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Archive-name: sgi/faq/impressario
Last-modified: Wed Sep 21 15:12:58 CDT 1994

    SGI impressario Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:

    SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
    SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
    SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
    SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
    SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
    SGI Impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
    SGI Inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
    SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
    SGI movie FAQ - Movies
    SGI Performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
    SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs

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Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
!  -1- What is Impressario?
!  -2- What version of Impressario runs on what OS?
!  -3- What should I know before updating to Impressario version 1.2?
!  -4- Why are my printer icons now shell script icons?  Why do I no
       longer see printstatus and printpanel?
!  -5- Do I need Impressario to print PostScript documents?
!  -6- What printers are supported under Impressario?
!  -7- What scanners are supported under Impressario?
!  -8- What types of image files can Impressario print?
!  -9- Can I write my own Impressario printer/scanner device plug-in?
! -10- What happened to the client software option in Impressario 1.2?
! -11- What is the mkbsdpr script (included with Impressario) used for?
! -12- What is the impr_desktop product?
  -13- Why do I need Display PostScript?
  -14- Can I use the serial port for HP printers with Impressario?
  -15- Is the Ikon 10088 parallel interface controller supported by
       Impressario?
  -16- Does Impressario support the HP Jet Direct card?
  -17- Why won't my HP PaintJet work with Impressario?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: !  -1- What is Impressario?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

Impressario software provides a visual printing and scanning
environment.  Impressario allows the user to control resolution, paper
size, double-sided printing, text orientation, etc.  Impressario gives
you full printer status in a network-transparent manner, so you can
find out locally or from a remote system when the printer is out of
toner, out of paper, has a jam, isn't turned on, etc.

Impressario contains device plug-ins for many popular printers and
scanners.  (Printer manufactures may also provide device plug-ins that
work under the Impressario environment.)  See the Impressario release
notes or the question "What printers are supported by Impressario" for
a list of supported printers.

Impressario allows you to print many types of files (text and
graphics).  See the question "What types of image files can
Impressario print?" for details.

Impressario contains a PostScript interpreter, and can often drive the
same printer faster than the printers' built-in interpreter (at equal
or lower cost then adding a PostScript interpreter to the printer).

Impressario also supports scanners.  The Graphical Scan tool allows
you to scan data from a scanner, file, local or remote workstation
display and send the data to a printer, file, or workstation display.
The Scanner installation tool provides a simple interface for
installing and configuring scanners on your workstation.

The Impressario Developer's Kit allows application and device plug-in
developers to create software that fully supports printing and
scanning in a manner that is consistent with the Impressario
architecture.

The Impressario fonts subsystem contains 22 Type 1 PostScript fonts,
which complement the base 13 fonts provided with Display PostScript.
These additional fonts provide you with a complete set of industry
standard fonts used in most PostScript printers.  In addition, these
fonts can be used with the Display PostScript system to create true
WYSIWYG applications.

See the impressario(1) man page for additional details.

------------------------------

Subject: !  -2- What version of Impressario runs on what OS?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

Irix      Impressario Version
-----------------------------
3.3.*     Not available
4.0.*     1.1
5.0-5.1.* 1.1
5.2-5.3   1.2
6.0       1.2

Impressario 1.0 users should update to version 1.1 or 1.2.  If you are
under support, your upgrade is free.

------------------------------

Subject: !  -3- What should I know before updating to Impressario
                version 1.2?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

1. If you upgrade a system running Irix 4.0.* or Irix 5.1.* to Irix 5.2
   and you already have Impressario 1.1 installed then Impressario 1.1
   should continue to work under Irix 5.2.  However, you should update
   to Impressario 1.2 as soon as possible after any update to Irix 5.2

2. Once you upgrade to Irix 5.2 do not remove Impressario 1.1.  If you
   do, you should re-install the following subsystems from the Irix 5.2
   distribution CD (for convenience these subsystems are also found on
   the Impressario 1.2 CD -- see the next item):

    print.man.desktop
    print.man.relnotes
    print.sw.desktop

3. When you install Impressario 1.2 you will find that it has the
   following subsystems on the Impressario 1.2 CD:

    print.man.desktop
    print.man.relnotes
    print.sw.desktop

   As a minimum, install the default print subsystems (do not mark all
   the print product as 'keep' from inst).  The reason this is done
   is that the inst procedure removes all files associated with
   Impressario 1.1.  Some of the Impressario 1.1 files now reside in
   the print product and they will be removed when Impressario 1.2 is
   installed.  So, the print product must be re-installed when
   Impressario 1.2 is installed.  For convenience, the print product
   is supplied with Impressario 1.2 and it will  automatically install
   the correct print product (assuming you do not change the
   set of software to be installed using the inst utility).

