Re: tlug: HP Laserjet 4LJ

[Totoro <riley@example.com>]

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tlug note from Totoro <riley@example.com>
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>--------------------------------------------------------
>tlug note from "Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>
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{unnecessary info snip}
>
>My first guess is that the problem is apsfilter.  Configuring filters
>is hard, and tends to conflict with the other aspects of setting up
>the printer.
>
>(1) Apparently you can send CRLF-delimited ASCII to the printer (`lpr
>    junk.txt') and get what you expect.  True?

Quite right.

>(2) Do you have any programs that write PCL files natively?  Maybe you
>    can import a printer iamge file from a Windwoes system or something.
>    Try that.

So far I haven't been able to find one, but am still poking around.

>(3) gs -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile=test.lj -sDEVICE=laserjet test.ps -c quit;
>    lpr -s test.lj
>    should work (on any laserjet).
>(4) gs -dNOPAUSE -sOutputFile=test.lj -sDEVICE=ljet4 test.ps -c quit;
>    lpr -s test.lj
>    should also work (with LJ4 optimizations).

Ghostscript seems to be processing the file ok, as it shows the fonts
that it's calling up. However, once I try to print the output file,
I get a bunch of random characters across the top couple of lines on
a page. This goes on, but I shut down the printer after 2 pages as I
have no idea how long it'll keep going. Oddly, it looks like mojibake
as if it's trying to print Japanese with English fonts. The original
ps files (I tried 2) looked fine in gv, btw.

>If you can do all that, then the problem isn't the printer, it's the
>filter configuration.

Since I can't do the above, I'm still pretty confused here. It all
acts like it's working, but I just get slop on the paper.

>Note that I'm actually writing a temporary file before spooling to the
>printer.  I have had trouble getting GS to work correctly as a filter.
>Since printing Japanese is  v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w  in any case, I am happy
>enough with the temp file solution.  Note that these files, especially
>for Japanese, can be huge, and lpr is very likely to refuse to copy
>the spool file.  This is not a big deal, you just use the symlink
>option as above, but don't delete the file before it finishes printing!
>
>HTH

I really appreciate you taking the time to reply on this. If there are
any further areas to look at I'd love to know. It's just a drag now and
with classes going full speed ahead it's hard to sit down and try to
tune this up.

Thanks!

David Riley
Hachinohe Institute of Technology
88-1, Myo, Ohbiraki  Hachinohe-shi  Aomori-ken  031


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