1.1. com.adobe.mediabrowser.plist

This file is known to cause the following problems:

Computer running slow
Computer locking up
Server locking up
Files not opening
Files taking forever to open

Unfortunately this is by design. It's a temporary file intended for use with Adobe Bridge. Because of tighter integration in CS3 it is also used by all the other Adobe apps in the suite. Occasionally the file gets corrupted and you will start to experience one or more of the symptoms above. If that happens, close your Adobe apps, find and delete the file, and restart the computer. The restart is not absolutely necessary but is recommended.

3.1. Distilling PDFs

Here is the process the Ad PDF process 1. Ads are printed to Max_Ads_PDF queue on the MaxWorkFlow. This process uses 3 modules - Max_Ads_PDF, Max_Ads_PDF_Q and Optimizer 22. Verify that none of these 3 modules are stopped or in error. 2. This Queue is designed to FTP the raw postscript files to Xserve1/AdsReadyToPaginate/!!!MaxPDFAds!!!/In/ 3. Acrobat Distiller should be running on FS1 (NOT XServe1) watches this folder along with several others. Specifically it is watching: /volume/AdsReadyToPaginate/!!!MaxPDFAds!!! NOTE: AdsReadyToPaginate must be mounted on FS1 for this to work 4. If a Red X is next to the Acrobat Distiller folder, this means the Watched folder has become corrupted and has to be deleted and recreated using the following steps: (a) Highlight the current watched folder and click the Remove Folder icon. (b) Click Add Folder and browse to /AdsReadyToPaginate/!!!MaxPDFAds!!! and click Open. (c) The folder should appear in the Watched Folders window as: /volume/AdsReadyToPaginate/!!!MaxPDFAds!!! (d) Highlight the folder and click the Load Settings icon. (e) Select "Press Quality-Brad" and click Load. (f) Click OK closing the Watched Folders window. 5. Verify that a program is running on FS1 named "Restart Distiller." It is located in the Dock and restarts Distiller every 15 minutes.

3.2. Ad Image Correction

In order to help make images used in advertising more consistent and controllable, we've setup a process that uses automatic image correction software which the newsroom currently uses.

On the AdsReadyToPaginate volume is a folder named "!!!ImageProcessor!!!. Inside of it are several other folders. Specifically:

• Ads_Color_Average
• Ads_Color_Dark
• Ads_Color_Light
• Ads_Color_ALL
  

• Ads_Gray_Average
• Ads_Gray_Dark
• Ads_Gray_Light
• Ads_Gray_ALL
  

• Processed
  

To use the image correction software, evaluate the photo you are working on. If it is going to print as color and seems to be an average color photo, put it in the Ads_Color_Average folder. If the image seems dark, place it into the Ads_Color_Dark folder or if it is light, the Ads_Color_Light folder. If you are unsure or want to test all corrections, place it into Ads_Color_All and it will process the image using all three of the color queues.

The process is the same for black and white photos.

After a minute or two, the finished images should appear in the Processed folder. To help identify the images they are flagged with identifying suffixes. Specifically:

• Ads_Color_Average _CA
• Ads_Color_Dark _CD
• Ads_Color_Light _CL
• Ads_Gray_Average _GA
• Ads_Gray_Dark _GD
• Ads_Gray_Light _GL
  

A few things to note:

1. As far as the image adjustments are concerned, this is a work in progress. While some images corrections are done to newsroom images now, they are typically already very good quality. Advertising images may vary wildly, so these queues may not always work for every photo. We will just have to watch.
2. RGB images will be automatically converted to CMYK when run through the color queues
3. Color images will be automatically converted to grayscale when run through the gray queues.
4. This process uses a custom interface program that moves the files from AdsReadyToPaginate to the newsroom server. This keeps us from exceeding seat licenses on the newsroom server and keeps design from having yet another volume on their desktops. While I have tested this application, pretty thoroughly their may be hickups. Please keep me informed of any problems.
   

4.1. Browser Issues

5.1. Entourage crashes when opening the Quarantine Summary email

This is due to certain junk messages in the quarantine summary report containing characters that Entourage doesn't know how to display. You will have to hide the Preview Pane and delete the report to fix it.