   Note that the print product shipped with Irix 5.2 is version 1.2.
   The print product found on the Impressario 1.2 CD is version
   1.2.1.  They are both the same.  The higher version number of the
   print product on the Impressario 1.2 CD ensures that they are
   installed by the inst utility when you install Impressario 1.2.

4. Do not load Impressario 1.1 (client or server software) onto an Irix
   5.2 system.  There are OS patches in Impressario 1.1 which are not
   necessary for Irix 5.2.  If Impressario 1.1 is installed on top of
   IRIX 5.2, you should be aware that the following files are replaced,
   and their corresponding Irix 5.2 subsystems must be reinstalled.

    File name                               Subsystem
     
    usr/lib/lpsched                         eoe2.sw.lp
    usr/lib/lputil                          eoe2.sw.lp
    usr/lib/print/lptops                    eoe2.sw.lp
    usr/bin/lp                              eoe2.sw.lp
    usr/sbin/mkcentpr                       eoe2.sw.lp
    usr/spool/lp/model/netface              eoe2.sw.lp
    usr/lib/filetype/vadmin/printers.ftr    desktop_eoe.sw.FileTypingRules
    usr/lib/filetype/vadmin/vadmin.ftr      desktop_eoe.sw.FileTypingRules
    usr/etc/rshd                            eoe2.sw.tcp

   IMPORTANT: If you install Impressario 1.1 onto an Irix 5.2 system
   you absolutely must re-install the above subsystems -- installing
   Impressario 1.2 (the correct version for Irix 5.2) will not undo or
   replace the OS patches that Impressario 1.1 installed.

   Note: It is not possible to install a single file from a subsystem
   -- you have to install the entire subsystem.

------------------------------

Subject: !  -4- Why are my printer icons now shell script icons?  Why do
                I no longer see printstatus and printpanel?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

You probably updated to Irix 5.2 and then removed Impressario 1.1.  If
you did this, re-install the "print" product from the Irix 5.2
distribution CD.  The sub-systems are:

  print.man.desktop
  print.man.relnotes
  print.sw.desktop

See the related question "What should I know before updating to
Impressario version 1.2?".

------------------------------

Subject: !  -5- Do I need Impressario to print PostScript documents?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

IRIX includes a "Generic PostScript" device plug-in.  This device
plug-in will convert ISO text files and RGB image files to monochrome
PostScript and send the PostScript file to your printer (which must be
able to process PostScript files).  You can install the Generic
PostScript Device Plug-In using the Printer Manager.

------------------------------

Subject: !  -6- What printers are supported under Impressario?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

This section lists two sets of device plug-ins: first, those bundled
with Impressario itself, and second, those provided by third parties.
Impressario is an open architecture, and relies on third parties to
provide support for devices which SGI cannot.  The Impressario
Developer's Kit makes this easy.

Devices supported in Impressario 1.1 (from the Impressario release notes):

    Apple LaserWriter Plus, II, IINT, IINTX, IIf, and IIg
    Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500C, 550C, and PaintJet XL300
    Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP, IIP+, III, IIIP, and 4

Impressario Version 1.2:

    Apple LaserWriter Plus, II, IINT, IINTX, IIf, and IIg
    Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 500C, 550C, and PaintJet XL300
    Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 650C.
    Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP, IIP+, III, IIIP, 4, 4P and 4L.

All Apple LaserWriter printers must be connected to system using a
serial port.  All Hewlett-Packard printers must be connected to the
system using a builtin parallel port.

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II and III series printers do not work
properly with less than 1.5 Mbytes of memory.  LaserJet 4 series
printers require at least 4 Mbytes of memory.

Apple LaserWriter IIf printers with less than 4 Mbytes of memory are
not supported.


Third Party Device Plug-Ins:

 ** The following printer manufacturers supply Impressario device
    plug-ins for some or all of their printers.  They are arranged in
    alphabetical order:

        Company                Product name
        -------                ------------ 
        Genicom                GenicomPrint 1.1 for Impressario 1.1
				Supports Genicom 9080, 9170, 9170A

        Seiko                  SeikoPrint for Impressario 1.1
				Supports Professional ColorPoint CH-6104

        Tektronix              PhaserPrint for Impressario 1.0
				Supports Phaser 200e, 200i (w/ or w/o 4511A)
					 Phaser PXi        (w/ or w/o 4511A)
					 Phaser II PXi	   (w/ or w/o 4511A)
					 Phaser II SD, SDX (w/ or w/o 4511A)
					 Phaser II SX, DX  (fast raster)
					 Phaser III PXi    (w/ or w/o 4511A)
					 Phaser III RX     (fast raster)

    As of July 1, 1994, SGI no longer resells printers manufactured by
    Tektronix, Genicom and Seiko. Tektronix, Genicom and Seiko can
    provide the Impressario device plug-in for their respective printers.

