Printing from AS400 to Windows printer

[Ironman1042]

Administering AS400 isn't what I've been trained to do, but I need to solve this problem fast. We need to move some dumb terminals over to Windows based PCs running TN5250 emulators. That part is no problem for me; we are using NetManage's Rumba to accomplish this. The problem is that the dumb terminals have printers attached to their parallel ports. I know that theoretically if I hook up the printer to the PC and then run a LPD on the PC I should be able to have the AS400 print to the windows printers. I have the LPD software all figured out I think. I just need to know what to do to configure the AS400 to create a new printer that users can select from the AS400 that will send its' jobs to the windows printer.

 

[ScottMac]

It's been a while since I messed with that kind of system, and I've never played much with Tn3270 or TN5250, but since there's not much action on your question, I'll take a whack at it.

I believe the AS400 is setup such that you create a profile or record that describes each connected device (i.e., LU assignment).

What I think you have to do is create or edit the existing profile for the printers, changing from the twinax-connected to a type that is emulated by the TN3270 package (Rhumba probably already supports the printers, but you'll need to verify it)

Next you need to verify / edit / add the LUs associated with the terminals to make sure they are also compatible with the Rhumba TN5250 terminal sessions (there are several kinds of 5250 terminals).

There may be a host-side piece of software that needs to be installed (so the AS400 knows what a TN5250 session looks like).

At the user-termanal side, there should be a setting that allows you to claim a printer LU and associate it with the terminal LU. Essentially, the terminal software is telling the AS400 "I know that printer; send me the print stream and I'll see that it goes to the right printer."

The terminal-side has to be configured so that it'll take two LUs, one for the terminal, one for the (attached) printer.

That's about as good as I can offer. I hope it gives you something to work with.

Good Luck

Scott