Hello

I am trying to fix a problem that has existed for ages, since the Specialix
SX 8-port unit was installed ages ago. We've worked around the problem in
the past but I now need to get it fixed!

The problem doesn't appear to be handshaking, in that all report contents
are fine, irrespective of the length of the report. It's just when we reach
the tail end of the report, that it will miss off part of the last line and
the form-feed character.

It's a Specialix SX box, connected to a host card in Windows NT. I've tried
various baud rates and checked the protocol etc.

There are a great number of similar problems with Specialix, posted in
various Unix groups, but I can't see a solution.

Does anyone here have experience of this?

You'll probably get more specific help on this, but at first glance it looks
like the serial port isn't flushing its buffer, causing the report to
truncate the last n characters, 'n' being the size of the buffer.

Possibly a jumper or configuration setting.

A second possibility comes to mind: flow control. There may be a setting
which defines/sets the xoff character. Perhaps it's set to the FF character?

Something to do until an expert on the Specialix responds...

Ed

"Steve" <ffskf (AT) jhre8329r32 (DOT) com> wrote

Thanks for the help on this Ed. I think you might be on the right track
there. Sometimes when we take the printer off line and then back on again,
it prints a few missing characters from the previous report, so yes, they're
still in the buffer.

If we print a massive report, we don't lose anything - only the last few
characters.

If I can't fix this, we'll have to install a network print server, but it's
frustrating that the Specialix box has always been like this - I don't rate
them very highly. They don't seem to work well with modems either.

We're using pins 2, 3 and 7 on the serial connections. I don't understand
what you mean by 'configuring the host connector for each port'.

If you mean the protocol, it's as follows...

8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit
9600 baud
XON/XOFF handshaking

Steve wrote:
did have an RS6000 with DigiPort Servers before the Microsoft
plague infected us. If I recall correctly (which I would
not bet on) we had to bridge pins 6, 8 and 20 at the
printer end so the buffer would empty at the end of a
print job. Something to try that takes only a few minutes.
Who knows, it might even work.

Ron White

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This is old stuff, but hey, you are running on old stuff.

on the printer end:
2 3 7 (green. red, black)

on the server end:
1 2 3 7 (white, red, green, black)
jump 4 5
jump 6 8 20

I hope this helps.
Jeff


"Ron White" <ron (AT) eckel (DOT) com> wrote

Consider the possibility that there is a DB9 in there somewhere. Also,
never forget signal ground - pin 7 on DB25 I think but not sure - which will
cause trouble if missing.
But the problem appears to be flushing the buffer anyway, not the wiring.
BobJ
"Glen B" <no$pamwebmaster@no$pamforallspec.com> wrote