Install Zebra TLP3842 label printer to HP 9000 L2000 server

[Jun H. Lee]

Hi.
I am trying to install the Zebra label printer to our HP Unix server.
Does anyone can provide me the steps to do this installation? or point out to the resources at least?

Thank you so much.

[OldSchool]

Zebras are only supplied w/ windows drivers, although they can be connected to an ethernet card or a jetdirect box. zebra has an ethernet adapter, but I don't know how close it comes to emulating jet-direct.

it appears that these are usually installed as "dumbplot"

see this post (or search itrc for zebra)
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1085666

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi,

Will it be connected directly to the server or will you be configuring it as a remote queue?

please clarify

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Jun H. Lee]

Yogeeraj,

I am trying to set it as a remote printer because, the Zebra printer has its own ethernet card.

Thanks.

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

"remote printer" is the only choice for built-in LAN cards on non-HP printers. This means that there are no -o options but since the application software will be sending all the special codes, it will work OK. Before you get started, you need to look at the Zebra web site to find the name of the printer inside the LAN card. The "remote printer" protocol is called RFC 1179 and in order to choose the printer, the internal name of the printer must be supplied as part of the protocol. Names are something like: prn text raw ... but it depends on the manufacturer.

Then run SAM and add the printer as a remote device. You'll need to supply 3 items: printer queue (the local name use in HP-UX), the remote printer's IP address (I prefer IP as DNS administrators and /etc/hosts don't pay much attention to printers) and the remote printer's internal name as mentioned above. And make sure you check the BSD option. Then test with a simple file such as /etc/profile.

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi again,

As mentioned by Bill above, you can just use SAM to define a remote printer and the printing stuff should be taken care by application.

When the application will send the proper stream of escape characters, the appropriate label will be printed.

Try it. Should not be that difficult.

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Jun H. Lee]

Hi Bill,

I have followed your recommendation to setup a printer as a remote printer with a Zebra ethernet card's internal name (ZBR2212108). I am still having a problem to print any to Zebra printer. When I check the Zebra printer's web admin page, it seems receiving data communication from HP-UX server, but it just does not print.
Do you have any idea what am I missing here?

Thanks.

[Bill Hassell]

What language does the printer expect? Is it plain ASCII or Postscript? Are there special codes that must be sent to enable the printer? HP-UX doesn't know anything except plain ASCII although your application may have the special codes. You'll need to go over the technical reference manual for the details.

NOTE: I dug through the Zebra website and could not find any reference at all to the language used by the printer. To make matters worse, the specs talk only about Windows, no Macs, no Unix, no general purpose computers. It might be that this printer cannot be used on anything except a PC. The reason is that the printer may have no formatter and therefore cannot print anything until it is converted to a series of dots. This may not be the case but I would talk to Zebra first. HP also has "Windows-only" printers which can never be used on HP-UX.