Now that Jim Petrick has written a program to enable the animators to print
their pictures on the QMS, it has become impossible for me to use said
printer. 

1. The animators picture take an enormous amount of time to download. 
2. The QMS loses ordinary text files after being put into PostScript mode
   by the animators jobs.

I have been trying for an hour to get something printed out.
 

Regards,


Jed

>From:	KIM::MARGOLIN     23-JUL-1991 15:20:28.72
>Subj:	QMS Printer
>
>Now that Jim Petrick has written a program to enable the animators to print
>their pictures on the QMS, it has become impossible for me to use said
>printer. 

	Sorry you think this was such an evil thing.  I'm just trying to 
	make better use of the resources we've got, and save some money in
	the meantime.
>
>1. The animators picture take an enormous amount of time to download. 

	True.  Like any bitmapped image, each pixel must be specified, so
	we're stuck with a minimum of 1 byte/pixel.  For the first cut at
	the QMS TEK program, I used hex characters to represent each byte, so
	we're using 2 bytes/pixel.  I'm currently working on an update that 
	will send the pixels in binary form, which will cut the download
	time in half.  

	Of course, the download time is only part of the problem.  The 
	printer itself requires time to assemble the image.  There is little
	we can do about this, except buy more memory for the printer, or 
	distribute the job load to some of the other printers (there are
	3 QMS printers in this building, LQ0 and IT are hooked to the VAX,
	I'm not sure if the Admin QMS is or not).  We could also buy 
	another printer.

>2. The QMS loses ordinary text files after being put into PostScript mode
>   by the animators jobs.

	This is not normally true.  It happens only under certain circum-
	stances, but when it does happen it usually kills the printer to 
	the point that it must be turned off, then back on.  I believe Dave 
	S. was looking into the cause of this.  

>I have been trying for an hour to get something printed out.

	Welcome to Engineering.  It happens to me all the time.  Ever try
	to debug a printer driver when the printer is always in use?  I now 
	usually print things out at night only.  Perhaps if people didn't
	print out every single mail message they received there'd be more
	time for important jobs.  How many "Flavor of the Day" messages do
	we need to print anyhow? (Sorry, that's just my own pet peeve)

				-- jim

> From:	KIM::PETRICK      "Jim Petrick" 23-JUL-1991 15:49:20.71
> To:	KIM::MARGOLIN
> 
> >From:	KIM::MARGOLIN     23-JUL-1991 15:20:28.72
> >Subj:	QMS Printer
> >
> >Now that Jim Petrick has written a program to enable the animators to print
> >their pictures on the QMS, it has become impossible for me to use said
> >printer. 
> 
> 	Sorry you think this was such an evil thing.  I'm just trying to 
> 	make better use of the resources we've got, and save some money in
> 	the meantime.

Admirable goal and a worthwhile addition to the animator's tool set.

> >
> >1. The animators picture take an enormous amount of time to download. 
> 
>	[...]
> 	Of course, the download time is only part of the problem.  The 
> 	printer itself requires time to assemble the image.

This is indeed a royal pain in the ass.

We have already discussed the need for another QMS for engineering at
the staff meetings, and ordering another one is on my agenda for this week.

BTW: There are 4 QMS printers in the building, all of them are connected
to the VAX (the one you didn't mention is TGLQ0 and is in Tengen's area,
right at the end of the "great hall"). The one in marketing is called
MKT$QMS.

ds