Asynchronous Terminals and Printer Processes Programming Manual
PRINTER PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS
Programming Considerations for 5515/5516 Printers
| PROGRAMMING CONSIDERATIONS FOR 5515/5516 PRINTERS
|
|
| ATP6100 (including the 3681 implementation) and
| SERIALPRINTPROCESS, support the 5515/5516 printers. The subtype
| for the 5515/5516 is 7.
|
| The I/O processes communicate with the 5515/5516 printers by
| using the Tandem Asynchronous Protocol (TAP) which is a link-
| level protocol. TAP ensures that data is reliably sent from
| the host to the printer. However, because TAP is not a
| transparent protocol, it has limited graphics support--that is,
| only graphics applications generated on a Tandem system can
| properly transmit graphics data to the 5515/5516 printers. In
| addition, TAP was developed to provide backward compatibility for
| printers that support Transparent Tandem Asynchronous Protocol
| (T-TAP) but are not necessarily in a T-TAP environment. For
| example, 5512 printers that are defined in SYSGEN configuration
| file as SERIAL5515 printers can use TAP; see the "Programming
| Considerations for 5512 printers" section.
|
|
|
| Direct-Access Vertical Format Unit
|
|
| The printers that support TAP do not support DAVFU or VFU
| downloading.
|
|
|
| DELAYTIME SYSGEN Modifier
|
|
| When you are using the Label card option on the printer to output
| complex graphics, the printer may require more time than that
| allowed by the I/O process. Typically, an INTERRUPT TIMEOUT
| (error 218) is sent to the application to indicate that more
| time is needed. You can use the DELAYTIME modifier to define
| the additional time required. The DELAYTIME modifier defines,
| with the value
n
, the amount of time allowed for a printer to
| empty its buffer after the printer prevents the I/O process from
| sending data. The printer prevents the I/O process from sending
| data if the printer buffer is full or if an error condition
| exists, such as a printer offline condition or an operator-
| correctable fault.
|
| The value
n
is in 10 millisecond units and can be defined in the
| 0 through 32767 range. However, if
n
is less than or equal to
| 7500, or DELAYTIME is not specified, the value defaults to 7500.
| This is equivalent to 75 seconds. If
n
is greater than or equal
| to 32767, the value is 32700. This is equivalent to 5 minutes 45
| seconds.
7-26 November 1987