Black Box LE3700A-R2 manual Optional Rtel Functionality, AppleTalk Host Configuration

CHAPTER 4: Host Configuration

4.3 Optional RTEL Functionality

Using the native lp or lpr print utilities requires installing and configuring the RTEL software on the host—see Chapter 7 for details. After installing the software and configuring connections to the EPS1, print commands will look like normal printing commands.

% lp -deps1_queue filename

or

% lpr -Peps1_queue filename

Normal queue utilities (lpc, lpstat, etc.) will also be usable. The RTEL software also provides detailed error logging should a print request fail for some reason.

To print to the EPS without lp or lpr (using third-party software packages, for example), it may be necessary to create terminal devices on the host that connect transparently to the EPS. The RTEL software also provides this functionality. The created device, called a “pseudo-tty,” allows programs to send data directly to a device on the UNIX® host without needing any knowledge of how to connect to the EPS. If the pseudo-tty device created is “/dev/ttyp7,” for example, you can specify “ttyp7” in an application (word- processing, spreadsheet, etc.) as the printer channel. Any data sent to that channel will automatically be forwarded to the service on the EPS. The pseudo-ttys can also be used with the lp or lpr methods discussed above. You will need to consider which of these RTEL methods you wish to use as you install the RTEL software; you may end up needing both for different purposes.

4.4 AppleTalk Host Configuration

AppleTalk configuration is extremely simple for EtherTalk nodes such as Macintosh computers. If you enable AppleTalk on the EPS services (as it is by default on the serial port service EPS_xxxxxx_S1) the service should be visible via the Chooser on all networked Macintosh computers. This assumes that the Macintosh accessing the Chooser has access to the AppleTalk zone that the EPS is a part of. If there is only one zone or the default zone is the correct one, the Macintosh should see the EPS_xxxxxx_S1 service under the LaserWriter® selection of the Chooser. Selecting this LaserWriter will cause any printing to be sent to the EPS. If there are multiple zones running on the network, the EPS can be configured to be part of a specific zone.

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