More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk
or call  +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk
or call +61 3 9521-8070

More information at ...

http://www.atac.com.au/barr.htm

http://www.atac.com.au/emtex.htm

Email David Kirk
or call +61 3 9521-8070

Emtex Performance Tuning

Many factors can affect the performance of your Emtex system.  Some obvious ones might be PROCESSOR TYPE & SPEED, MEMORY and DISK TYPE & SPEED.  In order to change any of these, you'll have to shell out some hard earned cash.  There are a few things you can do to gain immediate performance benefits without spending a cent.

1. Put your VIRTUALS on a fast local disk instead of on the LAN.  Emtex processes input Print jobs into a common VIRTUAL format before outputting the desired Print format.  It's typical to have an Emtex machine running all its input and output files from LAN locations.  When setting up this environment, the location where VIRTUAL files are stored is usually also located on the LAN.  However, this causes a LOT of traffic and will run up to 100% faster with the VIRTUALS located on a LOCAL disk.  (VIRTUALS are only required if REPRINTS are required, and the original job can always be run to reproduce the VIRTUALS if required, so they can be viewed as TEMPORARY files anyway.)  Refer to the Emtex User's Guide Appendix A - SET FILES for more detailed information on the placement of VIRTUAL files.  This includes VDD, VDR, VDO, VDI and VDF file types.

2. Allow the Virtual resources to accumulate by virtue of the HOLDVDD=YES profile option.  If a resource already exists, Emtex doesn't have to recreate it for each run.  This results in faster performance with less processing and I/O overheads.

3. Determine the optimum resolution required for your output devices.  It's no good producing 600dpi jobs if your output device only prints at 300dpi.  Lower dpi equals less processing and therefore faster output.  The SET file options VIPRESOLUTION240, 300, 600 and VIPIMAGERESOLUTION240, 300 and 600 apply here.  Only turn ON resolutions required for the task at hand.

4. Optimise the directory search sequence used by Emtex to locate external resources.  Ensure that any specific customer libraries are referenced FIRST, followed by generic libraries only if they exist.  Delete any references to redundant or unused directories.  The SET file options for almost all resource directories can have multiple search directories specified as ResourceSearchPath=Path1; Path2; Path3 etc.

Attention to the above items will ensure your Emtex system is running as efficiently and productively as possible.

Barr 4.1.48 Released

Barr has released version 4.1.48 of its Windows Spooling software.  This version includes:

• 406 issues added, changed and fixed since 4.0.34.

• You can now open a spool printer for editing directly from the Spool Window.  Right-click a spool printer in the Disabled state and select Configure.  The Configuration Utility will display with the selected printer open for editing.

• The Override Table Rule Actions dialog box now contains a Stop processing option.  This is used to stop processing the override table once the rule condition has been met.

• Double-clicking the Document column for a document in the Spool Window or Retain Window will now open the document in the appropriate viewer.

• When viewing a spool document in Record mode, the cursor location (Rec n, Col n) now displays in the status bar.

• For Print Utility and BARR/PRINT TCP/IP, the Headers from data option is now available for the VBM and Xerox formats file type (Format tab).

• Two new check boxes are available on the BARR/SNA HPR/IP Link Service Trace tab:

  • LDLC tracing - Includes additional detail tracing in the trace file.

  • Internal event tracing - Provides information about the internal functioning of the software.  This is used to help diagnose problems.

• When you view a log file in Operator Console, you will now be given the option of filtering the log file based on the current Operator Console view settings.

• The Delete Index Files option has been added to the right-click menu for the Spool Window Document list.  This option deletes the index files associated with the selected documents.

• How licensed users (users with hardware keys) operate in demonstration mode has changed.  Licensed users are no longer required to request a software key.  To try a feature not currently licensed, simply remove the hardware key and restart the computer.  Remember that while the hardware key is removed, licensed modules will also operate in demo mode.

Existing Barr customers with current ASA can get the latest version of Barr here: http://www.barrcentral.com/FormsLogin.asp?/support/updates/sw/default.asp

Emtex JQM Settings

Emtex's Job Queue Manager (JQM) windows allow you to add and delete columns from a large predefined set of job attributes.  The DEFAULT Emtex JQM column settings show only basic job information but you can set up additional info and position columns to suit.

The list of available columns is quite large, and includes the following useful info, which is usually NOT part of the default JQM display:

• Input Passes (VDE)

• Input Side (VDE)

• Output Passes (VDE)

• Output Side (VDE)

• Submit Time

• Output Start Time

• Output Stop Time

Normally the VDE columns are not displayed in the JQM.  Yet if you run VDE processes against your data you need to see where each VDE process is up to.  Without the VDE columns listed above, this is not possible and you'll just see a period of inactivity where it seems as if nothing is happening.

