From the IBM software knowledgebase

Look for your model to be sure but I think the following apply's to most all
of them


The *Host-Based * column (formerly called the *Windows Only * column) shows
if a specific printer is a host-based printer. The term *Windows Only * *
printer * means that the printer was designed to be used only on a PC
running a version of Microsoft Windows and was also generally designed to be
used in a home or small office environment rather than in a networking
environment. The term *host-based printer * expands this to refer to any
printer that relies on the processing power of the host computer to generate
printable pages; for example, if the host computer is running one of the
versions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Macintosh operating system. The
term *Windows Only printer * is becoming somewhat obsolete because newer
printers that fit this category often come with printer software and printer
drivers that allow them to be used on Apple Macintosh computers and PCs
running one or more versions of the Linux operating system. However, the
term *Windows Only printer * will often continue to be used to describe
host-based printers.

Because they rely on the processing power of the host computer, host-based
printers do not need a powerful processor of their own and, therefore, they
tend to be less expensive than conventional printers. However, because they
share the computer's processor, they might be slow and might slow down other
tasks running on the computer. Host-based printers typically use a
proprietary printer data stream rather than an industry-standard printer
data stream such as IBM Proprinter Data Stream (PPDS), Epson ESC/P2, HP
Printer Control Language (PCL), or Adobe PostScript (PS).

Because they use a proprietary printer data stream, they do not work with
Host Print Transform (HPT) or a PC5250 Printer Definition Table (PDT) file.
Because they will not work with HPT, they also will not work to print *AFPDS
spooled files through the AFPDS-to-ASCII Transform code within HPT. The only
way to get a host-based printer to print OS/400 or i5/OS spooled files is to
attached it to a host computer and then use printer emulation software, such
as a PC5250 printer session, to print the OS/400 or i5/OS spooled file
through the host-based printer driver.

On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 4:57 PM, Grizzly Malchow <
grizzlym@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

We have a Host-Based printer that does not support PCL. Can anyone tell
me if it will be possible to ever get anything to successfully print to
that printer from our System i? The printer would be set up as a Client
Access printer session. I've tried setting the TRANSFORM value of the
device to *NO but that doesn't produce any acceptable results.

Thanks in advance.


To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

This thread ...


Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page