I have two questions both concern printing from an iSeries 820 V5R2 to a network ASCII printer attached to a Windows print server.

First, we are trying to print a legal size document and the printer is not requesting legal size paper. If legal size paper is loaded, it still prints a letter size image only. Can this be done? If so what is the configuration needed? Secondly, is there any way to configure the printer so a print page range can be printed?

Regarding your first question, we need to establish some basics first. Is the printer defined on the iSeries as a regular print device? In other words, you aren't trying to reference it via a Client Access printer session. The fact that the printer is used by a Windows Print Server should not really be relevant -- Windows and the iSeries can share a printer. On the iSeries you want to define the printer & outqueue -- the printer would be *LAN attached with an IP address. In most cases you would use Port 9100, but the proper port will vary depending on the type of ASCII printer. I'd suggest you reference the IBM eServer references.

If printing to an ASCII printer, then you should use Host Print Transform (HPT). The best starting point for the configuration for your particular printer can be found here.

As far as printing to legal sized paper with a 'request' for the paper, that can get tricky with ASCII printers. You want to make sure that the device description accurately reflects the paper in each printer drawer. If the printer description thinks it only has letter sized paper, then you are likely to encounter problems. You will want to check your device description:

 
                                                                                
 Word length  . . . . . . . . . .   8             *SAME, *TYPE, 7, 8            
 Type of parity . . . . . . . . .   *NONE         *SAME, *TYPE, *EVEN, *ODD...  
 Stop bits  . . . . . . . . . . .   1             *SAME, *TYPE, 1, 2            
 Host print transform . . . . . .   *YES          *SAME, *NO, *YES              
 Manufacturer type and model  . .   *HP5SI                                      
 Paper source 1 . . . . . . . . .   *LETTER       *SAME, *MFRTYPMDL, *LETTER... 
 Paper source 2 . . . . . . . . .   *LETTER       *SAME, *MFRTYPMDL, *LETTER... 
 Envelope source  . . . . . . . .   *NUMBER10     *SAME, *MFRTYPMDL...          
 ASCII code page 899 support  . .   *NO           *SAME, *NO, *YES              
 Image configuration  . . . . . .   *NONE         *SAME, *NONE, *IMGA01...      
 Character identifier:
Regarding your second question, page range support should work fine with an ASCII printer, assuming that you get the above issues resolved first. The only caveat is that if you are using HPT with overlays and/or *FORMDF/*PAGDFN, then page ranges only work beginning from page 1. If you start printing after page 1, then any of your AFP functionality will be lost. This is because PSF/400 stores the AFP information in front of page 1.

This was first published in July 2005

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