Originally posted by: SystemAdmin
I think that I've addressed this issue previously, but let me see what I can tell you.
First of all, AIX has two print subsystems. I asssume you are using the standards AIX subsystem with qdaemon.
Next, AIX does not have support for barcodes of any type of printer. The application needs to add the barcode. It is also possible to add filters to AIX printing to do this, but probably more than we can cover in the forum.
But there is some things we would need to know.
1. Is the print file PCL, PostScript, or something else?
2. Is the barcode included in the file. If so, can you post the example code.
3. Does the printer have barcode fonts or do you have to download the fonts to the printer?
4. What barcode font are you using? Where did you get them?
In the past I've done this by downloading the PCL barcode fonts into a printers flash memory. I don't know if the Sharp printer is that sharp or not. THen all you need to do is add the codes to the file to print the barcode. They normally look something like
(124723) with some start and stop characters known to the printer for that font. In this example I've used the
( to start a barcode and ) to end.
The other thing that can happen is you may need to print in passthrough mode and that can cause stair stepping unless you take preventative measures.
The print drivers for AIX are really two parts.
1. The filter or code that sends the file to the printer. This can be a device driver or it can be a network filter like piohpnpf or lpd.
2. The virtual printer driver which.
a. Adds setup strings before the file (prepends in a separate print job)
- These are based on the printer type, but generally a PCL will work
- for all models except there may be paper in and out drawer issues.
b. Can call a filter to give special changes to the file.
c. Calls a standard filter based on the printer type. This is on the
type of datastreamm (text, formatted PCL, PostScript, IPDS, PPDS, etc)
For standard text CR are added to LF, lines are truncated based on
the width specified and FF are added after the page length. In addition
to this, a command is sent to the printer to give the code page.
If the current printer code page does not have the same character
as the AIX code page, then the the printer driver translates the character
to a new code page that the printer has, sends a message to the printer
to change code pages and then sends the new charcter.
For postscript, formatted PCL (passthrough), non of this is done. The
file is sent unchanged.
d. After the job, a FF is added for ascii
e. A number of printer reset commands are sent.
Probably more than you wanted to know. There is a lot more in Printing for Fun and Profit - Redbook.
Tesch