IBM 4400 manual Operation of the Fileio Command

Appendix B The PTR_SETUP Commands

configuration. Rebooting the printer ensures that the desired configuration is correctly read from Non-Volatile RAM.

NOTE: While an upload or download is in progress, the Front Panel will be unavailable.

The Configuration Save and Delete commands from the front panel can be blocked by using the Protect Configurations feature. This is intended to prevent someone from inadvertently reconfiguring a printer. The PTR_SETUP commands, however, will override the protect configurations feature. All PTR_SETUP commands will be honored regardless of the value of the Protect Configurations feature.

Operation of the FILE_IO Command

When a file is opened for writing with the FILE_IO–CAPTURE;filenamecommand, the system will allocate RAM for file control blocks and 1 Kbyte for data. If the file already exists on the Flash File System and the Overwrite Enable feature in the Flash File System menu is set to disable, a warning will be displayed on the front panel. After clearing the warning, the file data will be printed. To overwrite the existing file, set the Overwrite Files option to enable.

Due to the nature of writing to flash, any data intended to be stored permanently in flash must first be copied into RAM. As a result, the ability to manipulate files in the Flash File System is dependent upon the printer having sufficient RAM. None of the captured file data will be committed to flash until the entire file is loaded. The PTR_SETUP parser will interpret the command “FILE_IO–CAPTURE<lf>” as an end of file marker. Receipt of the command will cause all file data to be written to flash. The file system allocates RAM for temporary data storage in 1 Kbyte blocks. If at any time during the file download the printer runs out of RAM, a warning will be displayed on the front panel and as much of the file as possible will be saved in flash. To download larger files you may need to add additional RAM to the printer.

Three things can limit the ability to save a file: insufficient RAM, insufficient Flash, and lack of empty file system entries. Flash can only be written once before it needs to be “optimized”. As a result, the maximum file size is limited to the largest unwritten block of Flash. If any of these problems occur, the printer will display an error message and will attempt to provide the operator with a description of what steps to take to correct the error. Normally, the solution will involve optimizing the Flash File System. This can be accomplished by selecting the Optimize & Reboot function in the Flash File System menu under MAINT/MISC.

NOTE: After selecting the Optimize & Reboot function, do not shut off the printer's power until after the printer returns to the power-on state. Loss of power during the optimize process may corrupt the printer's program. If this occurs, first attempt to repeat the downloading process. If that fails, contact an authorized service representative.

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