startptr Command

The startptr command activates and initializes up to 2048 printers, although only up to four parallel printers are supported on PC systems. The actual number of printers supported depends on the hardware configuration. If the status of the printer is active, startptr has no effect.

For Windows

The startptr command does not apply when configuring D3 printers as direct printers. You will not get an entry number when sending a print job to a printer configured in D3 as a direct printer.

Syntax

startptr number{,queue, eject.pages, type/address,{a} {(options)}}

startptr number, (q1{, q2{, q3}}), eject.pages, type/address, {a} {(options)}

Parameter(s)

number	Printer number between 0 and the maximum printer number, which is determined by the actual number of physical ports on the system, plus 4. If no other options are specified, this restarts a stopped printer.
q1 - q3	Output queue numbers between 0 and 2048, inclusive. q1 is given first priority for spooling, q2 is given second priority, and so on. At least one form queue must be specified, but not more than three.
eject.pages	Number of pages to eject at the end of each print file, and must be between 0 and 9, inclusive. See the s option below.
type/address	Printer type and port number. The printer type may be p for parallel, or s for serial printers. All printers are treated internally as serial devices, even when (as in the case of a shared printer) the device is a pseudo device. The address is determined by the type. For serial printers the address references the port number. On a parallel printer, address is the address of the physical device. In the case of a parallel printer, the printer number and the physical device number should be the same. The system uses the printer number as the device number, but requires the device number for syntax reasons. For UNIX: All printers are considered serial because of the unique relationship between UNIX and D3. For Windows: Supports both parallel and serial printers. Confirms that the target PIB has a thread-ID and is associated with a Windows printer type device before proceeding.
a	Initiates the alignment process. The system prompts for the number of lines, and then prints a sample alignment. After each trial, it prompts again for either a y to try the alignment again, t to terminate the alignment process, or n to input a different number of alignment lines. During the alignment process the printer is not yet considered attached to the spooler, so it cannot yet receive print jobs.
options	b	The serial printer is assigned the linefeed and form feed delays of the initiator. If the b option is not used when starting the printer, the printer will set its linefeed and form feed delays to 0.
	d	Enables debugger on the current port. Used primarily by developers to test spooler code.
	s	Inhibits the initial page-eject command at the start of a print file. See eject.pages above.
	x{n}	Indicates that the serial printer does not recognize an ASCII form feed character as a page-eject command. The printing process must count lines within the page and send the correct number of blank lines when a page-eject command occurs. n indicates the number of lines per page. If the x option is specified and there is no numeric specification, the page length defaults to 66 lines.

Example(s)

startptr 0,0,0,p0	Starts printer 0 on form queue 0, skipping 0 pages between jobs, on parallel port address 0.
startptr 1,1,0,s12	Starts printer 1 on form queue 1, skipping 0 pages between jobs, on serial port 12.
startptr 9,(98,99),1,s19	Starts printer 1 on form queues 98 and 99, skipping 1 page between jobs, on serial port 19.
startptr 1,(3,4,5),1,s11	Starts printer 1 on form queues 3, 4 and 5, skipping 1 page between jobs, on serial port 11.