The slap FAQ
Author: Mike Spooner
Version 0.1: September 1999
This is only a very early draft
1) Introduction
1.1) What is slap?
slap is a UNIX command-line program for printing stick-on textual labels
using a Seiko Instruments' Smart Label Printer.
It can print in several typefaces and point-sizes.
1.2) What is a Smart Label Printer?
See
http://www.seikosmart.com/products/slp.htm.
1.3) Do Seiko Instruments provide driver software for these printers?
Yes, but only for Macintosh or Microsoft Windows (95, 98, NT, 2000, etc).
For UNIX systems, you need slap.
1.4) How about an interactive WYSIWYG version?
An X11/Motif version is under development [sep99].
An X11/XView version is also planned.
1.5) Which printer models are supported?
At the time of writing, every SLP model ever, ie:
- Smart Label Printer
- Smart Label Printer Plus
- Smart Label Printer EZ30
- Smart Label Printer Pro
- Smart Label Printer 120
- Smart Label Printer 220
1.2) Which size labels are supported?
All the standard Seiko label sizes (at the time of writing), ie:
| |
| Name | Size in mm |
|---|
| address | 28 x 89 |
| large address | 28 x 89 |
| euro address | 36 x 89 |
| diskette | 54 x 70 |
| shipping | 54 x 101 |
| file folder | 14 x 87 |
| large file folder | 14 x 87 |
| 1x2 multipurpose | 28 x 51 |
|
2) Software Build Problems
2.1) GNU C and Solaris: "parse error before `*'"
GNU C 2.8.1 has a configuration bug under Solaris 2.x. As a workround,
set the following variable in the slap makefile:
POSIX1_TERMIOS_EXTENSIONS=-D__EXTENSIONS__
GNU C releases prior to 2.8.0 must be reinstalled
after upgrading Solaris or installing Solaris patches that
update system header files. Failure to do so can cause
GNU C to reject some valid C programs, and other troubles too.
Old releases of GNU C (eg: 2.3.3) do not handle the Solaris header
files very well. The same workround as for GNU C 2.8.1 will
at least allow you to compile slap.
3) Miscellaneous Troubleshooting
3.1) SLP-120 or -220 printer on builtin serial-port of pre-1997 SPARC systems
The builtin serial-ports of older Sun SPARC systems cannot run
asynchronously at 57600 baud, even though the Solaris "zs" driver
lets applications set such a speed without any error indication
(this is a Solaris 2.1-2.6 "zs" driver bug).
This causes slap to grind to a halt without actually managing to print
anything, sometimes accompanied by a few audible "clicks" from the printer.
The workround is to give the -b38400 flag on the slap command-line
when using an SLP-120 or SLP-220 printer on a builtin serial port.
Note that add-on serial ports (SBus card, SCSI port box, etc),
and PCI-based SPARC workstations, do not have this problem.
3.2) SLP-120 or -220 printer misfeeds when loading a new reel of labels
These printers need the newer type of labels that have a black
square printed on the backing paper (they use this to detect top-of-page).
The SLP, SLP Plus, SLP EZ30 and SLP Pro use the holes between each
label to detect top-of-form, so will work with both old and new types of
labels.