MikeSh
Well-Known Member
I sometimes realise this just before hitting 'Post', at which point I delete the whole thing and go do something elseClearly, it wasn't clear. In fact it was so opaque that even I don't understand it now.
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Windows Print-to-File
- Thread starter Black Hole
- Start date
EEPhil
Number 28
A number of times I've done exactly that. Unfortunately this time...I sometimes realise this just before hitting 'Post', at which point I delete the whole thing and go do something else
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Me:
Epson:
Me:
Epson:
Me:
EEPhil
Number 28
You really are trying to make life difficult for yourself!
I've just noticed you haven't said whether you have tried
lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw newsletter.prn
It might work if the printer passes the name to the router and it gets associated with the IP address.
Can you discover whether your router has a name associated with 192.168.1.66?
You could try "ping" as I mentioned above or, from a command window - nslookup 192.168.1.66.
I suspect this will not work.
If you really want to have a name in place of the IP address it is likely that you need to assign a static IP address in the router (which may allow a name to be added) and possibly edit your "hosts" file to give the IP address a name. http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/
Trev
The Dumb One
That technique seems to work on my netgear router. I can't remember exactly how it is set up, but it's deffo not obvious.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
That message exchange is for the purpose of trying to get information out of Epson.
I think I did, no go.I've just noticed you haven't said whether you have tried
lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw newsletter.prn
It might work if the printer passes the name to the router and it gets associated with the IP address.
It's one of the strings I have already mentioned.
No point - the only value in having a name is if it makes the command independent of assigned IP address,
D
Deleted member 473
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OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
D
Deleted member 473
See post 19!
EEPhil
Number 28
OK if this is want you really want to do.
I'm still not sure that you have tried lpr -S name -P raw newsletter.prn where name is one of the strings (probably DOpus) but without \\ or : prepended/appended. I am sure that you did try copy /b.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Ta, looks like I have more experimenting to do (in the absence of anything useful from Epson - I wish support people would admit when they are in over their heads), but I may have misunderstood "shares" as meaning shared services in a multi-user environment and therefore no use to me unless I specifically create shared services.
There are only so many combinations one is prepared to try unless one has some idea they could lead to success. I may not have tried enough, but a clue to the correct format helps.
Something else I have a clue to is the possibility of simply dumping the .prn file into the spooler folder.
EEPhil
Number 28
If you are resonably happy with the lpr method then we need to see if we can find a name for the allocated IP address.
If you want to go down the copy/b method you will probably have to look at network shares etc.
From a quick scan of the user manual, I see the printer can print a "Network Status Sheet". Do you have the results from such a print?
I see that there is a Web Config Utility that you can access from your web broswer. http://192.168.1.66 maybe? A quick way of checking whether any of the names will work would be to enter something like http://EPSON78163A into your browser and see if this connects. If http://ABCDEFG connects
then I would expect lpr -S ABCDEFG -P raw newsletter.prn to work. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.
If you want to go down the copy/b method you will probably have to look at network shares etc.
Never heard of this one. If it works at all it will probably use the printer driver to print (see above).
From a quick scan of the user manual, I see the printer can print a "Network Status Sheet". Do you have the results from such a print?
I see that there is a Web Config Utility that you can access from your web broswer. http://192.168.1.66 maybe? A quick way of checking whether any of the names will work would be to enter something like http://EPSON78163A into your browser and see if this connects. If http://ABCDEFG connects
then I would expect lpr -S ABCDEFG -P raw newsletter.prn to work. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I suspect not. I imagine what happens is that without "print to file" selected, the identical file is created in the spooler where a Windows daemon sends it to the appropriate destination (according to which spooler it's in), then deletes it.
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Okay, I've had a little play in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and discovered that when you print normally it creates a .SPL file with the data for the printer and a .SHD with the same name that appears to be a properties file (I guess declaring the destination printer and any printer settings). The name is (in my case) "FPxxxxx" where xxxxx is a leading-zeros padded job number.
Setting the "print to file" option still creates this spooler file, as far as I can tell identical, but once created it then gets transferred to the target folder specified in the print-to-file dialogue and creates a much larger (factor of 10) .prn file. I speculate that the .SPL is some kind of compressed version; I tried changing the file type to .zip but it wasn't recognised as valid (I pulled a copy out of the spooler).
