Why does Altos UNIX V "lprint" print so S L O O O W?

[Bill Irwin]

ti at gumby.Altos.COM (Ti Kan) writes:

} In article <1143 at twg.bc.ca> bill at twg.bc.ca (Bill Irwin) writes:
} >[Followups to comp.unix.sysv386]
} >
} >Well, another exciting challenge has come my way.  I am
} >configuring an Okidata 391 aux printer off the serial printer
} >port of a Wyse 160 terminal connected to an Altos 1000 running
} >Altos UNIX V.

Correction.  I believe it is an Altos 5000...at least the model
is 5820.  The output of "uname -a" reports the OS is 3.2 2 i386.

} [...]
} >Altos has added an extension/enhancement to the lp spooling
} >system called "lprint", which is supposed to use the TERM setting
} >to look up the entry in /etc/termcap and find the start/stop
} >transparent printing codes to send to the terminal in order to
} >print the file.  This is all working (after turning on onlcr in

} Well, I think you are getting something confused here.  Printing on a
} printer connected to the AUX port of a terminal is known at Altos as
} "transparent printing", and it is supported under Altos System V

It is running Altos UNIX V 3.2 2, not System V 5.3.....

} version 5.3[bde] on the Altos System 1000.  But it is _not_ used via a
} command called "lprint".  In fact, I looked around my 1000 and found no
} such command.  The way such a printer is configured is via the

This command is in the docs I have for 3.2.

} "pconfig" utility, and the printer is given a name just as any other
} printers.  Jobs can be sent to this printer via normal "lp" or "lpr"
} commands.  Pconfig sets up the lp spooling system for the printer, but
} makes the output device a fifo rather than a device node.  A special
} transparent printing daemon process, xpd, is also set up to monitor the
} fifo, and make special ioctl() calls to the tty driver to send control
} codes to the terminal to switch to the AUX port when characters enter
} the fifo.

I am very familiar with the pconfig utility.  This system uses
sysadmsh.  We were told by an Altos support technician that the
xpd for this OS was not ready at the time of the release, but
should be ready by the end of this month.  This will allow
transparent printing to be spooled.  The lprint command (which is
also available through "man lprint") says that the aux port
on/off sequence is retrieved from the /etc/termcap entry for the
terminal.  It also says NOT to touch the keyboard while the job
is printing.  This appears to be a "cat" to the terminal port.

Without a specific process to set stty onlcr on the terminal
line, the entire print job prints on one line on the printer!

} When all is properly configured and functioning, transparent printing
} on the Altos 1000 should be quite speedy.  Maybe you got the "lprint"
} command from somewhere else and it is what's causing your problems?

Check your 3.2 documentation.

} -Ti
} --
} Ti Kan | vorsprung durch technik!                                       \\\
} Internet: ti at altos.com                                                   \\\
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} The opinions herein are not necessarily those of Altos.              ////////\
-- 
Bill Irwin    -       The Westrheim Group     -    Vancouver, BC, Canada
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