Topic: SME 5.1.2 & DOS Client printing

[Bob Jenner]

I have an SME box running 5.1.2. I have clients that are Windows 95, 98 & ME.
There are three printers shared through the SME server on JetDirect print servers.
Windows apps print fine. Printing starts almost immediatly.
Dos apps print VERY slow (it may take 5 minutes before it will start to print)
Can anyone advise on how to speed up printing from a DOS session?
Also, I get incorrect page breaks and or blank pages when it does print.
I am using a simple generic text print driver, and printing to large dot matrix printers.

ANY help would be very much appreciated!!.

Thanks,

Bob

[Ray Mitchell]

Dear Bob
I'm not sure about sme server implications here but in relation to Windows:

You might like to experiment with printer settings
eg Start/Settings/Printers/select printer/File/Properties/Details/Spool settings
change to Start printing after first page is spooled.

You might also need/want to capture a printer port
eg print to port LPT1: (\server\dotmatrix)

I would think it better to load the correct windows drivers for your printers rather than using the generic ones !

Also a thought, how much memory is in your printers and are you sending "big" jobs to them. What happened previously, ie is this a new problem ??

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Bob Jenner]

Ray,
Thank you for your post.
As mentioned, printing from Windows is fine.
I have captured a printer port and, from DOS am printing to that port.
It also seems that if I exit out of the DOS program, it starts printing.

I tried using the generic drivers in case there was something (some escape code ??) that was causing the DOS problems.

It does not seem to mater the size of the print job. If it's a 150 page report or just a single page, the wait is the same.

Thanks Again anyway ...

Bob

[Boris]

I've seen the same problem on e-smith 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 a while ago. Its not only SME 5.1.2 specific. Never could find the solution at that time.

[Kelvin]

Hi Bob,

This is a very old and well known Microsoft Issue. It's been some years since I needed to address this. The relevant Article on MS Knowledgebase is Q140036. A short excerpt follows :-

CAUSE
This problem can occur if the MS-DOS-based program does not close the printer port. By default, Windows 95 waits 45 seconds after the program stops sending information before printing the document.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, add the following lines to the appropriate sections of the System.ini file, and then restart your computer:

   [Network]
   PrintBufTime=10

   [IFSMGR]
   PrintBufTime=10
NOTE : If the [Network] or [IFSMGR] sections do not exist in the System.ini file, add the sections after the [386Enh] section of the file.

These settings are in seconds. The lower the value you use, the sooner the document is printed. If you do not receive any printout, or documents are printed over multiple pages, the settings may be too low. Increase the settings until documents are printed correctly.



MORE INFORMATION
The entry in the [Network] section controls the network printing timeout using the real-mode redirector (outside of Windows 95). The entry in the [IFSMGR] section controls the network printing timeout using the protected- mode redirector (within Windows 95). By default, this value is set to 45 seconds.

Note that these settings may affect local as well as network printing.

Hope this helps !

Kelvin