198-Column Spooled Files Print in a Different 20 CPI Font after Switching to Use a LAN Attached Printer

Resolving The Problem

198-column spooled files generated by Query/400 used to be printed on a twinax-attached Lexmark Optra R printer. This printer has been replaced by a LAN-attached Lexmark T630 laser printer. These spooled files are now being printed through a *LAN 3812 printer device description and the users are complaining that their queries are now printing in a different font. The font is still a 20 Characters Per Inch (CPI) font like before, but the new font is shorter and is harder to read.

The old Lexmark Optra R laser printer was attached to the IBM iSeries family of servers system using an internal twinax card. The *LCL 3812 printer device description was configured with the Host print transform (TRANSFORM) parameter set to *NO, so Host Print Transform (HPT) was not being used to convert the spooled file to an ASCII printer data stream. The twinax card itself was making this conversion and selecting the font.

The *LAN 3812 printer device description created for the new Lexmark T630 printer must use HPT, and the Manufacturer type and model (MFRTYPMDL) parameter was set to *LEXMARKT630.

It was determined that HPT was selecting a printer-resident or built-in Courier 20 font, while the twinax adapter was selecting a printer-resident Letter Gothic 20 font. This issue was resolved by creating a modified Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) based on *LEXMARKT630 that added a CPI in COR Mode (CPICOR) tag for CPI = 15 that selected a Letter Gothic 20 CPI font. For example:

:CPICOR
    CPI=15
    ASCIIFNT = 223
    FNTWTH = 96
    FNTATR= 1
    DATA ='1B2873307032302E3068307330623431303254'X.

For more information on creating a modified WSCST object that selects Letter Gothic 20 for 198-column spooled files, refer to the following Rochester Support Center knowledgebase documents:

N1010140: Instructions for Modifying a Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST)
N1018530: Controlling the Font that Host Print Transform (HPT) Selects when Performing Computer Output Reduction (COR)
N1010138: Breakdown of HP PCL5 Font Strings


Pre-Built Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST) for Printing with a Letter Gothic Font

Rochester Support Center knowledgebase document New contains a save file with pre-built Workstation Customizing Objects (WSCSTs) for some of the most requested and most helpful customizations. The attached save file includes a pre-built WSCST object called PCL5GOTHIC which changes the CPICOR, FNTGRPE, and INDFNTE tags to send PCL5 Font Selection commands to request a printer-resident Letter Gothic font.

There is also a pre-built WSCST object called PCL5COUR which changes the CPICOR, FNTGRPE, and INDFNTE tags to send PCL5 Font Selection commands to request a printer-resident Courier font.

For more information, refer to the following document:

N1019007: Pre-Built Workstation Customizing Objects (WSCSTs) from IBM iSeries Remote Technical Support