DuraLink R3.1.5 

Software component revisions

Changes:

• ForceCollateInSpooler is deprecated and ignored in DuraLink 3.1.5.
• Collation now works like this:
  • If the job will fit into the Spooler’s page pool (based on calculations made in the Render Action), then the job is collated in the Spooler. These calculations very closely align with the same calculations in the DuraLink Spooler so should be quite accurate.
  • If the job will not fit, it will be collated in the Render Action.
• ForceNCopyCollate is deprecated and ignored in DuraLink 3.1.5. The previous behaviour for single-page jobs can be replicated by setting Collate on the Output Options dialog.
• The way in which the DuraLink Spooler assigns the Page Pool can be controlled by a .ini setting; see the installation document.
• When calibrating using the NCE 'Calibration' tab, the push calibration job will be completed successfully (it will no longer remain in the workflow in 'errored' state.)
• When using the NCE 'Calibrations' tab for strip-scanning calibration, a workflow named 'calibration' will be used. This is used when printing an uncalibrated target, scanning patches, and printing a calibrated target.
• Render Action and XiService will process calibration jobs through a single non-persistent RIP, stopping the RIP farm if required.
• Push calibration jobs are now correctly sent to all RIPs running in persistent RIP mode.
• Persistent RIP mode is now enabled by default for efficiency.
• The pre-job copying of job files and ICC profiles to RIP hosts is now threaded for efficiency. This can be disabled, see the installation document.
• The system should now be able to run without SLP running, aside from being able to make changes in the Head Assignment Tool.
• The job will automatically be collated in the spooler’s page pool memory if it fits. It not, collation will be handled in the Render Action by executing the job N times (where N is the copy count). There are messages output to the XFDebug.log, tagged 'TRA' when this decision is made, to aid in possibly increasing the amount of RAM allocated to the spooler(s).
• Improvements to RIP/Spooler communications.
• Improvements to post-job cleanup in the Spooler.
• Improvements to cancelling and error recovery, including improved status messages for cancelled jobs.
• Improvements to support to minimize timing out waiting for a NamedPipe instance.
• Logging improvements, screening messages moved to level 3.
• Change default for 'rotate logs per session' to off. Should now only rotate per day.
• Default number of logs to keep set to 20.
• Fixes for memory leaks on large jobs with barcodes that are images.
• Fixes for duplex head counting.
• Fix for pages per head calculation.
• DuraLink Spooler: fix for issue with a mix of enabled and disabled print bars.
• DuraLink Spooler: fix for an issue handling collation due to a timer not being reset.
• Navigator Server and Web Server Client: Added Web API command 'PushPSJob'.
• Render Action: corrected a crash related to handling log messages.
• Updated Chinese localization for Navigator Server and Client.
• Updated RIP Farm utilities.
• The 'Stop Farm Rips' button on the XiService control dialog is hidden and can be revealed by a .ini setting; see the installation document.
• HHR 13.2.6.8: Periodically post events while waiting on the spooler to start a job or page, so the TRA doesn't time out. This can happen on collated jobs with large copy counts, or if the press is paused during a job.
• HHR 13.2.6.9: Correction for truncating jobs in the middle of a UTF-8 sequence.
• Page Filter Action, correction for 4x4x1 press incorrectly duplicating page 7 split 3 as page 8 split 3.
• Installer only, not updater: updated from Sentinel System Driver Installer 7.5.7 to Sentinel Protection Installer 7.7.1.
• JIRA XIT-1422 Ensure errors which occur when RIPping a job (such as missing fonts) are reported with full wording.

DuraLink R3.1.4

HHR RIP updated to v13.1.0.22 to overcome issue with feathered stitch areas being too light when stitch overlap

trim value is > 15um.

DuraLink R3.1.3

• Render Action updated to v8.5.2.4, corrects a bug where the Reverse Page Range control was defaulting to 'on' even though the control was displayed as 'off'. The issue occurs with a new workflow where the Reverse Page Range control has never been 'touched' by the user. The result was that pages were unexpectedly output in reversed order. In RenderAction 8.5.2.4, this setting will default to 'off'.

