Subject: papd and APS Filter -- good news

From: Sean Page <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 11:13:16 -0600

Greetings, all,

Just thought I would share a good experience with networking an Epson Color
Stylus 800 via Netatalk (netatalk-1.4b2+asun2.1.3).

After compiling up the APS Filter package from the ports collection in
FreeBSD (v4.0), which uses Ghost Script (6.01) along with numerous other
translation utilities to perform an awesome array of PostScript rendering
functions, I had transformed the Epson into a fully networked PostScript
printer with a simple parallel connection to the Netatalk server.
The APS Filter setup program interviews you regarding printer type, etc. and
automagicly tweaks the /etc/printcap file to work with the printer,
providing both an intelligent version that detects file format and handles
it appropriately (the default) and a raw version which simply pipes the
queued job straight to the printer without translation. A simple entry into
the papd.conf file had the Macs printing no problem using the LaserWriter
driver and the Epson PPD file that comes with Epson's own software
PostScript package. Total time (not including compile time, APS Filter is a
HUGE package) was about 15-20 minutes from nothing to all systems go. I was
quite impressed.

There are a couple of caveats, though. You will want a FAST machine with
lots of memory, as I discovered (not surprisingly), that software PostScript
ripping takes LOTS of horsepower. My P233 with 128 MB RAM couldn't quite
keep up to the task, but, was still quite usable. I also found that although
b/w printing worked flawlessly, when printing in color, the output was
rarely true to the expected results. Colors were off, and at times artifacts
introduced. I tried different resolutions and color handling settings with
little luck. 

I realize that software postscript rendering can be an inexact art at best,
but perhaps someone out there with more experience in this matter can
provide a couple of pointers?

or...

Would it be possible in some way to use the AppleTalk version of the Epson
driver to print directly to the raw device (bypassing PostScript
altogether)? When I tried it (using a second entry in the papd.conf file
pointing to the raw printer) the Epson driver was unable to see any
available printers. I am assuming that the driver expects to be able to talk
directly to the printer... Anyone?

Just for kicks, here's what the /etc/printcap and papd.conf look like:

/etc/printcap

lp|aps1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default|Printer1 stc800p.upp letter auto
default:\
    :lp=/dev/lpt0:\
    :sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default:\
    :lf=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default/log:\
    :af=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default/acct:\
    :if=/usr/local/apsfilter/filter/aps1-stc800p.upp-letter-auto-default:\
    :mx#0:\
    :sh:
raw|aps2-stc800p.upp-letter-raw|Printer1 stc800p.upp letter raw:\
    :lp=/dev/lpt0:\
    :sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-raw:\
    :lf=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-raw/log:\
    :af=/var/spool/lpd/printer1-stc800p.upp-letter-raw/acct:\
    :if=/usr/local/apsfilter/filter/aps2-stc800p.upp-letter-raw:\
    :mx#0:\
    :sh:

papd.conf

Epson 800 PS:\
        :pr=lp:pd=/usr/local/atalk/ppd/EpsonStylusCOLOR800.ppd:op=sean:

So, there you have it.
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Sean.

Sean Page
Network Analyst
Information Technology Services
Edmonton Public School Board

---

From: "Tom Watson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 09 May 2000 02:00:13 -0800

> Stylus 800 via Netatalk (netatalk-1.4b2+asun2.1.3).
<<<deletia>>>

> directly to the printer... Anyone?

Well, i tried a few things, but I'm unsuccessful at the moment.  The chooser
goodie I have is 'AT-StylusCOLOR', which when 'choosen' asks for the
printers of type 'EpsonLQ2'.  By a bit of luck, you CAN (it worked a bit)
define a printer with this type.  The line in papd.conf looks like:
\:EpsonLQ2:op=xxx:pr=xxx
The name is that of your node, and the type is now 'EpsonLQ2'.  You need
to escape the ':', or it will think it is the seperator between the name
and the parameters.

At the moment when the epson chooser goodie selects the printer, it
can check for the printer type.  It doesn't do this very well, as
the responses (from the Linux box) are keyed to a LaserWriter thru
a ppd file.  I got a segment fault.

My current problem is that syslog gets "No such printer: lp", but
it looks like it is in the printcap file.  Since this was discussed
earlier in the list (off this topic), I'll look around to see just
what the problem really is.

Some further investigation into the status responses that papd
provides might be in order.  I don't know the actual responses that
an AppleTalk connected Epson printer might give, as I don't have
such a device (the nearest one that I could play with is about 700
miles away).  Besides I don't have a sniffer handy.  The next time
I get there I might do some playing around.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Tom Watson         Generic short signature
[email-masked]     (I'm at home now)