At 4/10/99 07:29 PM +0100, Watcher aka Ray wrote:
>                                      I am sure we can connect to the HP
>from any PC, running Reflections, over TCP/IP?

Absolutely.  Reflection ( http://www.wrq.com/products/refprod.htm ), MS92 (
http://www.minisoft.com/ms92/ms_92.htm ) and QCterm (
http://www.aics-research.com/emulate.html ) all support TCP/IP connections to
MPE, though in Reflection's case what kind will depend on which flavor of
Reflection you buy.

Telnet is the cross-platform TCP/IP solution for this sort of thing and is
supported by all three.  Note that QCterm (which happens to be free) takes
advantage of recent HP enhancements to telnet (which aren't yet in general
release though apparently they can be acquired if needed) which makes telnet
seemingly as efficient as the traditional TCP/IP termulator connection protocol
on MPE which is called VT (for "Virtual Terminal").  VT is supported by MS92
(sometimes called WS92 for some reason that I don't pretend to grasp) and by
some flavors of Reflection.

Telnet and VT services are both included in MPE 5.5 and later and both have to
be configured and enabled on the system after each boot, often automatically
via <SYSSTART.PUB.SYS>.  Telnet runs under INETD which is found in NET.SYS and
VT runs as part of NS ("Network Services").

>                            Now my question, is it possible to connect the
>HP to network printers in various departments and let the users print their
>own reports( on a schedule set up by the system administrator)?.

MPE now directly supports printing to LaserJet printers via HP JetDirect TCP/IP
interfaces using "Network Printing" as explained in chapter 3 of recent
editions of the "Native Mode Spooler Reference Manual" which can viewed online
at http://www.docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/doc3k/B3265090848.16170/14 (Anyone know if
these URLs are portable?)  MPE's bundled network printing only claims to
support HP LaserJets via HP JetDirect interfaces.  If using some other
combination of printer or interface, in particular lpd/lpr protocol, various
third party software solutions have provided such for years and are still
available.
--
Jeff Woods
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