Short: NPAR: dosdriver for netprinter.device Author: ejunrau@mts.net (Ernest Unrau) Uploader: ejunrau mts net (Ernest Unrau) Type: comm/tcp Version: 1.1 Replaces: NetPrinter_NPAR.lha Architecture: m68k-amigaos >= 3.9 Distribution: Aminet Kurz: NPAR: dosdriver für netprinter.device 30-Dec-2009 This distribution corrects an error with the previous upload where NPAR: doesn't work unless it contains the line "EHandler = L:port-handler instead of "Handler = L:port-handler". It needs the EHandler line if for use with port-handler 41.6 by Stephan Rupprecht. "Handler = L:port-handler" might work with OS3.9's port-handler 44.1, but I haven't tested that. NPAR: summary: ------------- Greetings, I created this little dosdriver to solve the problem of how to use Guido Mersman's netprinter.device for printing to a networked printer with IP address when printing from Pagestream's own printer drivers. Requires: * netprinter.device ver. 1.14 by Guido Mersman, found at http://aminet.net/comm/tcp/NetPrinter.lha * A real Amiga with ethernet hardware, or emulator such as EUAE. * A TCP/IP stack, such as Genesis. * Recommended: port-handler 41.6 (13/09/2000) © 1998-2000 by Stephan Rupprecht - Tested with StarTech.com ethernet-to-parallel port print server. - Tested with port-handler 41.6 (13/09/2000) © 1998-2000 by Stephan Rupprecht. Note that I have NOT (yet) tested this with the OS3.9 distribution/update of Port-Handler 44.1 (29/08/1999). - Tested with EUAE (intel version) running OS 3.9 on an iMac with Mac OS 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard). - Tested with a classic Amiga 3000/'030 with xSurf-3cc networking card, and OS3.9 with Genesis. NPAR: is especially useful to enable printing with PageStream4 (ver. 4.1.5.6 30/01/2003) running in EUAE on the mac; Mac EUAE doesn't otherwise have any printer connectivity except through a networked printer with IP address. Believe me that printing is fast when printing to a StarTech.com ethernet/parallel port print server! But it is also useful to accomplish the same thing on a real Amiga. The classic Amiga requires Genesis or some other TCP/IP client to be running in order to find bsdsocket.library, and the TCP/IP client must online in order to find network print server. Simply mount NPAR: (simplest method is to copy it to your DEVS:DosDrivers directory so it is mounted at startup), then in Pagestream printer setup select "Send to Device" and enter the text "NPAR:" (without the quotes). To use netprinter.device to print using Pagestream's own printer drivers, go to the menu item "File/Print Setup..." and in the requester panel that appears select "Send to" and set to "Device", then enter "NPAR:" in the text gadget. NPAR: is also useful for other uses where one one would normally use the Amiga PAR: device. For example the shell command "copy printer.data to PAR:" can be changed to "copy printer.data to NPAR:". Yet another example of usage is to send ghostscript printer output to the printer via NPAR: instead of PAR: (although I would recommend first directing ghostscript output to a file, and then copying that printer data to NPAR: using the shell command described). A ready-made dosdriver for NPAR: is found in the dosdrivers drawer in this archive, but here is the dosdriver content: ***START DOSDRIVER*** /* mountfile for printer direct data throughput to netprinter.device */ /* instead of parallel port. Useful in Pagestream for "Send to NPAR:" */ /* $VER: NPAR: 1.1 (12.30.2009) by Ernest Unrau, Dec. 20, 2009. */ /* Designed for use with port-handler 41.6 by Stephan Rupprecht */ EHandler = L:port-handler Stacksize = 10240 Priority = 5 Device = netprinter.device Unit = 0 Baud = 0 /* set this to ZERO for parallel.devices */ # ***END DOSDRIVER*** Additional Notes: ---------------- Please take note of the dosdriver line, "EHandler = L:port-handler". That difference has something to do with Stephan Rupprecht's port-handler replacement for the OS3.9 version 44.1 of port-handler. With Rupprecht's port-handler it must be "EHandler..." and not just "Handler = L:port-handler", although the latter may work with the OS3.9 and prior distributions of port-handler. Stephan describes but does not explain this in his documentation: When port-handler connects to a non-serial device (ie parallel or printer), the mountlist entry must look like this: PAR1: EHandler = L:Port-Handler Priority = 5 StackSize = 1024 GlobVec = 1 Device = Unit = Flags = 0 Baud = 0 ; IMPORTANT: Must be zero! # Also from Stephan's port-handler documentation: "KNOWN PROBLEMS Don't try to mount an EHandler twice, this will crash Mount (it's not a bug of port-handler)." Direct comments or suggestions to: Ernest Unrau Morden, Manitoba CANADA email: ejunrau@mts.net ********* History: ------- 30-Dec-2009: Version 1.1. Modified dosdriver handler line to be "EHandler = L:port-handler" instead of "Handler = L:port-handler". Discovered that for some reason the latter configuration doesn't work. 09-Dec-2009: Version 1.0 uploaded to aminet.