DuraLink R3.1.2

• DuraLink Spooler: Correction for a problem causing some jobs to stall during output on a monochrome DuraLink press.
• For monochrome presses, R3.1.1 would RIP to CMYK and output to K. R3.1.2 will RIP to Gray and output to K.
• Navigator Client: now has reverse page range and collate controls.
• RIP: The ODC library has been updated.
• Correction for issue with reverse page range.
• Added compatibility with duplex presses having different printbar offsets and widths on the two stages.
• Render Action: Correct order of strips when page order is reversed.
• Page Filter Action: Corrected an issue when printing a narrow job with a narrow printable width.
• Navigator Server: added ForceNCopyCollate setting to partly work around an issue with output to press stalling when sending jobs with more than 200 pages, however this workaround only applies to single-page jobs.

In XiFlowServer.ini add

[TRA] ForceNCopyCollate=1

The default setting is 0, retaining the behavior in DuraLink R3.1.1, where a single-page job will be sent to JSL with a copy count set.
If this flag is set to 1, single-page jobs being printed with a copy count greater than 1 will be sent as multiple pages.

Software component revisions

This release includes HDS Fine and HDS Medium Large/Medium/Small calibrated dithers, and AIS Mirror, Opal, Pearl.

* indicates that this item has been updated in this release.

• Python 3.x must be installed with the following options checked: “Add Python to environment variables”, “py launcher”, “Associate files with Python (requires the py launcher)”

This release uses the following Memjet software revisions

DuraLink R3.1.1

• Page Filter Action, correction to output page range values.
• Page Filter Action, correction to to slit and merge mode which was creating a PDF with no pages.
• DuraLink Spooler, corrections to Collation operation.
• Render Action, correction to timeout operation: honor timeout set in the configurion dialog and send timeout value to the RIP.
• LogJam version 10 has the capability to gather log files from remote RIP PCs.

• Navigator Server:

  • Correction for compatibility issue with PES API in DLSS-20A.
  • Correction for inability to launch NCE.
  • Correction for SLP compatibility issue with DLSS-19D.
  • Launch XFDebug by default to ensure XFDebug.log is produced.
  • Fix for resettting the pagesPrinted flag when re-processing a job.

• Correction for FILE_FORMAT error seen when large number of copies (ex: 200) job is sent to be RIPped.

• Correction for Job progress bar & page count in Oatley showing incorrect page info when printing collated jobs.

• Correction for RIP failure to reprocess collated jobs.

• XiEvents: clear old events to reduce the size of the working set over long periods.

• HHR

  • libtiffrast no longer posts COMPLETED event if called from the control RIP.
  • Ensure SyncCount value is set.

DuraLink R3.1

R3.1 adds support for multiple RIP PCs, adding RIP-ony installer and Head Assignment Tool.

DuraLink R3

DuraLink R3 is the first 'hardware reduction' release from Xitron, simplifying configuration and reducing the number of PCs. R3.1 allows multiple RIP PCs

Overview

Major differences from DuraLink R2

• The RIP has changed from Hybrid Software Group's Harlequin MultiRIP (HMR) to Harlequin Host Renderer (HHR), using its Scalable RIP option. Up to eight RIP cores may be run in parallel, in a ‘RIP farm’.
• One RIP instance acts as a 'master', and spawns RIP subprocesses. All these including the master are identical 'clrip.exe' instances, which terminate when each job is complete.
• If the RIP farm is disabled, a single RIP will be used.
• There is no need to duplicate RIP instances, so the Multi-RIP Configuration tool is not used.
• The Page Filter Action no longer slices into one file per press strip. All slices are stored in a single PDF sequenced across the printbar, in stage order.
• A single workflow is used, with no need for separate 'File Prep' and 'Press Output' workflows.
• The workflow uses a single 'Render Action' for output to the press, rather than a number of RIP Output Actions.
• The default configuration may be adjusted using the Navigator Configurations Editor (launched using the 'NCE' shortcut in User Resources\Xitron Shortcuts). This edits JSON configuration files stored under Navigator\Config\RenderConfig.
• Some settings may be overridden using the Navigator Client, Workflow Editor.
• ODC processing now processes feathering (cross-fading between adjacent print heads); 'feathered' CCTs are no longer required.
• XiRemote is no longer required.
• There is no longer a requirement for the workflow to have a separate RIP Action step for each RIP PC.
• The Web Server Client default port is 81 rather than 80. This is reflected in the shortcuts for launching NCE and DCE.
• LogJam version 10 has the capability to gather log files from remote RIP PCs.

Important note regarding duplex presses

If the press is asymmetrical, the two stages will require separate PCs.

The number of printbars per stage is obtained from the Stage 1 ('Front') configuration only. As a result, asymmetrical presses (i.e. those which support different color channels on the two sides of the press) must be mechanically configured as follows. The number of enabled printbars on Stage 2 ('Rear') must not be greater than on Stage 1 ('Front'). This restriction is expected to be removed in a future release.

