Axis Print Utility for OS/2 Version 1.16 May 31 1995 Axis Communications AB ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Read this carefully before installation: - NetBEUI must be enabled in LAN Manager. This is made through the SETUP utility in the LANMAN directory. In LAN Manager, NetBEUI and TCP/IP can be enabled and active at the same time. - If LAN Server is communicating through TCP/IP, an entry for NetBEUI (netbeui$) must be made in IBMLAN.INI as well. Don't forget to tell LAN Server to use a second network in the LAN Server set-up. - If many Axis NPSes (Network Print Server) are installed, the maximum number of NetBIOS sessions may have to be increased in the NetBEUI set-up. For only a few NPS boxes, that is not required. - We recommend you to use the IBMNULL printer driver if print jobs are created at a workstation, and then sent to the server for spooling. This works well for any type of printer. - Axis Print Utility requires OS/2 Presentation Manager. - After completed installation, please check that the changes to startup.cmd are valid. If "exit" was put at the end of startup.cmd, you must manually move that line after the Axis Print Utility related lines. Software requirements The following OS/2 server software is supported: - LAN Server 1.3 or later, running under OS/2 1.3 or later - LAN Manager 2.0c or later, running under OS/2 1.3 or later Axis Print Utility must be installed on the server to enable printing to NPSes. It runs under all the listed versions of OS/2. It shows detailed information about printer status etc., for each individual NPS port, and is also used to install NPS boxes. Note that as OS/2 Spool is used, and Axis Print Utility behaves as a destination to OS/2 Spool, any DOS, Windows, or OS/2 application is able to send print jobs indirectly through the server to an NPS. Also, print jobs may be cancelled, held, etc. using standard OS/2 procedures. It is also possible to print from a workstation, given that it runs OS/2 and workstation software, and that Axis Print Utility is installed on that PC as well. Application support There is no definite limit to the number of NPS boxes supported by each server. Each logical port of an NPS will be treated individually, and seen as a separate destination by a print queue (and in turn, the application). The NPS is completely transparent, and does by default not affect the data stream what-so-ever. From an application point- of-view, the NPS and printer together behave as though the printer is locally attached to the server. Printing from IBM hosts The NPS supports printing from IBM hosts, given that appropriate software is installed on the server to handle the host protocol (typically SNA) and the IBM printer data streams (through conversion to ASCII data streams). In that respect, the following products are supported, among others: - IBM Communications Manager, 3270 and 5250 emulation - IBM PC Support - IBM/Pennant PSF/2 The first two applications support non-AFP printing. As they use the standard OS/2 printer drivers, almost any printer data stream can be generated. PSF/2 enables distributed AFP printing. It uses internal PCL and PPDS printer drivers, so PSF/2 is limited to supporting printers with those data streams. Note that the two last applications rely on Communications Manager for the host communication. Installation of OS/2 Axis Print Utility: Note that the following installation steps need only be performed once per server. When attaching more NPS boxes to the LAN, follow the instructions under Configuration and Management, as well as those in the User's Manual chapters. Axis Print Utility is installed on the OS/2 server (LAN Manager or LAN Server). Installation of Axis Print Utility will not affect the use of the server. There is no need to re-boot the server to activate Axis Print Utility. Installation of the Axis Print Utility is performed by running INSTALL.EXE from the included diskette. Follow the installation description shown on the screens. Configuration and Management This configuration can be made as part of the installation, or at a later stage (when adding new NPS boxes). The first thing to do after installation, is to perform Install (see below), to register all NPS boxes attached to the network. Normally the Axis Print Utility will show the current status of each port of the attached NPS boxes, e.g. if paper end has occurred, and also if a certain NPS box is turned off, etc. If many NPS boxes have been installed, you can scroll vertically using the scroll bar or the page keys to see them all. Each port of a certain NPS box will be displayed as "AXaaaaaa.ppp", where "aaaaaa" are the last digits of the LAN address (and the NPS serial number), and "ppp" is "LP1" (for LPT1:), "LP2" (for LPT2:), or "CM1" (for COM1:). On the action bar there are the following items: - Status - Install - Remove - Logfile - Help Status Axis Print Utility will normally refresh the Axis Print Utility status display every tow minutes. By performing Status/Refresh, Axis Print Utility will refresh the status display immediately. This action is also used to switch from display of the logfile (see Logfile below), to the status display. Use Status/Details to see detail information for a certain NPS port. The port must be marked prior to performing Status/Details. Install Install is used to register newly attached NPS boxes. After performing Install, a screen will be shown that tells you what new NPS boxes (or rather ports) have been detected. You are now able to mark the boxes/ports you want to install. Click Install to register the selected NPS ports. Remove Use this to remove individual NPS ports that will not be used. Ports linked to print queues can not be removed. Detach them from resp. print queue first. To re-register ports, use Install. Logfile Axis Print Utility updates a log file each time a significant event occurs. Use Logfile/View to view this log file. Use Logfile/Erase to erase the log file. The log file is normally truncated to save hard disk space. Switch off Auto-truncate if you like to record every event. The logfile (AXPU.LOG) is stored under the Axis Print Utility directory (typically C:\AXPU), in plain text format. You can view and print this file outside Axis Print Utility. Help This gives detailed explanations to the actions that can be performed in Axis Print Utility, what the different fields of the status and logfile display means, etc. Further information For further details of use, refer to the NPS User's Manual. Recommendation: Use this software to enable printing from LAN Manager or LAN Server. Remember that Axis Print Utility relies on support for NetBEUI in the NPS boxes, that is available in newer NPS software (software revision 4.00 and up). AXIS COMMUNICATIONS AB