want 2 printers to print the same font

[Marc Ahrendt]

i have 2 network printers and each are the following printer types
ordjcmp1 is a HP Business Inkjet 1200N
orlj4cmp is a HP Laserjet 4Plus

basically the following is the font problem
1) both printouts below are identical ...but the default font used is not desired
cat /tmp/frog | lpr -dordjcmp1
cat /tmp/frog | lpr -dorlj4cmp
2) both printouts below are not identical ...orlj4cmp is as desired but ordjcmp1 has larger and different fonts
cat /tmp/frog | lpr -dorlj4cmp -onb -o12 -olpi8 -otl082
cat /tmp/frog | lpr -dordjcmp1 -onb -o12 -olpi8 -otl082

so for some reason the two printers are acting differently with those given options

how can i make ordjcmp1 print like orlj4cmp when using options "-onb -o12 -olpi8 -otl082"?
FYI: part of the problem for me is that i do not understand these options being used by the application developer here

below is what i see different in their configuration on the rp5470 HP-UX 11.11 server
cd /etc/lp/interface
diff orlj4cmp ordjcmp1
< PRINTERCFG=/opt/hpnpl/admin/printers/10.cfg
> PRINTERCFG=/opt/hpnpl/admin/printers/7.cfg
< PERIPH=orlj4cmp
> PERIPH=157.165.185.65
< DEVTYPE="PJL"
< TEOJ="-w"
> DEVTYPE=""
> TEOJ=""
cd /opt/hpnpl/admin/printers
diff 10.cfg 7.cfg
< # $Header: /users/hpnp/odyssey/repository/admin/printers/10.cfg.psh,v 1.1.1.1 2001/1
0/15 19:14:54 hpnp Exp $
> # $Header: /users/hpnp/odyssey/repository/admin/printers/7.cfg.psh,v 1.1.1.1 2001/10
/15 19:14:54 hpnp Exp $
< PERIPHTYPE="lj4pls"
> PERIPHTYPE="dj1200c"
< TEOJ="off"
> TEOJ="na"

thx, marc (i searched the forum 1st and did not find anything seemingly relevant before posting)

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

Inkjets and Laser printers are extremely different devices, intended for very different environments. The default font is determined from the front panel of the printer and should *NEVER* be changed on any shared printer. The reason is that printing a simple text always depends on what the printer has setup from the front panel. The default font for HP printers is fint #0, but there is no reason to assume that a DeskJet has a similar font compared to a LaserJet. In fact, the Courier font (default font #0 for LaserJets) has varied slightly in physical size and appearance over the years (compare a LaserJet II with a LaserJet 4600 for instance). The height and width will be slightly different depending on resolution and age of the printer.

With all that said, I am assuming you are printing plain ASCII files with no included escape sequences to do something fancy. Here are the options (which are found in the man pages for the JetDirect printers such as man net_lj4x:

-onb = no banner page in front of each job
-o12 = set the font to 12 characters per inch
-olpi8 = set the lines per inch to 8
-otl082 = set the logical page length to 82 lines per page

Now here's the rub: 12 characters per inch does not guarentee a specific number of characters across the page. For most printers, it will be 96 chars, sometimes more, sometimes less...it depends on the model of the printer and the width of the printable area. lpi8 set the space between each line based on the current font, but this may result in too many or not enough lines per page depending on the font's metrics.

The logical page description gets really crazy when you play with lines per inch and font size (12). The *ONLY* way to resolve this is to get with the application developer and read the PCL programming manual where the various settings are explained, and most important, the interaction between similar options such as lpi and tl.

Then test each combination on each printer you plan to use. The biggest issue is that database developers tend to count lines and try to use every inch of the paper. And the problem occurs when the last line is printed just slightly over the end-of-page limit of the printer--which generates a page-eject and the last line is put on the next page. A better choice is to drop -olpi and -otl, and instead, use the inter-character spacing option: -ohsi and inter-line spacing option: -ovsi. Here are some examples:

lp -dprn_name -ohsi10 -ovsi8 /etc/issue
lp -dprn_name -ohsi8.25 -ovsi7.3 -o12 /etc/issue

and so on. hsi is the horizontal spacing increment (1/72 inch if I remember) and vsi is the vertical spacing increment. Make the numbers smaller and things get closer together. I wouldn't use the logical page length at all. Make sure the developer uses form-feed at the end of every page and understands about printable areas (from the PCL handbook).

[Marc Ahrendt]

thx Bill for the feedback ...i can't say that it really resolved my problem, since i have not got to testing your recommendations as of yet, but will update this thread on my results soon

marc