Printing via RPC Calls in 2.2.5-pre -- drum roll -- it works :)

[Steven J Mackenzie]

I hope working printing RPCs won't be too shocking for people! (Although I have seen one wierd behaviour on XP ...)

I've briefly tested the 2.2.5-pre code on a Mandrake 8.2 server (100 MHz, 64 Mb ram), sharing an Epson Photo 790 inkjet printer.

This server was configured with 2.2.3a code, then ran 2.2.4, then 2.2.3a, and now 2.2.5-pre (cvs update from Sunday June 2.

Since the upgrade to 2.2.5-pre I have tried:

File sharing with encrypted passwords and user level security, which worked as expected.

I've uploaded a 9X driver to the server from a Windows XP client.

I've tested the printer with Windows XP client -- printer properties can now be viewed without crashing XP spools service.

On XP pages print. 

*** odd thing ***
Even though I've taken "Epson Status Monitor 3" out of my Start Up folder, I have had a couple of "communication error" dialogues from it after or before (depending on the document complexity) my print outs. 

The box says "Check all connections and make sure all devices are on. If the power was turned off during printing, cancel the print job. If the error does not clear, see your manual."

It has a greyed out section for ink levels (which don't seem to be monitorable over the network). It has a button labeled "Stop" that changes to "OK" after the print has completed.

(I have EPSON Printer Status Agent2 running as a service.)
*** end odd thing ***

Printer "default page size" changed from the XP client, and remembered after a reboot.

Printer properties and printing from Windows 98 SE tested with no problems.

Speed of communication with the printer is a *lot* better since I turned the logging level down from 10 to 1.

All this has made me brave enough to put my shiny new rpms on to a test server sharing an HP laser to NT4 clients. I'll report back tomorrow.

I hope this is useful information,
Steven


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