Solution to GatorPrint crash problem (AIX3.1.3002)

[Tim Fredrick]

For those of you who want to use GatorPrint to print PostScript files from
an IBM Risc-System 6000 (AIX3.1.3002), using "rembak" without the "-N" option
for "Non AIX support" causes the GatorBox to crash horribly with no
indication what happened, loosing the entire LocalTalk network.

I sent these instructions to Cayman and am relaying them here in case anyone
else is has a similar configuration:

The default for the program "rembak" on the Risc System 6000 is
to send a modified lpd packet across the network when printing to a remote
printer.  However, with the "-N" option, it tries to send BSD standard
lpd packets.  So, the steps for an AIX3.1 system to use gatorprint are as
follows:

    1)  Suppose we have a printer called "acdps2s" on a Gatorbox known
        as gator2.acd.ucar.edu.  We want to set up printing to that
        printer from an AIX3.1 system through gator2.  In GatorKeeper the
        printer was configured to accept raw PostScript (although I
        imagine configuring it to translate text files into postscript
        isn't any problem).

    2)  Take down any printer known as "acdps2s" on the AIX system.
        The command is "disable acdps2s", executed as root.

    3)  Edit your /etc/qconfig file and make sure the queue entries look
        something like this:

        acdps2s:
                host = gator2.acd.ucar.edu
                up = TRUE
                s_statfilter = /usr/lpd/bsdshort
                l_statfilter = /usr/lpd/bsdlong
                rq = acdps2s
                device = drp2s
        drp2s:
                backend = /usr/lpd/rembak -N

    4)  There are man pages to rembak and to qconfig if you're interested
        in knowing what you're doing at this point.

    5)  Now, enter "enable acdps2s" to start up the queue.

    6)  Try it out.  I have a utility called "psprint" which you can get
        via anonymous ftp from acd.ucar.edu (128.117.32.1).

Ultimately it would be good if the GatorBox could respond in some other way
than crashing if it receives what it believes are bogus lpd packets.

Good Luck.

-- Tim --


Tim Fredrick             National Center for Atmospheric Research
                         Atmospheric Chemistry Division
fredrick at ncar.ucar.edu   PO Box 3000
fredrick at ncar.CSNET      Boulder, CO 80307