HPUX 11.0 and HP LaserJet 4200

[Jason Nickelson_1]

I installed the LJ 4200 on our Unix box (It's an old K580 running 11.0 32bit) as a network printer. Used the same driver that I've used with every 4000, 4050, 4100. It prints just fine from command line. When the accounting people print to it, it prints in the standard size/font when it's supposed to print in a 'condensed' format to be able to print everything on the page. I've tried playing with the settings (pitch and font) on the printer itself, which doesn't seem to change anything. The application group is telling me that the setup (within the ERP application) is the same for this 4200 as it is for every other 4000, 4050, 4100.

Do the 4200's take a different driver? Has anyone run into problems with the LaserJet 4200's on Unix? Are the application people just pointing fingers at the systems people again?

[Bill Hassell]

Never play with the printer defaults on a network printer. Both Windows and some Unix systems assume a standard font, pitch, etc. This can lead to apparently erratic behavior between different printers.

HP-UX doesn't have any drivers. Instead, a printing script is run when the lp command accepts a print job. This is where you can change fonts, pitch, etc. Try this:

lp -dlj4200 -10 /etc/profile

You'll see the font is a condensed font that can print 96 chars/line in portrait mode. Or you could change -12 to -c for a very small font. To read about all the options, man net_ljx000

Now if your application has no way to specify lp options, then you'll have to examine the content of the print file and decode the various PCL escape sequences to see exactly what the app sent to the printer. The printer scripts do almost nothing to the raw data except reset the printer to power-on defaults.

[Steve Steel]

Hi


Add the home directory of the Jetdirect software to the MANPATH

example
export MANPATH=/opt/hpnpl/man:$MANPATH

Then man net_ljx000 and look at the options.

look at
http://www.hp.com/pond/modelscripts/

Where the latest script versions can be found


Steve Steel