Jeff Kell ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

[...]

: The differences are (if I'm wrong, Larry will correct me) that a
: traditional PENV file is a "special" entry in the spool file with
: the filename of the PENV file, while some others (Formation) trap
: the FOPEN and insert the raw PCL into the spool file itself.
: Formation does this; standard PENV files and TTYPE files are done
: with just the filename.

Consider yourself being corrected :-).  Inserting the filename into
the spool file is the way TTFILEs are processed, not PENV files.
PENV files are HP2680 environment files (or dual-environment,
Formation-generated files).  Their contents are interpreted and
written into the spool files using various FDEVICECONTROL intrinsic
calls.

A TTFILE environment file is intended for use in a serial printer
environment.  Only its name is copied into the spool file, as the data
portion of a single FDEVICECONTROL intrinsic call.  When the spooler
sees this particular FDEVICECONTROL record, it passes the file name to
lower-level serial-printer-specific system code which opens and processes
the file to the printer itself.

-Larry "MPE/iX Spoolers 'R' Us" Byler-