SUMMARY: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf and IIg

From: M. L. Cook (cook@lams.msd.lmsc.lockheed.com)
Date: Tue Mar 10 1992 - 18:07:30 CST


Thank to everyone who replied. I have included their responses.

My original question:
 
> I am having a similar problem with the Apple LaserWriter IIf, connected to a
> Sun 4/370 where an Apple LaserWriter II had been atached, that was posted
> earlier today but everthing works fine until I to use `enscript -2r` option.
> The printout is always missing the first 3 characters of the first column.
> I tried resetting the margins with setmargins an option under Sun
> Transcript 2.1.1 to no avail. I am inclined to believe that the software
> (enscript) is no longer compatible with the hardware changes on the new Apple
> LaserWriter IIf.

SUMMARY of CONSENSUS:

The Aplle LaserWriter IIf and IIg have a smaller printing area than the II, IINT and IINTX.
Therefore, add more memory to the printer 4MB or 8+MB. Michael Figueira pointed out that
5MB would not work.

Thanks to the following people:

Michael Figueria
Brent A. Wiese
Robert Evans
Paul
Ian MacPhedran
Datri
Keith Stone

I have included the responses from the above people:

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>From sane!genmri!figueira@crdgw1.ge.com Mon Mar 9 09:13:30 1992
Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

Mike,

We had the same problem, in our case it cut off the top, bottom, left
and right. It turns out that the LaserWriter IIf has a smaller
printing area in its default configuration. We have found (confirmed
by Apple) that adding extra memory to the LaserWriter allows it to
print to the same page area that the II-NT could. If you up the memory
to 4MB then you get the larger printing area. However, if you increase
it to 5MB then the PhotoGrade is enabled and you are back to the
smaller print area. You must then increase to at least 8MB to get the
larger print area. (Therefore 4MB or 8+MB is required).

The memory (4MB) is available from Fry's for about $130.

Michael Figueira figueira@nmri.ge.com
(510) 683-4447

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>From brent@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu Fri Mar 6 08:43:47 1992
Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

     It has to do with memory and the photo-grade capability. The simplest
solution is to upgrade the memory on the printer to 8MB. If you are interested
in other marginally acceptable solutions I can pass them along. They are
adding the "letter" operator to your postscript file or turn off the
photo-grade stuff.
     The following short postscript file will demonstrate this for you.
---------------- clippath.ps ------------------
%!PS-Adobe-1.0
%%Creator: brent
%%Title: Draw clipping path.
%%CreationDate: 12/19/91
clippath .8 setgray fill
clippath stroke
showpage
----------------------------------------

---------------- letter.ps ----------------
%!PS-Adobe-2.0
%%Creator: brent
%%Title: Draw clipping path.
%%CreationDate: 12/19/91
letter
clippath .8 setgray fill
clippath stroke
showpage
------------------------------------------

You should notice two things. First, the size of the grey area will be
different. Second, the size of the "dots" of the two will be different.
This implies the "letter" opeartor has turned off photo-grade and then
the allowable print area is greater. If this is true, then I would suggest
getting more memory to give it 8MB.

-- 
Brent A. Wiese			Unix & X Support
Systems Support Center		E-mail: brent@bcm.tmc.edu
Baylor College of Medicine	Voice:  (713) 798-5081
Houston, Texas			Fax:    (713) 798-6675

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>From Robert.Evans@computing-maths.cardiff.ac.uk Mon Mar 9 06:48:01 1992 Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

We've just upgraded to a IIg which I think is the same as a IIf but with an ethernet port. We've had a similar problem. According to the Owner's Guide, the printer defaults to A4 if it has an A4 cartridge but we found that the print didn't extend as far into the margin as it should.

Page 65 of the Guide says that "A US letter-size or A4-size page requires 5 megabytes of RAM to print in PhotoGrade;..."

Apple had supplied the printer with too little RAM. They are replacing the RAM with a large-enough amount at no cost, I believe. Get your dealer to contact them. We have two IIgs, one of which is now upgraded and it does solve the problem. -- Robert Evans Dept of Computing Maths, University of Wales College of Cardiff. Robert.Evans@cm.cf.ac.uk

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>From paul@crl.ucsd.edu Sat Mar 7 09:30:05 1992 Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

We recently had a similar problem to yours when we put a IIf in where a IInt had been. The problem was that the first couple of lines, and the left most chars were lopped off. The solution, believe it or not, was to add more memory. The IIf had 2MB originally, I think, and by expanding it to 4MB the problem went away. The problem showed itself when printing from the Macs, as well as the sun, but on the sun it only typically showed up when using straight lpr.

Paul

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>From macphed@dvinci.usask.ca Fri Mar 6 13:11:12 1992 Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

The Apple LaserWriter IIf (and IIg) have a smaller printing area than the II, IINT, etc. The consensus is that if you add more memory, the printing area will be the same for both printers.

Ian.

Ian MacPhedran, Engineering Computer Centre, University of Saskatchewan. 2B13 Engineering Building, U. of S. Campus, Saskatoon, Sask., CANADA S7N 0W0 macphed@dvinci.USask.CA macphedran@sask.USask.CA

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>From datri@lovecraft.convex.com Fri Mar 6 10:56:52 1992 Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

The lwIIf is a bizarre beast -- with the minimal default memory, it shrinks the imageable region. Slap more memory into it and it'll get bigger.

Strange but true.

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>From keith@odi.com Sat Mar 7 18:44:21 1992 Subject: Re: enscript and the Apple LaserWriter IIf

We just recently upgraded a LaserWriter IINT to a IIf. But we have it on a LocalTalk network, and use a Cayman GatorBox CS with GatorPrint software to queue the jobs. I'm not sure if there's a problem when we go over the net, as I don't think anybody's tried it. I'll give it a try at our place and let you know how it goes.

Of course, hooking a printer to a Sun serial port isn't equivalent to going over a gateway to a LocalTalk network. And admittedly, we don't normally print things in two columns. But it might still be nice to know.

Keith Stone MIS Manager Object Design, Inc. keith@odi.com



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