Meanwhile, the .SPL / .SHD files create an entry in the queue for the specific printer. Selecting the entry and clicking "cancel" removes the entry from the queue and deletes the .SPL / .SHD files - which leads me to conclude they are one and the same thing.
This looks interesting:
...but still no symbolic string. It suggests some suffixes though.
or maybe it works sometimes and not others (time will tell). Given that I have been searching for a symbolic method to address the printer, don't you think that's exactly what I would have tried first time I tried out the lpr command? It's gone from my short-term memory.
Thanks for tolerating me!
* Footnote:
The router was rebooted because it hung, and I have not yet found a way to fix the IP address in the printer settings - and it's a BT Hub 4 so there's not a lot of configuration options there either (maximum lease time 21 days, and that's no help against reboots anyway). I want to look into putting my own router on the BT line... is it possible?
Setting the "print to file" option still creates this spooler file, as far as I can tell identical, but once created it then gets transferred to the target folder specified in the print-to-file dialogue and creates a much larger (factor of 10) .prn file. I speculate that the .SPL is some kind of compressed version; I tried changing the file type to .zip but it wasn't recognised as valid (I pulled a copy out of the spooler).
Meanwhile, the .SPL / .SHD files create an entry in the queue for the specific printer. Selecting the entry and clicking "cancel" removes the entry from the queue and deletes the .SPL / .SHD files - which leads me to conclude they are one and the same thing.
In fact they're half right. The print to file option appears in the Options tab for the Windows print settings, rather than the printer settings on the General tab > Properties...
Yes; it doesn't help beyond what we already know (IP address, printer name).
Oooo, didn't know about that. The manual says:
The printer is now on ...104*
This looks interesting:
...but still no symbolic string. It suggests some suffixes though.
It did, to the Web Config Utility.
Sh*t. "lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw PrinterTest.prn" just worked. After all that grief! I feel sure I tried it before, but maybe I didn't
or maybe it works sometimes and not others (time will tell). Given that I have been searching for a symbolic method to address the printer, don't you think that's exactly what I would have tried first time I tried out the lpr command? It's gone from my short-term memory.Thanks for tolerating me!
* Footnote:
The router was rebooted because it hung, and I have not yet found a way to fix the IP address in the printer settings - and it's a BT Hub 4 so there's not a lot of configuration options there either (maximum lease time 21 days, and that's no help against reboots anyway). I want to look into putting my own router on the BT line... is it possible?
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Trev
The Dumb One
Dr. Google says:
To get your internet working, you then just need to do the following.
- Connect your VDSL modem into your phone line, via a filter of course.
- Connect your router to your modem using an ethernet cable.
- Jump onto your router's admin page. Enable PPPoE, and set your username to “bthomehub@btbroadband.com”
- Browse the internet!
Do you mean there is no way of setting static IP's for a device on the router?
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
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I use my own router into BT ADSL service, and have done for years.
It is set to use PPPoA.
Note, it won't generate a BT OpenZone hotspot unless you set the router to do so (assuming the router can support multi zones). This should not be a problem to you, unless you want a OpenZone anyway.
I don't personally run one.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
It is set to use PPPoA.
Note, it won't generate a BT OpenZone hotspot unless you set the router to do so (assuming the router can support multi zones). This should not be a problem to you, unless you want a OpenZone anyway.
I don't personally run one.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
OP
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
It was a remark I have yet to look into, but I understand it's a lot more complicated than that to establish the connection credentials - or is that what "PPPoE" does? I suspect I will be in trouble trying to choose a new router!
There is an "always use this address" button in the specific device listing, but it objects if you try to configure an IP address outside the DHCP pool - so there is a risk the router might allocate that address to something else if the original device is off-line at the time (although one hopes it won't). Stupid. I have my Humii set static outside the DHCP pool, but I have not found a way to fix the IP address in the printer's settings (not that I need to now).
Despite this, I still want to replace the Home Hub. It offers the world a public WiFi point, and is not sufficiently configurable (and it has to be rebooted from time to time).
Posted before I saw HarveyB's post
Makes sense - it supports LLMNR and your first screenshot shows that's enabled. That will most likely be how your client is resolving the printer's name to IP address.