    All of the above device plug-ins have been tested and work under
    Impressario version 1.2.

 ** The following software companies supply Impressario device
	plug-ins for the following printers.  They are arranged in
	alphabetical order.

        Company                   Product name
        -------                   ------------ 
	Easy Software Products    espPrint 2.0.1
				   Supports Canon CJ-10  (see also scanners)
					    Epson 24-pin
					    Fargo Primera
					    HP DeskJet 500, 520
					    HP DeskJet 550C, 560C, 1200C
					    HP LaserJet,LaserJet+,LaserJet 500
				            HP LaserJet II & compatibles
					    HP LaserJet IIp, III
				            HP LaserJet 4
					    IBM ProPrinter
	espPrint is available via ftp on swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/printing
	See also SGI's Hot Mix 9 CD for more information.

	GW Hannaway & Associates  (contact info@gwha.com)
  				   Supports Kodak XL7700, XLT7720
					    Fujix Pictrography 3000

	Torque Systems		  Torque RIPServer
  				   Supports Calcomp 68000GA
					    HP DesignJet 650C

    Where third parties support the same printer that Impressario
    does, there are generally differences in how they are supported.
    For instance, some third parties support error-diffusion dithering, 
    while Impressario does not.
   

------------------------------

Subject: !  -7- What scanners are supported under Impressario?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

This section lists two sets of device plug-ins: first, those bundled
with Impressario itself, and second, those provided by third parties.
Impressario is an open architecture, and relies on third parties to
provide support for devices which SGI cannot.  The Impressario
Developer's Kit makes this easy.

Devices supported in Impressario 1.1 (from the Impressario release notes):

    o Hewlett-Packard ScanJet IIc
    o Ricoh FS1
    o MicroTek ScanMaker 600 ZS
    o Sharp JX 320
    o Epson GT 6000

Impressario version 1.2:

    o Hewlett-Packard ScanJet IIc and IIcx,
         with or without optional document feeder and transparency options.
    o Ricoh FS1
    o MicroTek ScanMaker 600 ZS
    o Sharp JX 320
    o Epson GT 6000

o NOTE: The Epson GT-6000 cannot scan more than 4096 dots per scan line.
  Thus, at higher resolutions, it might not be possible to scan all of
  the scannable area.


Third Party Device Plug-Ins:

 ** The following software companies supply Impressario device
	plug-ins for the following scanners.  They are arranged in
	alphabetical order.

        Company                   Product name
        -------                   ------------ 
	Easy Software Products    espPrint 2.0.1
				   Supports Canon CJ-10  (see also printers)
	espPrint is available via ftp on swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/printing
	See also SGI's Hot Mix 9 CD for more information.

	Ricoh 			  RicohFS2
				   Supports Ricoh FS2
					    with or without document feeder
					    w/ or w/o transparency adaptor

------------------------------

Subject: !  -8- What types of image files can Impressario print?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

All versions of Impressario support SGI RGB ImageLib image file
format, RGB and RGBA, color and grayscale, compressed and uncompressed.

Starting with Impressario 1.2, direct printing of JPEG JFIF, PhotoCD,
TIFF 6.0, GIF 87a and 89a, and FIT images are supported.  In addition
both ASCII and binary PPM, PGM and PBM images can be directly printed.
Finally, Impressario 1.2 adds support for SGI image files with 16 bits
per channel, in all formats.

Tektronix printer device plug-ins cannot accept the new formats
included with Impressario 1.2, but they can accept XWD and Sun Raster files.

More file formats can be added to Impressario quickly and easily,
without knowing anything about PostScript or printer device plug-ins.
See the Impressario Developer's Guide or the Indigo Magic Integration
Guide for more details.  Every new file conversion filter is
automatically available to all printers, so that file conversion
filters need only be written once for all uses.

------------------------------

Subject: !  -9- Can I write my own Impressario printer/scanner device
                plug-in?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

Yes.  You will need the Impressario Developer's Kit (an optional
product that is not part of the Impressario Server product).

>From the Impressario 1.2 release notes:

The Impressario Developer's Kit allows application and device plug-in
developers to create software that fully supports printing and scanning
in a manner that is consistent with the Impressario architecture.

A full developer's template for both scanner and printer device plug-ins along
with a complete developer's manual are included.  Starting in
Impressario 1.2, the manual is supplied in both paper and online
Insight format.

