ?? IW     0:00.15 /usr/sbin/rpc.pcnfsd

     • Type kill followed by the number in first column (e.g. kill 257
     • Type /usr/sbin/rpc.pcnfsd
   • Set up !Printers to print to the new alias rather than the original printer
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4. How do I get printer icons on the iconbar to switch between a number of printers?

   Apply all the hotfixes and use !Printroom to configure this. Instructions are included with !PrintRoom.

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5. I get the error "Printer '<Printer-Name>' not installed - no definition data for it" when installing multiple printer configurations

   N.B. If you have applied the latest hotfixes, then this should be configured with the !PrintRoom program (which includes full instructions). You may ignore the rest of this answer

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   This is because your default printer configuration does not have the printers installed for all the other configurations. Each configuration should have all the available printers installed, but with the printers not required for a particular configuration made inactive. You will need to apply hotfix 23 otherwise you will get an abort when the pointer goes over the Printers iconbar icon when all printers are inactive. A case study is given below (N.B. Attaching separate printers to each NC is not recommended behaviour. It is much better to use printers with a JetDirect or other such devices):

   Situation

   11 NCs located all round a school. There are 6 printers; 4 Canon BJC4100 and 2 HP 690C. These printers are directly attached to the parallel ports of 6 of the NCs. The NCs with Canon BJC4100 printers attached are xnc11, xnc12, xnc15 and xnc17. The NCs with HP 690C printers attached are xnc14 and xnc21.

   Solution

   1. Apply hotfix 23
   2. Clear out all xnc entries in !NFSBoot.Custom
   3. Boot an NC up again and log in as ncadmin
   4. Load up the printer drivers
   5. Load up both the BJC4100 and HP690C drivers and set the connections to parallel. Set the configuration for the drivers as required (e.g. resolution, etc.).
   6. Open up the boot sequence and open Apps.!Printers as a directory viewer
   7. Create directories in !Printers called bjc4100 and hp690c
   8. Make the BJC4100 inactive and make sure that the HP690C icon is highlighted. Choose Save Choices from the !Printers menu
   9. Copy the Settings files from !Printers into the hp690c subdirectory
   10. Make the HP960C inactive and the BJC4100 active. Make sure that the BJC4100 icon is highlighted. Choose Save Choices from the !Printers menu
   11. Copy the Settings files from !Printers into the bjc4100 subdirectory
   12. Make both the BJC4100 and HP690C inactive. Choose Save Choices from the !Printers menu
   13. Select the whole of the contents of !Printers and set the access permissions to be Locked No, Owner Read Yes, Owner Write Yes, Public Read Yes, Public Write No.

       !Printers is now configured. By default, no printers will be active

   14. Open the !NFSBoot.Custom directory
   15. Copy the AllNCs directory as xnc14 in the Custom directory
   16. Edit xnc14.!Run so that it contains only the line:

       Set NCPrinter$Name hp690c

   17. Copy the xnc14 directory as xnc21
   18. Copy the xnc14 directory as xnc11
   19. Edit xnc11.!Run so that it contains only the line:

       Set NCPrinter$Name bjc4100

   20. Copy the xnc11 directory as xnc12
   21. Copy the xnc11 directory as xnc15
   22. Copy the xnc11 directory as xnc17
   23. Select the whole of the contents of Custom and set the access permissions to be Locked No, Owner Read Yes, Owner Write Yes, Public Read Yes, Public Write No.

       The Custom directories are now configured, as any NCs not listed will have inactive printers

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6. Printing seems to have got stuck and jobs are building up in the queue.

   From the printer administration pages, choose Show printer status. It will then say one of a number of things:
   • If it says "waiting for xxxx to come up", this means that the printer is attached to the network via a printer sharer (e.g. a JetDirect) and that it is not talking to the network properly. This could well be due to a loose network cable, settings being lost on the printer sharer or the printer being switched off.
   • If it says "Offline", this means the printer is plugged into the server, but is switched off or has a faulty parallel cable.
   • If it says "Sending to xxx", but nothing is coming out and the number of jobs is staying the same, go to a command line as root on the server and type:

     lpc restart all

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