Here's how:

1) Open Entourage.
2) On the View menu, mouse-over Preview Pane and select None.
3) Single-click on the Quarantine Summary Report email and hit Delete on your keyboard.
4) Right-click on the Deleted Items folder and select Empty Deleted Items.
5) On the View menu, mouse-over Preview Pane and select Below List or On Right (personal preference).

6.1. Browser Issues

The Promantek TrakStar web site only works on two web browsers:

Firefox (Mac or PC)
Internet Explorer 6 or higher (PC Only)

If you do not have one of these browsers on your computer, you will need to download and/or update them. Firefox for Mac (2.0.0.5) is downloadable below. For PC users, you can get the updates for Internet Explorer through Microsoft Update:

http://update.microsoft.com 

7.1. Label Studio History

Postware has been purchased by FirstLogic, which was purchased by BusinessObjects (Business Objects was recently purchased by SAP).  BusinessObjects discontinued Datalabel as of 2004, and has a new application Label Studio.  Label Studio does not support graphical barcode printing.  If the printer has a barcode font, then it *should* be supported.  However, this not for the following printer models:

Partially supported printer list
Epson DFX-9000
Epson DFX-8500
Epson FX-2190
Epson FX-2180
Oki PaceMark 3410

Partially supported printers print a barcode, but if the barcode is not a complete Zip and Zip4 and delivery point barcode, the barcode will not completely print, and then the labels will get off track. I will detail the fixes in later chapters.

7.2. Epson Workarounds (with barcode font)

The Epson barcode font requires to know in advance the number of barcode digits. This is NOT possible for Label Studio to correctly handle. All Epson barcode-font style printers should be affected by this bug.  The printers that I know are affected are:

Epson DFX-9000
Epson DFX-8500
Epson FX-2190
Epson FX-2180

Barcode construction

The barcode is made up of 3 leading hex control codes, 6 digits of supporting hex codes, and between 6 and 12 data digits.  Only the supporting codes and data bytes are counted for barcode length.  The PostNet checkdigit MUST be included in the barcode by the program (LS does this). The 5th and 4th barcode digits are the barcode length, stored low order byte first (aka Little Endian mode).  The barcode font is set by the printer when the following hex commands are sent to it:

Part I: Epson ESC-P Start Bar Code Font

The start barcode command is 3 bits long. Bits 1-3
1b 28 01
1b = ESC
28 = Left Parentheses
42 = Capital B

Part II: Bar Code Size

The barcode size includes the 6 header bits. Bits 4-5 Stored in [LOB] [HOB] form
For Example:
12 00 ==> 0x12 or 18 characters in barcode
10 00 ==> 0x10 or 16 characters in barcode (no delivery point)
0c 00 ==> 0x0C or 12 characters in barcode (no zip+4)

Part III: Postnet Instructions

The following elements set the font into PostNet mode. Bits 5-11

07 02 00 01 01 00
07 - Postnet barcode
02 - Module width (2 = default) 2 dots per 1/120 of an inch
00 - Space Adjustment value (in units of 1/240 of an inch)
01 - Short bar code length (overridden by PostNet settings)
01 - Long bar code length (overridden by PostNet settings)
00 - Control flag binary bitfield
  Bit 0 - T/F Compute Check Digit
  Bit 1 - Add human readable characters
  Bit 2 - Position of Flag (EAN-13 and UPC-A only)
  Bit 3 - 7 reserved

Note (from ESC/P Programmer's manual, 1997) If there is invalid data (non-numeric digits), the barcode will not print.
Barcode printing is always unidirectional
Barcode will not print if it is out of the right hand margin
Barcode and text can be mixed in a line.

7.3. Epson Workarounds (for non-barcode font printers)

I'm not sure.  I had to reverse engineer Datalabel's format, and it seems that they did quite a few things wrong (set unidirectional printing then disable unidirectional printing THEN start barcode graphics;  software resetting printer after every label; using 1/6" line jumps instead of full line form feeds).

7.4. Oki/Okidata Pacemark workaround

This printer is similar to the Epson, the number of barcode digits have to be known in advance. Reseting the printer in the middle of the barcode (PBS workaround) does NOT work, it just causes the barcode not to print!