CompuServe Thread

#HPII Plus

8 messages in this thread
#57089From: ODELL LEEMay 12, 1992 8:02 PM
Dear Sysop: I just bought a Hewlett Packard LaserJet 11Plus which works perfectly with my Ibm compatible 386. I connected it to my A2000 (with WB2.04) and it would not work properly. I used the printer driver listed in preferences and all I got was one line of funny looking symbols. I was trying to print a picture out on DeluxPaint IV. Is there a problem of compatibility with the A2000 and WB2.04? Do I need a new printer driver for Preferences? I would appreciate your help Odell P.S. The HP printer driver in preferences is only HP, not HPIIP. Thanks.
#57096From: Jim OgilvieMay 12, 1992 9:16 PM
Odell… According to the 2.04 manual, the HP_Laserjet driver is compatible with the Plus and II compatible printers. After checking your preferences settings, making sure that the right driver is set, etc. I would check the DIP switches to make sure that some sort of strange emulation mode is not activated. Usually printers will support emulations of other printers (built in Epson emulation, for example, is popular) and that might be your problem right there. The problem might not have shown up on your PC, especially if your applications were mostly text based. Anyways, its a shot but have a look and see if any of these suggestions are helpful. One quick way to check if a pseudo emulation is being used would be to switch to an Epson driver and try printing from that. You might get some interesting results. Jim
#57164From: ODELL LEEMay 13, 1992 9:28 PM
Thanks Jim: I will check out both the HP and the preference settings. Frankly, I did not know where to start to find the problems. You have been very helpful. I will try these things and get back to you. Odell
#57261From: Timothy P TrompeterMay 14, 1992 11:27 PM
I've got a HPIII and have been using the CBM HP_laserjet driver. From what others have said, it seems to be a compatible driver. There are some problems, however, and the driver certainly doesn't represent a complete driver that utilizes all the capabilities of the family of HP printers. For starters, it will only print an 8×10 page and tends to compound offset problems for some software products. I cursorily reviewed the recognized printer commands from the example HPdriver in the RKM manual (includes and autodocs), and a lot of the otherwise useful commands are missing. I considered rewriting a driver using the template in the includes and autodocs, but apparently the program template only allows for 76 printer commands; any additional ones need to be specified in a driver routine called "dospecial". Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make sense of the rationale for the separate routines. Since I have the complete HPIII command set from the technical manual that came with the printer, I would love to be able to figure out how to modify the driver program to recognize all of the printer specific commands, utilizing all the printer resident fonts, modes and even the HPGL command set. Maybe someone with a better understanding of the driver program logic would love to jump in here. I would be more than happy to upload a list of all the printer escape codes if anyone were interesting in pursuing this a bit 🙂
#57356From: David ArtMay 16, 1992 12:18 AM
You might check to make certain that you're using the 2.0 version of the HP printer driver and not a 1.3 version that might have been left over in your DEVS: directory when you upgraded.
#57554From: ODELL LEEMay 18, 1992 10:12 PM
Dear David: Thanks! I did not consider this option. I have also been dialoging with the HP forum on CIS. A guy name Ted (Sysop) is trying to help me out. He has made a few suggestions, but he dosen't understand the Amiga operating System. He agrees with you that maybe there is a softwares problem with my devs. I will check it out. He also told me that most HP drivers work with the HPII+, at least on the IBM, but the older the driver (older the laserprinter) the less compatible it is. In addition, he believe the Deskjet will work, but not as good as the other drivers. Odell
#57565From: RON TROYMay 19, 1992 7:17 AM
I have the HP IIP and have never had a problem using it on my Amiga. Ted has helped me with various issues as well. Ron
#57605From: David ArtMay 19, 1992 10:11 PM
Odell, If it's any help to you, the size of the HP_LaserJet driver on my 2.0 disks is 5812 bytes. The 2.0 printers are on the Extras disk, in the Devs/printers drawer. David