Laserjet Printing

[BOB BARBA]

I wonder if anyone can offer me some advise.

We have an HP-UX system running Release 11. We have many models of HP laserjet configured. HPLJ4, 4Si, 8010DN, 5Si, 5, 4100, 4050TN etc.

These are network printers configured through Jetdirect cards or boxes.

I often have difficulty ascertaining which HP-UX model to use when configuring the printers through Jetadmin. For example for the 4050 there is no specific model - should I use the 'Dumbplot printer' option or should I select '4000 Series'?

The second part of the problem is printing from within our Oracle Application (Financials). We have to configure each type of printer in the Application. We have to add the correct initialisation string to each printer type to ensure that the prints are formatted correctly. Each different printer seems to react differently to each initialisation string. The initialisation string that formats a print correctly in Landscape for a HPLJ4SI will not work with our HPLP8010DN. To make matters worst the printers are located around the world so I do not have any of the manuals detailing the escape codes. Can I get the codes related to each printer through the web? Should they all be different for each printer? Is there anywhere that I can go to to get pre-defined initialisation strings for the obvious styles like 'Landscape', 'Portrait', 'Landwide', etc.

Sorry that this rambles on a bit but any help will be welcomed. Many thanks ... Bob Barba

[linuxfan]

Hi Bob,

Not sure how much of a help this would be but i'll try.

Instead of jetadmin there is a not so popular "/opt/hpnp/bin/addqueue" utility.

"addqueue -l" lists all the printers it supports and it lists most of the HP printers" and configuring a printer is very easy (man addqueue for more info)

Eg: Lets say you want to add a HPLJ4
addqueue -l gives the printer id as 3
so to add the printer HPLJ4 with the printqueue hplj4 you just do

addqueue -i 3 -h xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -q hplh4
where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the ip address of the printer

-HTH
Ramesh

[Stefan Schulz]

Hi Bob,

i would make sure to have the newest version of jetadmin installed. Normaly Jetadmin should be able to recognize the necessary modelscript.

Til now i got this selection you are refering to only when using a new printer with an old jetadmin.

Whats the version of your jetadmin?

On the other hand i have some LJ5000 running perfectly well with the modelscripts for the LJ4 series. So the modelscripts don't differ to much.

If you have to choose i would take the '4000 Series' for all LJ4xxx.

You also might be able to solve the problem with the different configurations by using just 1 modelscript for all your printers. This might sound a little bit stupid, but as this modelscripts don't differ to much and all those printers understand PCL this might help you.

It depends on what you want to print. If you have only ASCII Text the different modelscripts make no difference.

For the PCL codes: I don't have a CD at hand which came with the printer, but isn't there a PCL documentation somewhere on this CD?

If not, i got a documentation for the PCL commands my XEROX understands from our local dealer. Perhaps your dealer could help you.

Hope this helps

Regards Stefan

[Irine Gibilisco]

Bob,
Definately download the new Jetadmin. Until then, Laserjet4 driver is the best one-fits-all solution for you. You should be able to get to all the fonts and sizes with it, but LaserJet4 will not help you control different input trays or double-sided printing, of which your new printer is most likely capable of.
Good luck.

[Bill Hassell]

The PCL language is just as complex as Postscript and many of the codes are implemented differently because of the way the printer handles paper. Smaller printers run the paper lengthwise while other models run the paper widthwise and this means landscape versus portrait needs some careful thought.

Many (but not all) of the LaserJet PCL codes are on the web at:

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpl02705.html

Most of the printer scripts are very similar and for printers that jetadmin or addqueue does not understand, you can use generic model scripts, typically net_lj5x. Setting the startup strings will have to be tried with each printer model, but you may need a lot more details than the web page can supply, so check out:

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpl01354.html