Re: Problems printing thru an NT LPD server

"F Finnerty" <ffinnerty_at_omminc.com> writes:
>Greetings,
>
>We are starting our Oracle implementation and our DBA claims that he cannot
>print out of Oracle and specify landscape.
>

That's right, you can't. The protocol that you're using between the Sun and the WinNT machine is the LPR printing protocol introduced in the BSD Unix operating system and documented in RFC 1179.

RFC 1179 specifies the method to pass only a few print options to the print server (banner/nobanner, e-mail user when job is printed, file is a symbolic link, server can unlink the file, and four font definitions). The selection of landscape/portrait mode is not one of them.

Sun created an extension to the protocol so the other options can be passed between two Solaris machines, but I don't think WinNT's LPD service supports that extension.

So as long as you want to submit print jobs through the WinNT server, you're stuck. The best you can do is create a queue on the WinNT machine that has portrait mode automatically selected, and print to that queue name when you want portrait mode.

However, the better solution is to give the printer its own IP address, install HP's Jetdirect software on your Sun, and print directly to the printer from the Sun. Then the landscape option will be successfully passed among all the Solaris machines properly, and the printer will receive the PCL commands from the Jetdirect software to print in landscape mode.

  -Greg

-- 
+++++ Greg Andrews +++ gerg_at_panix.com +++++
I have a map of the United States that's actual size
		 -- Steven Wright