We recently decided that we were going to use Tessitura to ticket an upcoming performance (it's a specialty performance and, unfortunately, the rest of our performances are ticketed through ProVenue because of our shared performance space), and we've been having trouble getting our Boca to print anything outside of test tickets when we push the physical test button on the printer.
We're using Windows 7 and at first were having trouble getting the Boca to show up as a Printer at all (it showed up as an "Unspecified" thermal printer device), but we seem to have resolved that and have installed the "Generic/Text Only" driver suggested in Tessitura documentation. However, we can't print a test page through Windows and--even though the Boca shows up in Tessitura (we use RAMP) as a ticket printer--we can't test print from the Ticket Design window or through Ticket Orders.
Literally the only way we can get this Boca to spit out a printed ticket is by pushing the test button on the physical unit, despite everything else appearing on the computer as though the Boca is being recognized and should be appropriately set up to print.
As we're running out of time before we need to make the call to go with an alternate ticket thought or get this figured out, has anybody encountered this kind of scenario before? Would love to get some help or perspective on this.
Thank you!
Thank you all for the suggestions and commiseration!
Here's a quick update on where we currently stand:
Since the performance we were hoping to ticket is happening two weeks from tomorrow, we've enlisted our Graphic Designer in creating General Admission ticket we can use until we figure out our Boca printer issues. It's frustrating though, since it seems as though everything we've done--and every bit of feedback we're seeing from our setup--suggests that the Boca should print our tickets, but it isn't.
Thank you again for the help and support, and I'm happy for any new ideas as well.
Hi Brian,
After reading what Daniel had written, I believe that the problem you are having is due to the fact that your Boca setup for ProVenue is conflicting with that of Tessitura Boca/2X. If ProVenue is working, Tessitura will not. If you have multiple Bocas and client terminals, maybe you can dedicate each terminal to either Tessitura or ProVenue. Daniel has described a solution, which has worked for him during transition, but it probably would not be practical in your operating environment.
The new USB hub may potentially be source of a problem, too. We have a Boca dedicated to a manager terminal using USB (1.1 and 2.0) to Parallel adapter, which works fine on USB 3.,0 on the terminal, after following the instructions from the adapter. our Bocas are that old.
Hope this helps!
Ahmet Unal, IS Manager, UMSL - Touhill PAC
Ahmet,
Just to clarify something I didn't do a good job clarifying in my initial message, here's the history of the Boca printer in question:
From Daniel's example it sounds like he's forced to constantly go back and forth between ProVenue and 2X/Tessitura setups, but in our case with the new workstation we should (theoretically, anyway!) only be trying to get the Boca to talk to 2X/Tessitura and (unless the Boca is harboring any leftover programming from ProVenue) the Boca should not have any lingering feelings for ProVenue.
As for the USB hub, this morning was our first attempt to use it as part of the connection flow between the computer and the Boca; we've seen the same results with the USB hub in place as we did before it was purchased.
Brian,
It seems like the issue is with the USB configuration at the final location of the Boca printer. It could be as simple as a USB conflict, and you did not even need a new USB hub. On the other hand, if Boca had suggested trying a USB hub, it is likley that it was needed. First check the installation manual of the USB hub, if there is one. Then, I would recommend contacting USB hub's tech support. Maybe they have a support website. You can also google "Troubleshooting USB Connections with Windows X" as a last resort. Most will tell you not to connect the hub initially for troubleshooting, but this may not apply to your case, as USB 1.0 to 3.0 conversion may be needed to start with.
Good luck!
Ahmet Unal, IS Manager, UMSL - Touhill
If you try to print anything from somewhere other than Tessitura (IE: a windows print test page) then what I had to do was restart the BOCA (from the power switch in the back) in order to get it to recognize that it needed to use the generic text driver.
Also, we were on PVM not PV so I'm not sure if it works the same but on PVM we had default ticket printers setup in programming so it would automatically try to grab a BOCA. Even if the BOCA hadn't had anything print to it we would still have to restart the printer for some reason before we could use it in Tess.
What OS are you using?
Thanks,Daniel
Daniel,
We're using Windows 7 for our OS; I'd say that I wish we'd taken advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 in our office but it sounds like Bocas are kinda finicky with that too.
Since the new workstation we're trying to install the Boca on doesn't use ProVenue or have any half-installed vestiges of that service, I'm fairly sure that's not part of the issue we're having at present (unless, as mentioned previously, the Boca has stored some of its ProVenue thinking to unleash upon me).
Sounds like we're going to hop on a call with Tessitura support tomorrow or Monday to give it another crack, so I'll keep everyone updated.
Thank you,
Brian
Hi Daniel
Sorry for my late entry. Hope you found the answer but here was our solution.
We found two Windows 7 patches that affect Boca printing as you've described. 2923545 and 2830477 if installed on the pc will not send the job to the boca local queue.
Renee McCrea
Thanks for your detailed account, it was really helpful today trouble shooting my BOCA printer woes. I had a very similar problem to yours, I could see that it was printing, but no physical tickets were printing out.
Today my IT consultant managed to identify that the problem was I was using a serial to serial cable and what I needed was a serial to RJ12 cable. Well, they are now on order, so we shall see how that goes!
Cheers,
Prue