Expert: Pete Mayhew - 11/28/2008

Question
Please help. I am having problems printing 12 CPI from our AS/400 with our new printer OKI 3391 ML.

Every time we print the AS/400 changes the settings on the OKI printer from font LQ Romans 12 CPI to Courier 10 CPI.

The OKI 3391 setup:

Emulation Mode - IBM PPR
Font - LQ Roman
Pitch – 12 CPI


I have tried :

Changing the OKI setting on the printer  “Reset Inhibit” to “Yes” and setting “I-Prime” to “Invalid”,  so it will ignore the AS/400 request to change the settings. but that didn’t work so changed them back.

On the AS400 , I have tried changing the Font Identifier to several different ID’s. That didn’t work.

What should the “System driver program” (SYSDRVPGM) be, have tried     *IBMPJLDRV and *HPPJLDRV. Didn’t make any difference.

Below is the Device Description for the printer.

Hope you can help

Many Thanks

Michael
N. Ireland
Belfast



Device description . . . . . . . . :   DEVD        CAFINV
Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :   OPTION      *ALL
Category of device . . . . . . . . :               *PRT
Device class . . . . . . . . . . . :   DEVCLS      *LAN
Device type  . . . . . . . . . . . :   TYPE        3812
Device model . . . . . . . . . . . :   MODEL       1
LAN attachment . . . . . . . . . . :   LANATTACH   *IP
Port number  . . . . . . . . . . . :   PORT        9100
Physical attachment  . . . . . . . :   ATTACH      *DIRECT
Online at IPL  . . . . . . . . . . :   ONLINE      *YES
Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :   FONT
  Identifier . . . . . . . . . . . :               018
  Point size . . . . . . . . . . . :               *NONE
Form feed  . . . . . . . . . . . . :   FORMFEED    *AUTOCUT
Separator drawer . . . . . . . . . :   SEPDRAWER   *FILE
Separator program  . . . . . . . . :   SEPPGM      *NONE
  Library  . . . . . . . . . . . . :
Printer error message  . . . . . . :   PRTERRMSG   *INQ
Message queue  . . . . . . . . . . :   MSGQ        *CTLD
Current message queue  . . . . . . :               QSYSOPR
  Library  . . . . . . . . . . . . :                 QSYS
Activation timer . . . . . . . . . :   ACTTMR      170
Inactivity timer . . . . . . . . . :   INACTTMR    *SEC15
Line speed . . . . . . . . . . . . :   LINESPEED   19200
Word length  . . . . . . . . . . . :   WORDLEN     8
Type of parity . . . . . . . . . . :   PARITY      *NONE
Stop bits  . . . . . . . . . . . . :   STOPBITS    1
Host print transform . . . . . . . :   TRANSFORM   *YES
Manufacturer type and model  . . . :   MFRTYPMDL   *OKI391IBM
Paper source 1 . . . . . . . . . . :   PPRSRC1     *CONT132
Paper source 2 . . . . . . . . . . :   PPRSRC2     *NONE
Envelope source  . . . . . . . . . :   ENVELOPE    *NONE
ASCII code page 899 support  . . . :   ASCII899    *NO
Image configuration  . . . . . . . :   IMGCFG      *NONE
Character identifier . . . . . . . :   CHRID       *SYSVAL
Remote location  . . . . . . . . . :   RMTLOCNAME
  Name or address  . . . . . . . . :               192.168.5.24
Workstation customizing object . . :   WSCST       *NONE
User-defined object  . . . . . . . :   USRDFNOBJ   *NONE
  Object type  . . . . . . . . . . :                 *NONE
Data transform program . . . . . . :   USRDTATFM   *NONE
System driver program  . . . . . . :   SYSDRVPGM   *IBMPJLDRV
Allocated to:
Job name . . . . . . . . . . . . . :               *NONE
  User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :
  Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . :
Published  . . . . . . . . . . . . :               *NO
                  Display Device Description                       Page     2
5722SS1 V5R2M0  020719                            M
AS400  28/11/08  13:54:17
Device description . . . . . . . . :   DEVD        CAINV
Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :   OPTION      *ALL
Category of device . . . . . . . . :               *PRT
Publishing information . . . . . . :   PUBLISHINF
  Support duplex . . . . . . . . . :               *UNKNOWN
  Support color  . . . . . . . . . :               *UNKNOWN
  Pages per minute black . . . . . :               *UNKNOWN
  Pages per minute color . . . . . :               *UNKNOWN
  Location . . . . . . . . . . . . :               *BLANK
  Data streams supported . . . . . :               *UNKNOWN
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :   TEXT        OKI Invoice Printe
r
Active switched line . . . . . . . :               *NONE
Switched line list . . . . . . . . :   SWTLINLST
--------------------Switched lines---------------------
  (No switched lines attached)
User-defined options . . . . . . . :   USRDFNOPT
-----------------User-defined options------------------
             * * * * *   E N D   O F   L I S T I N G   * * * * *


Answer
Michael;
   Actually, I'm somewhat impressed that you were able to get the printer to work at all. The *LAN description using the PJL driver is  for HP and IBM laser printers (and compatibles). It was not designed to work with a dot matrix impact printer. You also must have some form of network interface on this printer, maybe an HP JetDirect?
 I can think of 2 solutions for you.  First is to connect the printer to a PC and run it with a Client Access printer session. This will give you a lot more flexibility in terms of font and paper size. I realize though that it is not the best solution.
The second option is to use a WSCST work station customizing object. This allows you to specify the font, line spacing, etc right in the job stream.

Go to IBM's support database:
http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/slkbase.nsf/slkbase
Search on WSCST or workstation customizing object. You will probably get a number of hits-look for one that mentions CPI. There may be an object already available or you might have to modify one to suit your needs.  I've done this once or twice, but not enough to give you much more guidance on it.
Pete