------------------------------

Subject: ! -10- What happened to the client software option in
                Impressario 1.2?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

Impressario versions 1.0 and 1.1 were sold in two packages: client and
server. The server software contained filters and device plug-ins for sending
print jobs to a printer connected directly to a host workstation.  The
server software was installed on the system that had the printer
physically attached to it.  The Client software provided a graphical
interfaces to the printing and scanning software.  The client software
was installed on systems that would access the Impressario print server
via a network connection.

Starting with Impressario version 1.2 and IRIX 5.2, the client product
has been obsoleted.  The graphical interfaces to printing now ship as
part of IRIX 5.2 and later, so any SGI system can now be an
Impressario client.  If your clients are all running IRIX 5.2 or
later, you need only install Impressario Server on the system that has
the printer or scanner physically attached to it.

Scanner support, imprint, and psroff are not bundled: they are still
part of Impressario Server.

------------------------------

Subject: ! -11- What is the mkbsdpr script (included with Impressario)
                used for?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

Background:

There are two common print spoolers in use with Unix systems: 

    The lp spooler.
    The lpr spooler.

SGI uses the lp spooler.  If you wish to use a printer on a remote
system that uses the lpr spooler then you need a way to submit print
jobs to it.  SGI does supply the lpr spooler software (it is in the
subsystem eoe2.sw.lpr and is not loaded by default).

If you wish to use an lpr printer (which would be on another system on
your network) then you should install the lpr spooler subsystem and
configure it (see the lpr(1) and printcap(4) man pages for details).
At this point you could print to the lpr printer using the lpr(1)
command.  However, you might also want to print from the Indigo Magic
environment or from an application that only prints to the lp spooler.
The way to do this is set up an lp printer queue that forwards all of its
print requests to the lpr spooler (which is what mkbsdpr does):

>From the mkbsdpr(1M) man page:

     mkbsdpr registers a BSD spooling system printer with the System
     V spooling system. This provides the ability to submit a print
     job via System V and have that job printed on a BSD based
     printer.

     mkbsdpr creates a System V printer interface program to
     communicate with a BSD print spooler. This interface program
     will normally keep a log of its activities in the file
     /var/spool/lp/log.  The -l option causes the interface program
     to keep its log in /var/spool/lp/etc/log/lp_printer-log
     instead.  The -v option causes the interface program to keep a
     more verbose log.

     mkbsdpr only provides connectivity from the System V print
     spooler to BSD print spooler. The program cannot be used for
     installing or registering a local BSD printer.

------------------------------

Subject: ! -12- What is the impr_desktop product?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST

This is the Impressario printer client software that was shipped with
Irix 5.1.* systems.

Starting with Irix 5.2 it has been renamed to "print".  The new
product subsystems are:

  print.man.desktop    
  print.man.relnotes   
  print.sw.desktop     

Note that with Impressario version 1.2 a version of the "print"
software is included on the Impressario CD.  See the related question
"What should I know before updating to Impressario version 1.2?" for
details.

------------------------------

Subject:   -13- Why do I need Display PostScript?
Date: 21 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST

Impressario requires the Display PostScript software.  All SGI systems
that were delivered from the factory with Irix 4.0.* or higher include
Display PostScript.

Systems delivered with an Irix release earlier then 4.0.* did not
include Display PostScript.  In addition, the 4.0.* update to these
systems did not include Display PostScript (requiring 4.0.* upgrade
users to purchase Display PostScript).  This has changed: all Irix 5.2
updates will include Display PostScript.

------------------------------

Subject:   -14- Can I use the serial port for HP printers with
                Impressario?
Date: 21 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST

No.  Only builtin parallel ports can be used.  Note that some older SGI
systems do not have a builtin parallel port.

The hinv(1M) command can be used to see if the system has a parallel
port.

------------------------------

Subject:   -15- Is the Ikon 10088 parallel interface controller
                supported by Impressario?
Date: 21 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST

No. The Ikon board is not supported.

Note: The Ikon 10088 parallel interface controller is an optional VME
board that provides a parallel port for older systems that do not have
a built-in parallel port.

------------------------------

Subject:   -16- Does Impressario support the HP Jet Direct card?
Date: 21 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST

No.  At this time SGI does not supply an Impressario device plug-in
for the HP Jet Direct card (HP does not provide a device plug-in for
SGI, either).

Users of the HP Jet Direct card are encouraged to contact HP and
request that a device plug-in for SGI be made available (HP can supply
the source code if you wish to tackle this yourself).

It is recommended that you connect HP printers directly to the parallel
port of an SGI workstation.

------------------------------

Subject:   -17- Why won't my HP PaintJet work with Impressario?
Date: 21 Mar 94 00:00:01 EST

Impressario supports the HP PaintJet XL300.  The PaintJet (a different
printer) is not supported.

------------------------------

End of sgi/faq/impressario Digest
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