Problems printing from Anne (Amstrad Word Processor emulator), current release

[rwd...@gmail.com]

Has anyone been able to print from Anne (Seasip Joyce/Anne) to an emulated printer?

I have tried all the permutations and find the printer is always offline. I can only attempt this to virtual printers, not to a real locally attached parallel printer.

Since an emulated printer e.g. LP or LPR across the network is always on line I assume this is a bug. I have not found any method to configure it further.

I found the source code too intimidating to hunt for the bug myself.

Tested under recent Linux Mint.

Cheers
Richard

[Jacob Nevins]

rwd...@gmail.com <rwd...@gmail.com> writes:
>Has anyone been able to print from Anne (Seasip Joyce/Anne) to an
>emulated printer?
>
>I have tried all the permutations and find the printer is always
>offline. I can only attempt this to virtual printers, not to a real
>locally attached parallel printer.
>
>Since an emulated printer e.g. LP or LPR across the network is always on
>line I assume this is a bug. I have not found any method to configure it
>further.

I've reproduced the same sort of thing with Joyce 2.5.0 (with the file
backend rather than the pipe used with 'lpr', but they share a lot of
code), have some suspicions, and am investigating.

(Sorry to be vague -- I've got to the point where the OS doesn't report
the printer as offline any more, but not to the point where I get any
actual output in my file.)

[rwd...@gmail.com]

Thanks for confirming. Not me going mad then. I had it working on Joyce under CP/M but had seen some problems printing when I first recently started tinkering with locoscript, and I assumed it was me doing something wrong learning locoscript.
I'd noted that there is a lot of common code between Joyce & Anne, but not been able to devote the time to delve into the code. I act as carer to my sick/disabled wife and whilst I get plenty of time for a hobby, it is in the form of small chunks of time, and the necessary interruptions break the concentration needed to understand source code , coupled with retirement brain rot, I am not as mentally agile as I was when I was 25 - 35 years old, when I could keep a stack of issues in my head. My wife has commented that I remember computer related things better than DIY/Housework/Gardening, which of course is the proper order of things :)

Good luck with identifying the problem.

Cheers
Richard

[Jacob Nevins]

rwd...@gmail.com <rwd...@gmail.com> writes:
>On Monday, 6 February 2023 at 18:07:15 UTC, Jacob Nevins wrote:
>> rwd...@gmail.com <rwd...@gmail.com> writes:
>>> Has anyone been able to print from Anne (Seasip Joyce/Anne) to an
>>> emulated printer?
>>>
>>> I have tried all the permutations and find the printer is always
>>> offline.
>>

>> I've reproduced the same sort of thing with Joyce 2.5.0 (with the file
>> backend rather than the pipe used with 'lpr', but they share a lot of
>> code), have some suspicions, and am investigating.
>

> Thanks for confirming. Not me going mad then. I had it working on Joyce
> under CP/M but had seen some problems printing when I first recently
> started tinkering with locoscript, and I assumed it was me doing
> something wrong learning locoscript.

(For avoidance of doubt, when I said 'Joyce 2.5.0' I meant the build of
Anne from that version. Joyce proper I didn't have a problem with.)

I've just sent my fixes to John Elliott -- I CC'd you for information,
but if you're not sure how to apply the patch files it's probably best
to wait for the next release.
With those fixes, the Rosanne printer driver configured to "Epson LQ or
compatible", and the Epson emulator at
https://github.com/RWAP/PrinterToPDF , I'm able to get graphical
printing output as a PDF.
(I don't think piping Anne's output directly to 'lpr' is likely to do
anything useful on a standard Unix system, as I doubt it'll know how to
interpret output for any of the old printers Rosanne knows about?)

(As a sop to the newsgroup topic: this will also fix printing from
PcW16 CP/M.)

[rwd...@gmail.com]

Thanks Jacob
I shall have a go. I do have printers (& emulations) that can take the lp and lpr output for HP Laserjet and some of the older printers, but happy to try all methods.

Cheers
Richard