also supplied in bounded-box format for the 3900 and Infoprint 4000. However, if your applications
use customized fonts, these fonts must be converted to bounded-box format to enable printing on
a 3900 or 4000.
Form Origin
The 3800 form origin is always top/left - just inside the left tractor strip on the leading edge of the
paper. LaterAFP continuous-forms printers (3835, 3900, and Infoprint 4000) have the capability to
set the form origin to other corners of the sheet, based on PRESENT and DIRECTION parameters
in the Form Definition. The default orientation is the top left of the short edge of the physical sheet,
which provides compatibility with cut-sheet printers. For forms that are longer than they are wide
(for example 11 inches long by 9.5 inches wide), the default origin for these printers is the same
as for the 3800. Unfortunately for forms that are wider than they are long (for example 12 inches
wide by 8.5 inches long), the default for non-3800 printers is not the same as the 3800 printer
origin. One option is to create a form definition for each job which specifies the correct options to
place the origin at the 3800 position. Another option is to use a function provided by PSF/MVS 2.2,
allowing you to set bits in PSF Exit 7 indicating jobs for which 3800 form origin will be applied.
Logic in the exit can select specific job, jobs of certain classes, or any other criteria which could be
deduced from the job JCL available to the exit.
3800 Compatibility Mode
No other AFP printers have a 3800-1 compatibility mode. Jobs running in 3800-1 compatibility mode, or
“line-mode”as it is sometimes called, usually present the largest challenge to printer upgrade. These jobs
use non-AFP resources:
vForms control buffers (FCB)
vLibrary characters sets (LCS)
vGraphical character modules (GRAPHMODs)
vCopy modifications (COPYMODs)
In addition, printing of characters is handled differently in line mode for situations where characters print
partially off the page, or where characters of different sizes are merged together in the same print line.
It is strongly recommended that customers perform a full conversion of their jobs to AFP to gain the
advantages of AFP and simplify their operational procedures. However for those customers who cannot or
do not wish to convert their applications, there are two offerings that address 3800 compatibility mode
jobs:
Hardware RPQs for specific 3900 and Infoprint 4000 printers
These RPQs allow the printers to emulate 3800 compatibility processing. The RPQs and specific
printers are:
vRPQ 8B3997: 3900-01
vRPQ 8B3937: 3900-0W1, 3900-0W3, Infoprint 4000 IS1 (240 dpi and 229 ipm only)
PSF/MVS 2.2 function “3800 Line Mode conversion”
This is a standard feature of PSF/MVS 2.2 that allows PSF to process many 3800 compatibility
jobs without change to the job, JCL, or resources.
In general, the hardware RPQ should be used for accounts that do not have PSF,or do not plan to
migrate to AFP in the near future.The PSF function should be used for accounts that are currently running
PSF but are unable to convert their 3800 line-mode applications to AFP in a timely fashion. However,there
are other differences in the characteristics, limitations, and implementation options of these two offerings
which may play a factor in the decision of whether to use one or the other of them. The major
considerations are:
v3800 Compatibility Hardware RPQ:
–If also running AFP jobs, operator must switch printer betweenAFP mode and line-mode
–Uses 3800 line-mode resources (character sets, GRAPHMODs, and so forth)
–Does not require PSF,unless AFP printing is also desired
164 Printer Information