Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 18:35:12 +0300 (MSK) From: "Maksim Stolyarov" <mns@td.lpi.ac.ru> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: printer and parallel port problems Message-ID: <AGmozymuxZ@td.lpi.ac.ru>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> Date: Mon, 8 Jan 1996 16:45:57 -0800
> From: Chris Warth <well.com!csw@td.lpi.ac.ru>
> Subject: printer and parallel port problems
> Greetings,
Hi!
> I have a HP LJ-5MP (HP Postscript printer) hooked up to my parallel
> port under FreebSD 2.0.5. I haven't been able to get this thing to
> print anything but demo pages and I've never seen any response
> (flashing LEDs, etc) that indicates it is even receiving data over the
> parallel port.
DemoPages == SelfTest?! Standalone printer should do this. Without
communications with your computer. The printer seems to be OK. :-)
Cable (Centronix Interface, yes?):
- Broken one (bad contacts, etc.). Try to find another.
- Slightly WRONG one. Latest HP's goods assume FULL-duplex communica-
tion with LPT port. Many printers we worked with before were
HALF-duplex. The result is old LPT-cables are 18-wires ones but
full-duplex protocol needs 25-wires cable (as I understand). I do not
remember all these crazy names for IEE... standards. Try to find
25-wires Centronix cable. (BTW, I spent several days for my
HP Deskjet 660c (which is full-duplex) to make it work. I went for
25w.
LPT port:
- maybe it does not understand <-> at the same time? How to check
this I do not know :-( But very old LPT-ports definitely can not
perform full-duplex communication. Great DOS gurus could help?!
MANUAL:
- I think there are huge number of options (too clever Printer!).
Someting wrong with settings there?
> I've rebooted while the printer is connected to the port, used
> lptcontrol to switch to polled mode (instead of interrupt). Still
> nothing seems to help.
In interrupt mode the printer prints very SLOWLY (hour for simple
.login in my case) but it *prints* nevertheless ...
> Can anyone suggest a simple test to see if the parallel port is even
> working? In the meantime I'll try to load windows to see if that can
> talk nicely to the printer.
Try cat .login > /dev/lpt0 (or where it is)
> Also, HP's documentation claims that the LJ-5MP will automatically
> work with either PCL or PostScript. Does anyone know if that means
> the printer is ready to receive postscript at any time, or does it
> just mean that the drivers they supply for windows and macintosh put
> the printer into the right mode (through some undocumented PCL
> command) before printing?
HP LaserJet 4M recognizes plain and PS files (by means of very
Clever Mind :-). I.e. under DOS you simply copy myps.ps prn
and get the result (printed text or picture but not PS-file
hardcopy).
I have no ideas about PCL command for mode switching and how
your printer will be recognized by Windows. If I remember right
a month ago there was discussion on how to make HP LJ+PS work
under FreeBSD (printcap, filters, CRLF-problem for HP, etc.)
Try to seek in mail-archive at FreeBSD.ORG.
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Do not mention, maybe this will help a bit.
> -csw
Regards,
Maksim.
--
Maksim N. Stolyarov -> mns@lpi.ac.ru <- | Vesso-Link pager
Department of Theoretical Physics, | +7(095)974-0111, pager 4597
Lebedev Physical Institute, RAS | Email -> Pager
Leninskii 53, 117924, Moscow, Russia | pager@vlpage.sovam.com
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?AGmozymuxZ>