topic Re: Is this possible? in Operating System - HP-UX

Is this possible?

Managed Services — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 09:09:53 GMT

Is it possible to send a printer a configuration string to set specific margin and font sizes. The printer in question is an all singing, dancing Ricoh 1045 photocopier/printer combination.
Any pointers greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance.
C.

Re: Is this possible?

Stefan Farrelly — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 09:12:26 GMT

It is possible. All you need is a driver from Ricoh for HP-UX which can send the proper control codes to the printer depending on what you want. You wont get a driver from HP and Im unsure if Ricoh will do one for HP-UX.

Re: Is this possible?

Paula J Frazer-Campbell — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 09:49:11 GMT

Hi

Also check the printers emulation - it may emulate HP.

Paula

Re: Is this possible?

Cheryl Griffin — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 10:19:54 GMT

There may be other suggestions as well if you try the printers forums at http://bizforums.itrc.hp.com/cm/FamilyHome/1,,412,00.html

Cheryl

Re: Is this possible?

Shannon Petry — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 15:04:13 GMT

Looking into doing this for an HP and Tektronics printer brought me lots of grief, so I wish you luck. I'll give you the pointers on where I got with mine to get you hopefully pointed in the correct direction.

The HP printer used PJL for commands. I had to rewrite the LP set to be wrappers and add the PJL to the prints where needed. Getting the PJL commands from HP was as hard as removing wisdom teath.

Tektronics required postscript commands for commands. They shipped me all their commands with proof of ownership, and were really helpfull. It still required a rewrite of the LP commands to add headers where needed.

One day I'll be really insane, and merge the two systems.... well, maybe not.

Shannon

Re: Is this possible?

Bill Hassell — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 15:23:39 GMT

Printers in HP-UX do not have drivers. Instead, the SysV lp subsystem uses printer scripts to perform custom settings. Since there is no script for the Ricoh, you'll be using the dumb model or template script and that is where you create your custom strings.

No need to wrapper the lp command in this case. Now, if you want to control options like fonts and margins, you'll need to add options to the script stored in /etc/lp/interface under the name of the printer. Examples of how -o options are handled are found in /usr/lib/lp/model where one of the early HP model scripts will be fairly readable (ie, laserjet). You'll need the Ricoh tech manual to put in the proper codes. You can edit the script while the lp spooler is running.

Re: Is this possible?

Thomas M. Williams_1 — Mon, 07 Oct 2002 12:19:54 GMT

Yes this is possible. We have been doing this for years. Hopefully this fits your scenario. We have created script files called PRNs. Below is a sample PRN file called "prn17hp" which we use to set an HP laser printer to 17cpi. The "^[" is the sequence. You would need to find the specific codes to manipulate the device to your liking. The "^[[5i" and "^[[4i" are common codes to open the printer port (LPT) on your PC. You will need to replace the other codes to fit your needs as stated above.

#!/bin/ksh
echo "^[[5i" # Printer on
echo "^[&k2S\c" # 17 pitch
cat ${1} # Print file
echo "^[R\c" # Reset printer
echo "^[[4i" # Printer off