Topic: A Tale of Two Macs

[Michael Smith]

Both new iBooks.  Both running OS X Jaguar.  Both printing via instructions at http://www.linuxprinting.org/macosx to HP Laserjets shared from SME servers.  One prints, the other will not.  The one that prints:  SME is 5.1.2.  Shared printer appears in Appletalk zone when browsing for printer.  The one that does not:  SME 5.5.   Shared printer does not appear.  No additional netatalk updates have been made to either machine but both have all appropriate system & security updates.

I've tried IP printing ... printer reports "stopped" and goes no further.  I've tried fiddling with printer description to make sure strange characters aren't in description ... nope.  Would someone please point me in the right direction?  I'll happily dig in!

Thanks,
Michael Smith

[Robert]

There's a length restriction for the papd printer name. The printer description, which is used as the papd printer name, cannot exceed 31 characters. If that is the problem, it should show up in /var/log/messages.

[Michael Smith]

That's not it ... "HP Laserjet IIID".  *sigh*  The logs didn't give me any indication that anything appletalk related was wrong ... and the iBook *does* have access to files in ibays!  Thanks for taking the time to think about it, though.

[Jon Blakely]

Have you checked out the bug section. Could this be your problem.

In SME Server 5.1.2 the SMB and Appletalk server share names were based on the windows workgroup name. In SME Server 5.5 the atalk property "ServerName" specifies the Appletalk name, but this property is not inherited properly from the windows workgroup name set in previous versions. After an upgrade to 5.5 the Appletalk name changes from the windows workgroup name to the system name.
Workaround: In a root shell, set the atalk ServerName property:
   #  /sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop atalk ServerName desired_Appletalk_name
   #  /sbin/e-smith/signal-event console-save

 
Jon

[Robert]

Does the printer show up when you run 'nbplkup'?

[Michael Smith]

Haven't had a chance to check those out ... machine not immediately available, but will report.  Thanks for replying.

[Michael Smith]

upgrade to 5.6u4 on the 5.5 machine fixed this problem.  Thanks to all who replied.