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Re: [Sheflug] Cups, printers and despair
Hi José,
I really sympathise!
I've had considerable aggro setting up CUPS with a variety of HP
LaserJets and in the end the problem has always come down to picking the
wrong printer drivers. I recognise the problem you are having from when
I recently tried to set up an HP LaserJet III PCL (which is different
from an HP LaserJet3, an HP LaserJet III PS, an HP LaserJetIII P, an HP
LaserJetIII series+GiMP Print [recommended] ...which worked last
distro... etc. etc.).
In the end my solution is (a) dumb but (b) successful. Simply try loads
and loads of different HP drivers - even ones that seem like they
definitely aren't right. I find that trying an earlier model of HP
printer and working forwards in time is a good test strategy. I find
that sometimes other HP print drivers work exactly right. At worst
you'll not be able to activate all the features of the printer, but do
you need all of them?
I wonder whether all physical printer units are correctly labeled... I
get the impression that sometimes the electronics inside the case are
NOT EXACTLY those associated with the model number on the case. (Any
comments?) If this is not the case, then it must be that CUPS "upgrades"
frequently break print drivers.
Eventually you should hit on a driver that works to your satisfaction.
If anyone has any better suggestions I'd love to hear them.
Best Regards,
James
=====
On Wed, 2003-08-06 at 11:13, José Luis Gómez Dans wrote:
> Hi,
> As usual, the printer is getting on my nerves... I am using Cups
> (version 1.1.19final-1, from Debian testing), and have an HP LaserJet
> 5L printer (no PS, PCL). The printer worked fine before, it's well
> supported and all, but now, whenever I try printing something, I get
> random staircase text with beautiful stanzas such as:
> @PJL RDT L [at] NT [at] LFDDD<NFF
>
> (you get the point, what looks like a printer language)
>
> I am using the recommended driver for the printer (foomatic+ljet4.
> I have also tried the ESP laserjet driver, with similar results), but
> all I get is this, I can see that gs is being launched (to convert
> from the raster image to PCL), but it seems that the PJL commands are
> being sent and not recognised as data, but ASCII text.
>
> Does anyone have any pointers?
> Thanks
> José
> --
> José L Gómez Dans PhD student
> Tel: +44 114 222 5582 Radar & Communications Group
> FAX; +44 870 132 2990 Department of Electronic Engineering
> University of Sheffield UK
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Sheffield Linux User's Group -
> http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html
>
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--
James Wallbank
Redundant Technology Initiative
Access Space - 1 Sidney Street - Sheffield - S1 4RG - UK
T: +44 (0)114 2495522
F: +44 (0)114 2495533
___________________________________________________________________
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http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html
GNU the choice of a complete generation.