----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas M. Root" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Network printing pauses


> On Fri, 1 Mar 2002 12:14:22 -0800, David Powell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >Just put in a new P5000LJ 1000Q line printer, and there is a pause of
> >several seconds before it prints each file.  Everything else seems to
work.
> >No spooler error messages.  Any ideas?
>
> As I understand it, there is a deliberate between files to let other hosts
> access the printer.  I haven't seen anything that allows configuring the
> length of this pause.
>
> >From the _Native Mode Spooler Reference Manual_:
> "The network spooler process releases the connection to the printer after
> each copy of each file, thus allowing other hosts a chance to access the
> printer."
>
> HTH
>
> Tom
>
> Desert Schools Federal Credit Union
> Phoenix, AZ

([log in to unmask] replies....)
If this is true, it is a disaster.  When I send it a series of one-page
spool files, it spends about 3 times longer pausing than printing.  There is
also a suspicious pause before the first file starts to print, so I think it
is a 'pause before' not 'pause after', for what that is worth.

I suspect that it is the printer, not the MPE spooler.  I have several
networked lasers (5n, 4050, 4100, etc) that do not have any such pause.
When I send an identical series of one-page spool files to a 4050N (NOTHING
changed in the test job except the devices in the file equations), printing
starts faster and proceeds at the full speed of the printer, as if I had
sent it one big file instead of sevaral little onces.

Have been experimenting with NPCONFIG, setup file escape-sequences, and the
printer's own configuration, w/o any success.  Am willing to consider almost
anything, including switching to using the serial port (not tested yet), or
trying to return the printer (no idea what to get instead).  If it is in
fact a deliberate pause to give other hosts a change, I wouldn't mind
disabling it, since the printer will belong completely to just one HP3000.

This is a BIG DEAL to us.  We print enough small files so we would be better
of with our ageing 2564b.  The problem comes when our new A500 (on order)
comes and our 937lx goes away, and the HP-IB 2564b printer won't work any
more.  HELP!!

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