RPM LPD Print Server Technical Features

Customize your print jobs (spool files) before they reach the printer. RPM allows you to receive the spool file from a host or mainframe and customize the output on your PC, before sending it to the printer. RPM offers numerous ways of customizing print data. The following features all have real-world use. Note that these features are available in all versions of RPM unless otherwise noted.

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Web User Interface (RPM Elite only)

RPM's web browser interface was designed to provide administrators the ability to remotely manage software configuration and job processing. [view screen shot & requirements]

License Manager (RPM Elite & RPM Select)

Brooks License Manager displays license information and provides useful tools to administer the license. The license manager transforms a trial license to a registered license upon purchase, maintains license codes for reinstallations, and tracks add-on module registrations.

User Interface (RPM Elite & RPM Select)

Users and administrators can now view and configure the RPM software through a modern interface which provides advanced sorting and management of queues and print jobs.

Inserting and Appending Bytes to your Spool File

Insert Bytes

You can insert bytes (using our built-in byte editor) or a file before the print job data.

Example uses include:

• Set the printer to a specific mode (useful in Pass-through printing)
• Send an overlay to the printer, such as a form or watermark
• Insert a custom banner page or report header

Append Bytes

You can also append bytes (again, with our byte editor) or a file after the print job data.

Example uses include:

• Return the printer to the "normal" mode
• Append a document trailer

Remove PCL codes

RPM optionally strips PCL codes from a print job. Actually, text printing does this automatically; but you can select it for pass-throughand filter printing also.

Example uses include:

• Print data on a non-HP printer
• Capture data more easily for a spreadsheet or database application

Character Translations

RPM supports custom character translations. The user can create named translation tables which specify one-to-one single byte translations, that is, any character to any other character.

Reported uses of this feature include:

• Converting characters for a specific printer (typically accented characters)
• Translating unwanted characters to a character that the printer ignores, or which RPM would remove

ASA Carriage Control

RPM translates ASA Carriage Control format and prints the results using text, pass-through or filter methods. This eliminates the need for the host computer to perform the translation into a more standard format such as PCL or PDF.

RPM supports the following ASA commands:

Blank	Next line
+	Return to first column of current line (overstrike)
-	Triple line space
0	Double line space
1	Form feed

 

Convert EBCDIC to ASCII

RPM can convert EBCDIC text to ASCII. RPM also supports country-specific extensions to EBCDIC, translating characters not used in the US or United Kingdom to the appropriate ISO 8859-1 codes.

RPM allows the user to select the extended EBCDIC codes from a menu of languages. RPM also attempts to match the current locale setting to an EBCDIC extension if one has not already been selected.

Convert SCS to ASCII

RPM can interpret SCS codes and translate them to ASCII. For non-text printing (pass-through and filter) RPM creates line oriented output using carriage return for overstrikes as appropriate.

For text output RPM preserves the SCS markup and reproduces attributes such as margins, font size, character position, etc.

Benefits to using RPM for SCS translation

The primary benefit to moving SCS rendering off the host computer is reduced CPU time. Clients have reported print times reduced from minutes to seconds, though results will vary depending on the host utilization.

Secondary benefits include: ability to capture to disk using an RPM filter queue; and support for country-specific extensions to EBCDIC.

Use Installed Code Page

RPM is able to use installed code pages to translate print jobs into a form that Windows can print. Please note that by installed code pages we refer to code pages Windows can use. To acquire code pages and related fonts that are not already installed on your system, we recommend the Windows Update web site available in the Help menu of many Microsoft Office products.

Code pages typically have a maximum character length of 1 or 2. Single byte code pages include East European, and double byte code pages include Asian languages such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional).

Code pages and text printing

RPM code page support was designed for text printing. RPM can successfully translate single and double byte data, scale the font and print to any Windows printer.

Issues to be aware of with code pages and text printing:

• Depending on the code page, the choice of fonts may be limited to one or two.
• Fonts are most likely processed in Windows, not on the printer, so printing may be a little slower.

Code pages and non-text printing

Issues to be aware of with code pages and non-text processing:

• Translating single byte data may result in the OEM character set under Windows 95/98. This may or may not be compatible with your printer.
• Translating double byte data will result in Unicode data under Windows 95/98.
• All code page translation will create Unicode data under Windows 2000 and NT.

For these reasons code page translation is disabled by default for non-text queues; however, this function is available.

COM Filter Interface

The RPM COM Filter provides a rich programmatic interface to a print job, including the actual print data and the settings transmitted with the job. This allows a developer to adapt code to work directly with RPM, for the most efficient processing available on Windows 2000 and Windows NT.

COM filters are only available with RPM Elite.

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