On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 12:49:15 +0100, gwicks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Phoebus R. Dokos (Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [ql-users] What printers do people use with their QL??
Regarding printer language the cheapest parallel-equipped printers (that
call themselves winprinters) in reality are not GDI printers anymore (as
opposed to 5 years ago). Instead they use PJL, a very basic language from
Zenographics. Most cheap LaserJets are fully HP PCL compatible as long as
you can initiate a PJL session and download the firmware to them, after
which they become full-fledged LaserJets (a good example is the LJ 1xxx
series that uses this trick). I have managed to download the firmware
independently from QPC2 to my HP LJ1000 (without using the "DOS Emulation"
as they call the regular PCL emulation on these ones) and it worked fine
after that using "RAW" transfer on ProWeSs.
Hi Phoebus,
I have been thinking about this message for a few days. Are you implying
that a lot of "Windows only" lasers could still print from QPC2? If so, can
you give more information about the technique, where you can get PJL from.
(Is it downloadable freeware etc?). What is your technique for downloading
PJL from QPC? It might be worthwhile if other of us who have lasers tried a
few experiments. If these are successful it would make a good article for QL
Today.
Geoff Wicks
http://members.lycos.co.uk/geoffwicks/justwords.htm
Hi Geoff,
first of all to provide some additional information which I discovered in the meantime. (My original information was all garbled and upon review resembled more mumbo-jumbo than actual usable info ;-)
In the description of what I did to print from QPC2 without use of HP LJ1000's emulation layer I borrowed information from the Linux HP LJ1000 Linux driver.
The documentation I read wasn't as clear as I thought it was. After a little more research here it goes:
1. PJL is NOT Zenographics' language. What IS Zenographics' contribution however is the format ZJS which indeed a lot of Windows printers use.
2. PJL IS a HP language that extends other HP Printer languages for Job Control (among other things). It's description (along with other HP languages/manuals) can be retrieved by following the link here: <url:http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au:8000/u/psz/ps.html>
Now what I did is the following:
1. Downloaded the firmware from QPC2 directly to the Windows driver that sent it to the printer. The technique used is simple: OPEN #4, PAR: COPY firmware TO PAR: CLOSE #4. After that the printer had a complete firmware that allowed PJL use. (Not a big deal but remember to link the PAR to the "Printer" option and not one of the LPTs
2. Many commands of the HP 1000's PJL implementation (in the downloadable firmware) are identical to PCL. The printer commands I used by utilising QPC2's redirection from PAR to the actual printer port therefore printed right. However the assumption that it is going to print PCL correctly in all cases if the Windows based PCL emulation (included WITH the driver - that I usually employ) is NOT correct. Going back to my tests, my documentation is rather flimsy and although I can guarantee that the USB printer DOES print using PCL commands from the major packages that I mentioned, I am not exactly sure if I used the standard method (ie use the standard LPT capture and then redirect QPC2 to LPT) or directly to the printer after downloading the firmware. However elementary printing (text only) IS possible using the technique described WITHOUT using the windows emulator. (Just tried it again and it does work so I wasn't mistaken). I will need to try again in a little while without the emulation layer in place to actually GUARANTEE that it works without the "roundabout way" Capture LPT1 redirect PAR to LPT1 etc... (Note that printers with default emulation layers DO the capturing automatically)
On the other printers...
I just concluded an EXTENSIVE test of the other USB printers that I have here (Lexmark Z25 and Z32) -which also means that all other Lexmarks in their class will also work as the differences are trivial-) and they DO indeed print fully from QPC if the same technique (redirection to the emulation layer) is used. However you need first the Dos print utility available with other versions of the Lexmark driver (ie the one for Z22/32) and it's not a very straightforward process to install. The best bet for anybody interested in a good inkjet if they do have QPC2 is to find a used Z32 (on sale on ebay for less than 15 pounds) and just install the thing. After routing the output from QPC ans sending to LPT port (The Lexmark Z32 DOS driver provides autocapturing) as IBM/Epson compatibles. One big nuissance however is that this WILL NOT work under Windows XP only Win ME and below. (I am still trying to find the way to deal with it).
Besides that, in reality EVERY printer can work with the QL with the following workaround (that has been explained before by Marcel if I am not mistaken).
1. Produce Postscript output somehow (ie Marcel's filter program)
2. Instead of sending the output to the PAR port, send it to a file on a DOS drive
3. Get a program that can print postscript output on the PC (ie Ghostscript) and use that to print the file. The printing processor will take care of the rest.
Now this whole problem has got me thinking a tad. It is possible theoretically to write a similar auto printing utility on the windows side that can emulate ESC P2 commands (or anything else).
There are a couple of problems involved: One is to set aside a specific directory assigned to a dos drive
The second one is to continuously looking for print files and initiate printing only when one is found and not being written to
All these are however possible I think.
Now, up until now most Windows printers provide an emulation layer for older (DOS) programs and provided that the emulation is something that we can use (ie EPSON, IBM, HP PCL) then we can use them to print. Many of these emulation pseudo drivers do not however get installed by default and some research should go into finding which printer supports which emulation.
However and I have to stress that again, the best solution overall is the "big" laser printer solution. The initial cost will very soon be offseted by the miniscule costs of printing. That is not the case for the budget Laser printers which I do not in general recommend. (Budget laser printers have comparable costs for toner cartridges that unfortunately hold less graphite than their "big brothers" which makes their host higher.
Now I hope I helped more,
Phoebus
--
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Visit the uQLX-win32 homepage at: <http://www.dokos-gr.net/ql/uqlx.html>
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