Eero Laurila - HP CSY Networking lab, NS services, wrote among a lot of good
stuff:
>
>
>I felt that I need to respond to this as it is clear that Xon/Xoff works
>correctly on HP3000.  If that would not be the case, no serial printers
>could be used on HP3000's anywhere.  However, there are loads and loads
>of different printers from several manufacturers connected to hp3000's
>and as long as configurations match, they just work and work and work...
>no data overruns.
>
and  ....
 
>- The cases that I have seen where data overruns were taking place were
>  setups where an HP3000 (classic or RISC) was printing through a mux
>  network (or another type of network) that did not have any Xon/Xoff
>  handshaking and the serial port was sending data faster than the printer
>  could print.  In these cases the data was filling up network buffers
>  and by the time the Xoff was sent, it got to the hp3000 right away and
the
>  hp3000 stopped sending data, however, the network in between kept
emptying
>  it's buffers without slightest idea about Xoff and caused a printer to
>  overrun it's buffers and mess up the printing.  However, I would like to
>  stress that there is no reason to think that Xon/Xoff would not work on
>  HP3000 - it does.  If that is not the case, please contact the HP
response
>  center to find out what's wrong!
>
>
Well Eero, first let me thank you for your interest on this issue. I cheer
up when one vendor rep steps in to help. Next, let me detail the tests we
have done so far. I do not surrender easy, (I love problem solving) and if
you think there is any chance this might be set to work properly, I will
spend more time on it. But first let me point out that there is NO ONE on
this list that have been able to use the Intermec printer with the HP3000
spooler properly (we may be bounded to glory on this one and become heroes).
Furthermore, some VENDORS whose bread and butter is consulting on Bar Coding
solutions for the 3000 DO NOT use Intermec printers at all (although they
are cheaper and their business would benefit when bidding). One of them even
told me (and he has two 3000s) that no one has suceeded on this. Another
vendor offers multi brand solutions that include Intermec scanners and
workstations but no Intermec printers (subliminal message free). Everyone
that wants a 100% reliable solution with Intermec printers and the 3000 uses
either a Terminal or a PC slave printer setup.
 
Ok, maybe I was mislead technically on what the real problem is but THERE IS
A PROBLEM. And not a small one. We have a spanish saying: "Who will tie a
bell on the cat's tail?". I am willing but there is one BIG problem, who is
the CAT? The 3000? The DTC? the software? Intermec? So far, everyone is
shooting at the dark here.
 
We tested connecting the printer directly to a DTC port because we thought
that the data overruns could have something to do with our Ethernet LAN
hardware. The port is configured as type 18 and we verified through TTUTIL
that the profile has Xon/Xoff. Even checking with DTC manager the port
displays Xon/Xoff configured. We verified that pins 2 and 3 are working. We
checked the parity, the baud rate, and all the settings on the printer to
make sure that Xon/Xoff works. Moreover, if you test from a PC the printer
works fine even with many labels to print. So it is not the network, it is
not something non standard on the printer (or the PC would not work), it is
not the configuration(at least from what we can check). The same
configuration works with other printers. (By the way we even have a big
multi part EPSON).
 
My question is, is there something else to look for? Are we neglecting
something on the DTC ? It is not just me or our site. I got several replies
from other Intermec printer users. So, with your influence and direct access
to the proper channels, maybe you can assist us in trying to solve the
riddle. If necessary, I can issue the call and then give you the reference
number.
 
Best Regards,
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