For example,

New Features

• There are separate installers for the Server/Client/RIP PC and RIP-only PCs.

• Two processing modes are supported:

  • Non-transactional, supporting press-wide pages in input documents. The feathering for stitch overlaps is now calculated on the fly, rather than using special CCTs.
  • Transactional, supporting US Letter-sized pages in input documents. Slit and Merge and DualStream (renamed to MultiStream) transactional modes are available.

• Support for 925dpi vertical resolution has been added.

• There is now no need for manual configuration of the RenderConfig to match the press color channels.

Separate RenderConfig definitions for the two stages of a duplex press

RenderConfig definitions created in NCE, with names ending in _S2 will be applied specifically to Stage 2 of duplex presses. If not present, the RenderConfig selected in the Workflow Editor will be applied. The following caveats apply:

* The overrides specified in the RenderAction of the Workflow editor will be applied to both press stages. * There is not yet the capability to apply different calibrations to the two press stages.

Custom 'OEM' tags

These may be added to jobs, to enable the press console to report job page and copy information. This is controlled by the 'Add page/copy info tags' setting in the DuraLink Spooler configuration dialog.

The page and copy count information is added to the ABT stream using OEM_CUSTOM tag 199200. Depending on whether the copy count is greater than 1 and collate is on, this will take one of these forms: 1. Page X of Y / Copy n of N 2. Page X of Y / N copies 3. Page X of Y / 1 copy

Separator pages

Blank pages may be added between jobs. This is controlled by the 'Separator Pages' setting in the DuraLink Spooler configuration dialog.
If you wish the separator pages not to be blank, the top 25% of each page may be set to gray, 0xCC:

• Edit %appdata%\Xitron\DuraLinkSpooler\DuraLinkSpooler.ini
• Add

[SeparatorPages] AddBlankPageData=1

Please note that when printing ODC calibration charts:

• Separator pages must be disabled. This is required to preserve the front/back page placement defined in the ODC PDF file for duplex printers.
• Custom 'OEM' tags should be disabled, or if they are enabled, the page and copy count information should be ignored by the user.

StreamOnStart

Optionally, DuraLink Spooler will start streaming output to the press as soon as data is available, rather than waiting for the output buffers to be full. This setting is off (0) by default. To enable this option: - Edit %appdata%\Xitron\DuraLinkSpooler\DuraLinkSpooler.ini - Add

[Output] StreamOnStart=1

Throttle DuraLink Spooler output to balance printhead output queues

Introduced in DuraLink version: R3.1.

Edit %appdata%\Xitron\DuraLinkSpooler\DuraLinkSpooler.ini.

Add

[Output] ThrottlePageMargin=5

This setting specifies a limit to the number of pages this printhead module may buffer.

For instance a setting of 5 means no channel can get more than five pages ahead of any other. It may be worth increasing this to 10 or 20 to see if the overall transfer speed picks up.

Default value: 5

Set DuraLink Spooler output thread priority

Introduced in DuraLink version: R3.1.

Edit %appdata%\Xitron\DuraLinkSpooler\DuraLinkSpooler.ini.

Add

[Output] ThreadPriority=0

Possible values: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, where -2 is the lowest priority and 2 is the highest.

Default value: 0

RenderConfig templates are no longer cached

In DuraLink 3.0, cached versions of the RenderConfig templates would be created in the Navigator\Config\RenderConfig folder, bearing the name of the corresponding RenderConfig setting in NCE. DuraLink R3.1 instead creates the RenderConfigs in the RIP folder for each job, and does not cache them. Any existing named RenderConfig will be ignored. When RenderConfig files are created in the RIP folder, they will be adapted to suit the press color channels. It is no longer necessary to edit RenderConfig template files to match the available color channels on the press.

If you require the cached version still to be created and used (as in DuraLink R3.0), the following setting in XiflowServer.ini will enable it. The default value, zero, causes any cached RenderConfig files to be ignored and no new ones to be created.

[TRA] CheckForCachedRC=1

Disabling ODC in RIP screening

This may be necessary in order to work around an issue processing jobs on a press in Stitching mode, where the press is configured with 0 stitch overlap.
Xitron considers the case of 0 stitch overlap to be unsupported by Memjet. With this setting in place, jobs will be processed with no ODC being applied.
In %PROGRAMDATA%\Xitron, create a file ScreeningDebug.txt with exact content Disable_CCT starting in the first column.

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