Chapter 7 - Using Printers on the Network
A VINES network lets you share different types of printers with many users. This chapter provides an overview of VINES print services and introduces you to some of the concepts involved in printing in a network environment.
A network printer is a printer many users can share. A VINES print service lets users share a network printer by queuing up and tracking all print requests and spooling the print jobs to each network printer. Each network printer is associated with a StreetTalk print service that handles all print requests on a first in, first out basis.
Choosing among network printers can be done simply and without leaving your Macintosh. You don' t have to switch any cables.
The network printer you use depends on the print service you select through the Chooser desk accessory.
Figure 7-1 shows the route of a print job, from workstation to printer:
This is how network printing works:
1. From the Chooser, select the print service you want to use.
2. From an application, issue the request to print a job.
3. Your print job is sent from your Macintosh to the server. At the server, the job is queued, or placed behind other print jobs sent by users using the same network printer.
4. A dialog status message is displayed on your Macintosh, informing you that your print job is being spooled (sent) to the printer.
5. Your job prints at the network printer.
Selecting a VINES Print Service
To select a printer, select a VINES print service. Use the Chooser desk accessory from the Apple menu to select the print service to be used:
If your network is connected to other networks, select the correct zone from the AppleTalk Zone box where the print service is located.
To access the VINES print service:
1. Click on the LaserWriter icon.
2. Select the printer to be used from the Select box. The VINES print service appears as a StreetTalk name. The User Name box appears below the Select box.
3. Enter your StreetTalk name. You can enter a nickname if your administrator has established one for you.
4. Close the Chooser window.
Once you select a print service, all print requests are directed to this printer until you select a different printer or print service.
You can print a document, a group of documents, a screen, a disk, or folder from the Finder or MultiFinder®. You can also print a document from within an application.
The printing requirements that you set within an application' s Page Setup and Print dialog box are relevant to that application only. The VINES print service spools these requirements along with the document to the network printer.
At the end of each print job, the printer prints an optional banner page. There are two types of banner pages:
For a successful print job For a failed print job
The rest of this section describes a banner page for a successful print job.
Note: If the LaserWriter is configured for face-up collation, then the banner page appears first.
The information described in Table 7-1 appears on the banner page:
| Field | Description |
| VINES | Identifies that the banner page is generated by the VINES print service. |
| Spooled by | Identifies the owner of the print job. This is the same StreetTalk name that a user enters in the User Name box when accessing a print service from the Chooser. |
| Title | The name of the print job, typically the name of the document. If you print an untitled document, the Title reads "Untitled." |
| Job Number | The number assigned to your job. The VINES print service assigns a unique number to each print job, in sequential order. |
| Printer | The name assigned to the printer during its installation. |
| Print Queue | The print service' s StreetTalk name. |
| Time Spooled | The date and time the print service accepts a print job. |
| Time Printed | The date and time the banner page is printed. This indicates when the print job is complete. |
| Pages | The number of pages printed (not including the banner page). |
| Printer Time | The amount of time it takes the printer to print the job. |
| Error Messages | Error messages can occur for a variety of reasons described later in this chapter. |
Print jobs can fail for two reasons:
A physical problem with the printer itself, where the network does not recognize the printer. This problem is either a hardware problem or a network problem. A time-out, where the connection between the Macintosh and the printer closes. This is caused by too much traffic on the network or by hardware problems.
A banner page is printed as long as the print service can locate the printer on the network, even if the print job is not successful. This banner page looks similar to the banner page printed after a successful print job. There are a few differences, however:
In place of the "Pages" and "Printer Time" field is a new field, "Total size." This field displays the size, in bytes, of the print job. A message in italic type reads, "Printer Failure," "Job Cancelled by Administrator," or "Job Cancelled."
If the printer generates this banner page, see your network administrator.
MultiFinder makes it possible for you to have several applications open at the same time, including background applications that let you perform one task while your Macintosh performs another. MultiFinder comes with one background application for use with a LaserWriter printer: Background Printing.
