When using TinyTERM Pro for iPad, a transparent print job that has a full 80-character line ending in a CR/LF pair is counted incorrectly. This throws off the count for a full page, which causes the print job to have incorrect page break placement.

CR 1103

When using AirPrint for a transparent print job, a full 80-character line that ends in a carriage return/line feed pair (CRLF) is counted as two lines, even though it prints as one. This throws off the page length counter, causing the print job to feed a new page before it’s needed.

CR 1102

Configure TinyTERM’s transparent printing option to spool the print job. Whether set to Print on Key Press or Print on Timeout, a printout that takes a long time to generate will put extra form feeds into the print job. This happens regardless of the timeout value as well.

TinyTERM works as designed in this instance. Applications that take an arbitrarily high amount of time to generate a printout will have natural breaks in the data flow. If the break is long enough, which depends on the timeout value set or the time before key press, TinyTERM will release the print job as it should. The workaround is to print on timeout, with a timeout value equal to or greater than the job creation time. This is typically 60 seconds or more.

CR 855

Transparent printing is also known as slave printing, remote printing, local printing, pass-through printing or terminal printing. The following table lists the escape sequences needed to have transparent printing work. In all cases, \033 indicates the escape character, ASCII value 27.

¹The actual SCO console does not support transparent printing. However, the SCOANSI console emulation in TERM and TinyTERM has been designed with transparent print capabilities.

²The sequence used to turn transparent print on for Wyse50 (^X) is the same sequence that is used to end the file transfer for ZMODEM and WTERMCRC. To have TinyTERM or TERM accept the sequence as “transparent print on” in this emulation, change the file transfer protocol to something else, such as XMODEM.

The :PN= and :PS= entries for the emulation must be defined in the /etc/termcap file.

Example for Wyse 50: :PN=^x:PS=^t:
Example for VT100: :PN=\E[5i:PS=\E[4i:

To test transparent printing, you can do the following:

1. Create the following short UNIX/XENIX script file and name it tprint:
   

   # Test for transparent print in vt100 mode. \033 is esc.
echo "\033[5i"
cat $1
echo "\033[4i"

   Change the echo commands to match your emulation’s transparent print codes.

2. Set the permissions on the tprint file to read/write/execute:

chmod 755 tprint

3. To print a text file enter “tprint filename” at a shell prompt, replacing “filename” with the name of any text file; e.g., /etc/hosts.

For more information on transparent printing and other print options, please see this screencast. 

Things to check if this fails:

• The UNIX “TERM” environment variable doesn’t agree with TERM’s emulation.
• The proper escape sequences are not in your /etc/termcap file.
• TERM has been set to send all printer output to a disk file instead of the printer.

Transparent Print Issues

Why are the lines for boxes being replaced with characters?
The font set that the printer uses does not support those characters. Most printer have the capability of switching the font sets. The font set that TERM and TinyTERM uses is 437 MS-DOS Latin US. Many printers are setup by default to use 1252 Windows Latin US (ANSI), which does not have the line draw characters.

The printer is not capturing the LPT1 or LPT2 device in Windows 95
In the Configure menu item Printer Setup set the Device line to DEVICE, and in the Device Name field enter the port name of the printer.

With a serial connection to the server, transparent printing prints garbage or stops printing
Change the flow control to XON/XOFF. To change the flow control with TERM go to the Configure menu and select Communication. In TinyTERM, change the protocol=none line in the .tap file to protocol=xon.

Configure TinyTERM to print to a Windows printer, with Bypass Printer Drivers and Spool Print Jobs set. Send a transparent print job that includes form feed characters (^L, ASCII value 12). They may be ignored, depending on the print job.

CR 823, fixed in TinyTERM 4.53 (May 2007)
CR 831, A4 overlap fixed in TinyTERM 4.53 (May 2007)

In TinyTERM 4.50, any emulation that uses \033[5i and \033[4i for transparent printing sends the job to Printer 2 under Extra Printers. If that printer has not been configured, the print job vanishes.

Transparent printing directly to the second printer works properly. Print screen uses the primary printer normally.

CR 807, fixed in TinyTERM 4.52

Century Software, Inc., has had a request for an option to set the font size when transparent printing. Setting the Lines and Columns in Page Setup allows this in a roundabout way, but there is no way to set the font size directly.

CR 80

Transparent printing to Scansoft Paperport works intermittently. Sometimes it works properly. Other times the print job comes to screen. Occasionally the print job causes TinyTERM to crash. Printing to physical printers works fine in all cases. Other Windows applications print to Paperport without error.

CR 689

Century Software, Inc., has had report that transparent print jobs come to the screen, unless you must open TinyTERM’s Printer Setup and click OK beforehand. Some printers will also allow transparent print jobs if you go to the File menu and select Print Screen first. Transparent printing works properly afterward.

CR 686, HP 5800 wireless
CR 691, Ithaca PcOS 52

Configure a second or third printer in TinyTERM. Enable spooling, with release either on key press or timeout with a non-zero value. It doesn’t matter what the timeout value is, or whether or not you hit a key. A transparent print job does not actually print until you turn spooling off, then send another print job. That pushes the existing job out of the queue. Closing TinyTERM causes any currently spooling print jobs to be lost.

CR 637