Someone at the office who is on the 3000 List recognized my description, and
sent a message around asking who had submitted it anonymously.  I hadn't
intended for it to be anonymous.  Apparently the EMAIL address and name
didn't make it to the 3000 List from the comp.sys.hp.mpe news group.

My basic response is:

   HP knows what's broken, for about a year now.  You should have two SR's
now, one recently from Expeditors International of Washington.  It isn't
high on HP's priority
list to fix it, according to the response center.  We just have to deal with
it.  Discussing it won't do anything but waste more time I don't need to be
spending on Operating
System problems.  It is preventing us from rolling forward on 5.5
installations in many locations.  What more needs to be said?

As I see it, I only have two options:
  1) Force all 110 offices to by stand alone printers for each form that
requires an Environment File so we can leave it as a spooled device.
  2) Teach our printer control system to read, decipher, and emulate TT file
functions when driving a printer hot.

Either way, experience tells me I can't hold my breath for HP to consider
whether, or when they will fix it.

Sorry if I seem a bit cynical.  HP does not have a great track record with
us over the last couple of years.  It's sad, but we have had to give up
entirely on trying to get a stable AllBase system out of HP.  Our major
relational database is now running in parallel on Oracle, and soon, AllBase
will be discarded.  It's pretty sad that Oracle on the 3000 is more stable
than HP's own product.

I have really come to appreciate the stability and reliability of the
HP3000's, but HP seems to be bent on destroying that.  I don't know what
else could or will be broken in Image.  That could be a proverbial straw.  I
would really like to have my faith restored, but at this point, it will take
a lot to do it.

Enough (or maybe more that enough) said.  I'll get off my soap box now.
-- Rick Ingham
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
M Gopalakrishnan wrote in message <[log in to unmask]>...
>Hi Rick,
>
>  We like to understand more about your env files problem. Please
>  provide your email address to us to discuss more on the problem.
>  (Your email id got dropped in the posting!).
>
>  Yes, you are right in saying that we have only one site reported
>  this problem and addl reports from other sites also would help us
>  to decide the priority.
>
>regards,
>
>Gopi
>CSY R&D India
>
>Rick Ingham wrote:
>> WE discovered, after updating a few of out 110+ systems from 5.0 to 5.5,
>> that environment files no longer work with hot printer devices.  We use
>> these hot devices extensively for printing forms through our own printer
>> control system for printing multiple forms on a given printer.
>>
>> HP claims they have only had one other complaint on the topic from about
a
>> year ago.  They don't plan to fix it any time soon.  Personally, I don't
>> feel like re-inventing printer drivers that should be, and was, an
operating
>> system function.
>>
>> If anyone else feels they would be adversely effected by this broken
>> feature, please make HP aware that more systems will be influenced.
>>
>> HP's track record over the last couple of years for responding to broken
>> parts of the operating system, Image, and Allbase has really damaged our
>> confidence in HP's ability to maintain stable operating and database
>> systems.
>>
>> End of rant.