I have spent the last month working on Windows print driver issues. Pity me.
I realize that this posting is not completely appropriate for the LPRng list, but I'm not sure where else to post it. It's really only interesting to people who manage enterprise print servers in challenging environments (can you spell "universities"?). Any (constructive) suggestions on proper forum welcome. And if Patrick thinks I should stop posting this stuff to LPRng, I will certainly comply. That said, here is my latest adventure: OS: Windows 98 (but I have seen this with W2K also) Driver: Adobe Universal PostScript Windows Driver Installer 1.0.5 (for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, and 2000) - English Driver URL: http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/printerdrivers/win/1.x/winsteng.exe PPD File: LOPS1855.PPD from http://drivers.lexmark.com/drivers.nsf/printer+driver/94D6D70D3F5D14F2852560F40045B48C/$FILE/MPADO_AE.EXE Document: Microsoft Word - any document ("Hello World" on a new page) Symptom: Takes a very long time to print. Printer alternates between spinning wheels and stopping for several cycles, then prints document correctly. Analysis: The print driver is actually creating two print jobs - one containing only preamble data and no page data, the other OK. The empty job confuses the printer until it times out. The two jobs can be easily verified by setting the Windows printer to "Use Printer Offline". Two jobs show up in the queue. Additional data: Using the default "Generic PostScript Printer" PPD file in the Adobe installation package causes the document to print properly. Conclusion: Something in the Lexmark PPD file is causing the printing delay. In other words, the PPD files on the Lexmark Web site, labeled "PPD files for Adobe Systems driver", do not work as advertised. Note: This problem does not occur when printing from Netscape or Adobe Acrobat Reader. Lexmark is escalating this problem. Hope springs eternal. -Rick -- |Rick Cochran phone: 607-255-7618| |Cornell CIT - Systems & Operations - Net-Print FAX: 607-255-8521| |730 Rhodes Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- YOU MUST BE A LIST MEMBER IN ORDER TO POST TO THE LPRNG MAILING LIST The address you post from MUST be your subscription address If you need help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (or lprng-requests or lprng-digest-requests) with the word 'help' in the body. For the impatient, to subscribe to a list with name LIST, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with: | example: subscribe LIST <mailaddr> | subscribe lprng-digest [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe LIST <mailaddr> | unsubscribe lprng [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have major problems, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word LPRNGLIST in the SUBJECT line. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