With Background Printing, you can schedule documents to print after hours or at a time of day when there is minimal traffic at the printer. The VINES Print Service transparently handles any Background print jobs. For more information on using Background Printing, see your Macintosh Reference.
PrintMonitor gives you additional control over printing documents. With Background Printing turned on, PrintMonitor is opened. PrintMonitor displays the status of documents as they print. With VINES, however, the PrintMonitor window displays the status of the document until it is sent to the VINES print service (not to the printer). In addition, the PrintMonitor window displays the VINES print service messages, as described in the section "VINES Print Service Messages" later in this chapter.
Note: Because PrintMonitor acts as a "secondary" spooler with VINES, it is not necessary to turn on the Background Printing option in the Chooser window. Doing so does have its advantages, however, in that you can queue up numerous print jobs faster.
The VINES print service reports the current status of the printer when you spool a print job to the printer. This section lists the most common messages to help you identify situations you can correct. These messages appear on the screen when you print a document from an application. If you run MultiFinder and turn Background Printing on, these messages appear in the PrintMonitor window.
The print service status messages are generated in three parts, and combined when a message is displayed.
The three parts are:
Server Status - The status of the print service software that accepts jobs from the Macintosh Destination Status - The status of the print service software that sends the job to the printer Printer Status - Status messages received from the printer
These messages are combined in the following manner:
If a Printer Status Message exists, then the dialog box message is: <Server Status> . <Printer Status>
If a Destination Status Message exists, the dialogue box message is: <Server Status> . <Destination Status>
Note how the two message components are separated by a period. In most cases, the message displayed is a concatenation of the Server Status and the Destination Status.
Examples
Printer Is Available
The message you most commonly see is:
This message means that the print service is accepting print jobs, and that the printer is available to be used for printing.
In the event there is a problem with the printer, the message is a concatenation of Server Status and Printer Status messages
Printer Is Jammed
Another message you commonly see is:
This message means though the print service is accepting print jobs, the printer is unable to print because there is a paper jam.
A list of the Server Status, Destination Status, and Printer Status messages follows.
The print service is initializing itself and is not currently accepting jobs. Once initialized, it will accept the job. No action on your part is required.
The print service is accepting print jobs.
The network administrator disabled the print service from accepting jobs. Cancel the print command and print again when the administrator enables the print service.
The print service is currently processing the maximum number of Macintosh workstations it can handle at the same time. Cancel the print command and try to print at a later time.
The VINES server ran out of disk space, due to the print service or another VINES service. The print service will accept jobs again as soon as sufficient disk space is available. Cancel the print command and try to print at a later time.
The printer is available for printing. No action on your part is required.
The network administrator disabled the printer. The print service continues to accept jobs, but they will not print until the administrator re-enables the printer.
The print service located the printer on the network, but was not able to connect to it. It may be that the printer is busy processing another job or that there is a hardware problem preventing a successful connection of network and printer. Notify the network administrator when this message appears.
The print service cannot locate the printer on the network, and therefore cannot connect to the printer. Either the printer is shut off, moved to another location/section on the network, or configured incorrectly. Notify the network administrator when this message appears.
The print service received multiple responses to its open queries to locate the printer. This message indicates there is more than one printer with the same printer name and zone name. Though this conflict between printers usually resolves itself automatically, see your network administrator if you see this message.
The printer has run out of paper. Reload the paper tray so the printer can complete printing the current job.
A sheet of paper is jammed in the printer preventing it from printing the current job. Remove the paper jamming the printer.
The printer' s paper tray was removed. Reinsert the paper tray to allow the printer to complete printing the current job.
This message indicates two possible situations. The first is that the toner cartridge is missing or empty. Install a new toner cartridge if this is the case, or see your network administrator. Otherwise, the door of the printer may be open. Close the door of the printer.
The door of the printer is open. Close the door of the printer.
The printer is returning an error that the print service does not understand. Since Apple does not document all possible error messages or codes that the printer can return in the form of dialog box messages, this message is used as a "catch all." Notify the network administrator when this message appears.