The Submit, Output Start and Output Stop times are important if you want to see how long each job takes, and how much processing has to happen before output to your printers begins.

Simply right-click any area of the JQM, choose COLUMN SETTINGS and select the required fields from the extensive list which appears.  Once you've selected the columns you want to see, click OK to return to the JQM with the chosen columns onscreen.

Rearrange columns into the desired order by clicking and dragging the column headers around.  Size the columns by dragging their column header borders to make the column narrower or wider.  Set the default SORT criteria by clicking on the relevant column header.

Finally, to set the new column display to be the DEFAULT, right-click the JQM and choose SAVE AS DEFAULT.  Now whenever you double-click an OUTPUT client, its own JQM will pop up with the displayed info in exactly the sequence and display format you want.

Q & A

Q.  How can I send files between two Barr/Windows (BEPS) machines easily?

A.  The Barr Archive format has been specifically designed with this in mind.  You can either "print" to disk via a Barr File Port printer, or directly into another BEPS machine via TCP/IP (requires Barr/Print TCP/IP on the receiving machine), also in Archive format.  Here are the detailed steps for both procedures (Note these procedures are new to Version 4.x):

Print to (shared) DISK in Archive format:

1. Choose START | SETTINGS | PRINTERS | ADD (Registered Printer).

2. Give your intended output device a friendly on-screen name.  Printers will sort by this name.

3. Choose NEW PHYSICAL PRINTER, select WRITE TO DISK in the drop-down listbox and click OK.

4. Check that Spool Printers are DISABLED at the prompt and then click OK again to create the printer.

5. At the FILE PORT CONFIGURATION dialog, on the FILE OPTIONS tab, select the output location (can be local or any UNC name) and file naming methodology (defaults are OK).

6. Choose the FILE FORMAT tab and choose Barr Archive from the FORMAT drop-down list.  Click OK.

7. The new BEPS output device will immediately appear in the BEPS SPOOL Window ready to send output to the location specified, in Barr's Archive format.

8. On the receiving BEPS machine, use Print Utility to poll the files in manually, or set up an automatically polled directory, expecting files to be in Barr Archive format.

Remember to allow necessary LAN rights to the output directory, for the Barr Service username, which actually writes the output files!

Using this technique requires the receiving machine to wait until the entire file has been written to disk by the sending machine before input can begin.

Print directly to another BEPS machine via LPR (Archive format):

1. Choose START | SETTINGS | PRINTERS | ADD (Registered Printer).

2. Give your intended output device a friendly on-screen name.  Printers will sort by this name.

3. Choose NEW PHYSICAL PRINTER, select WRITE TO A TCP/IP PRINT QUEUE in the drop-down listbox and click OK.

4. Check that Spool Printers are DISABLED at the prompt and then click OK again to create the printer.

5. At the LPR PORT CONFIGURATION dialog, on the JOB tab, enter the TCP/IP address of the receiving BEPS machine and enter a queuename on which to send Archive format files.

6. Choose the CONTENT tab, select USER DEFINED (-Ox) and enter "BARR" in the text box alongside.  Click OK.

7. On the printer's ADVANCED tab, choose SPECIAL: PASS LPR DATA TO THE LPR PORT.  (IMPORTANT!)

8. Click OK and the new output device will immediately appear in the SPOOL Window ready to send output to the BEPS machine specified at the IP address, in Barr's Archive format.

9. On the receiving BEPS machine, use TOOLS| TCP/IP CONFIGURATION to ADD a queue matching that specified in step 5. above.  Ensure the <default> and "-x" filetypes are set to Barr Archive format.  Click OK.

Remember to ensure the Barr LPD Service is actually running on the target machine!

This technique allows the receiving machine to begin processing and printing the received file as soon as the first page has arrived.

Q.  Who is/are Atac?

A.  Atac is the Barr and Emtex Distributor for Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.  With over thirteen years experience in the market, we support systems running 24x7x365 from Christchurch to Tokyo and Perth to Mumbai, in most of the largest print shops in the region.

Our customers include banks, print bureaux, financial institutions and petro-chemical companies as well as printer and mainframe vendors.  Outsourcing organisations and facilities management companies make extensive use of Atac's expertise.

Atac is privately owned, with an extensive technical background stretching back over thirty eight years of continuously profitable operation.

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