attaching a hp network printer

[P.H. Vogt]

Hi

I just installed a new rp7410 server with hpux 11i and want to print to a HP network printer. To my astonishment hpux still comes without any network printer support.
Browsing the hp website only revealed a very old package
J2559C version D.06.21 that I have installed for now. It works but the user interface is not really up to date and I know there exists a new package J4189 but I can't find it anywhere on the HP sites.

So my question is, where to download the latest network printer tools for hpux.

It looks like the HP printer department does not want to have anything to do with the server departments because you can download everything from msdos till windows XP but hpux, true64 and openvms are mentioned nowhere.

Paul

[Pete Randall]

Hi Paul,

Have you tried this site:
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/nonjsnav/netprn.html

and in particular, this product:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Product.jsp%3Flocale%3Den_US%26prodTypeId%3D18972%26prodSubCatId%3D28674


Pete

[Chris Vail]

This is the 'real world' of IT. Unix systems still represent only 8-12% of the computers installed in the world. When a company, HP included, wants to write a printer driver, are they going to write it for 12% of the potential install base, or for 88%?
This is why print drivers for Unix (all variations) is out-of-date and underfeatured. There are very few cool graphical tools for using them, and tech support for them on *nix is somewhere between non-existant and laughable. Sadly, Microsoft products dominate the computers in the world, and we just have to learn to live with it.
At the same time, rarely do I see a need for cool printing requirements directly from the Unix environment. The days of the 3000LPM band printers are over. There may be a few legacy systems still around, but almost all printing is done by laser and/or inkjet printers. Even dot matrix printers are a fairly rare sight these days.
That all being said, there are ways to compromise the world of Microsoft products and the world of O/S's that actually work. The way to do this is network printing with lp services. For example, if you have a non-HP printer, or one that doesn't support LP services, but which DOES have a M$ driver, you can set up a print spooler on the M$ machine and have the Unix system print to that spooler. The M$ machine then has the right driver, and uses it to print your document. The exact way to accomplish this varies with the version of Windows that you're using. On the HP or Unix side, the set up is easy: just treat the M$ as though its another Unix box. This is where an experienced M$ sysadmin comes in handy. Or, there is lots and lots of experience represented in these forums, and you can ask specific questions here. We'll try to help if we can.

Chris

[Paul Sperry · Accepted solution]

You need to download and install JetDirect

You can do so here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?prodNum=J4189AA&prodName=hp+jd+printer+installer+for+hp-ux+11.x&locale=en_US&taskId=135&prodSeriesId=27349&prodTypeId=18972

[Shannon Petry]

HPUX does ship with LPR support. LPR is a network printing protocol supported by all HP printers that I know of. Set up a print queue to a remote UNIX system, give the printer name on the remote as AUTO and your done. (This works on most network printers actually, as lp is a much friendlier protocol than any of the others, smaller, and lighter weitht.)

Really, I find UNIX alot easier that PC's for basic printing needs.

Printing options like duplex, dpi, etc.. are not on a dialogue box, so printing graphics can be a pain, but most applications producing output for PS allow these selections anyway.

I use my Unix systems as the spoolers for everything including PC's as they dont lock up on print jobs like PC's do.

If you want config tools, you may want to look at jetadmin or web jet admin.

I think HP no longer supports these, but I have copies of both in lots of locations. I dont care about HP supporting it, I just want the tools to configure IP's and such.

Regards,
Shannon