HP DJ550C problem?
25 messages in this thread
I have a bit of a problem which I hope you can play detective with; it
involves hardware and software conflicts, and of course all the suspects
are accusing each other (except the butler, who admits he probably did it
but doesn't know how):
I recently bought an Amiga A4000/040, a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 550C,
and Softwood's Final Copy II Release 2; running this combination with the
Amiga-supplied "HP_DeskJet" printer driver, I noticed that graphics colors
were fine, but the black cartridge wasn't getting used unless I selected
"grayscale" or "black and white" for the FCII "Graphics Printer" option.
A call to Softwood said that this was a problem with the Amiga printer
driver, and suggested I throw another 50 bucks at a "SuperDJ" (3d party)
printer driver; instead I decided to lurk the HPPER Forum, and — lo and
behold! — Hewlett-Packard had uploaded a new Amiga-specific printer
driver for the "HP_DeskJet550C", which I DLed, unpacked, and installed
(aware of the warning of HPPER Sysop Ted Dickens that the "driver is
untested as I have no access to an Amiga"); sure enough, this driver took
any true-graylevel information it found in FCII color graphics and used
the black cartridge to spray it, which brought out new details I hadn't
seen before.
The problem is, when this driver "sees" an entire line of nothing but
black text, it fades out at the far-right-side of the line, as if the
black cartridge ran out of ink; interestingly, it doesn't matter _where_
the line had _started_ printing from: lines that had started printing from
the right were also "faded" on the right. Again, switching FCII to
"grayscale" solved the problem — however, it also printed the same text
_visibly_blacker_. (Naturally, Softwood claims no responsibility.)
Going back to the HPPER Forum I notice that there seem to be lots of
mechanical problems with 550Cs; I posted a note describing my problems and
Ted Dickens replied "we're working on it", but I'm not sure he really
understands the problem, especially since he has no Amiga background.
This past weekend my "Power Up" package finally arrived, and I've been
playing with ADPro (when I haven't been arguing in the "tavern"), which is
REALLY demanding of a printer, and I can't say I've noticed any problems
with either the 550C itself or with the "HP_DeskJet550C" driver, except
that the overall print-intensity seems to be dark (and intensity is, to
read the messages on HPPER, one of the physical problems with the 550C);
and still, when I print a combined-text-and-graphics file with FCII in
"color graphics" mode, every time I hit all-black-text….
As our online CATS representative, you're my only hope, because you're
probably the only person in the world who can examine every aspect of this
problem. Do I: Assume I have a physical printer problem and take it back;
pester Softwood for a Final Copy II "fix"; wait for HP to figure it out;
or make a $50 sacrifice to the Gods Of Self-Publishing? I was _hoping_
there'd be an obvious oversight you could correct for me….
Mr. Challeron,
I'm a little behind you. I bought a 550C some time ago to go with my
4000, and have used it with ADPro a fair amount, using the PrefPrinter
section. Seems to work well, but as you report, things must be
signifcantly lightened up for decent rendition. I, too, balked at actually
paying for a printer driver, mainly 'cus this is a new idea to me. I keep
thinking that SOMEone will eventually provide one as they always have
before. But maybe this sucker's just too complex for that to happen (and
have it be done well). So I was happy to see your message about the HP
driver. When I get some time, I'll have to give it a try!
Here's hoping we get some good answers from John,
Karl
PMJI,
What HP driver might this be?
Andrew
Jeff Walker said that there is a driver that has appeared over in HPPeriph
forum for the Amiga and DJ550C. It apparently has a few problems, but it's
the only PD driver so far that mixes the black with the color cartridges.
Karl
Karl,
Oops, sorry to jump in. After I posted the message I realized that it was
the 550C you were talking about, not the 500C that I just got. Thanks for
getting back to me on that.
Andrew
It wasn't me who said that, 'twas someone else.
Jeff Walker – Just Amiga Monthly.
The trouble is you need more control over the output than a printer driver
can give you. You need proper colour control and ink impurity
compensation, you need decent dither methods that enable more colours to
be simulated, you need control over brightness, contrast, gamma….
Essentially, you need a software package that provides these features,
features which a printer driver alone cannot deliver.
Jeff Walker – Just Amiga Monthly.
…and that package is called Studio by Wolf Faust 🙂
Pete
Jeff,
Does that mean that if I buy either the Studio "driver", the Creative
Focus "driver" or the HP driver, I'm not going to be able to use ADPro's
Prefprinter section?
Karl
Yes, with Studio you'll still be able to use ADPro's Prefprinter saver.
But Studio comes with its own Prefprinter-type program that is at least as
good. I think it's better, but then I have a vested interest in saying
that so I guess you'd better ask someone else. 😎
Jeff Walker – Just Amiga Monthly.
Thanks for the reply. I wish someone here had both of them to state which
does a better job. And I have yet to see an actual price for Studio listed
anywhere. The feature list of Studio seems longer, but every time I shop
that way, I wind up with something where I only use a few of the features
anyway!
Karl
Karl –
Well, my Super_DJC2 driver has recommended settings for working with
ADPro's prefprinter, and it produces excellent copy in conjunction with
ADPro.
. . . . JimDoc, on AutoPilot
Jim,
So you've done extensive printing with Super_DJC2 with the 550C and
good paper, and like the results when mixing black with color inks? Do you
have any experience with Studio? Are there any "features" that you don't
like in Super_DJC2? Do you still have lighten graphics before printing
them, so they don't come out so dark (like the standard 500C driver
requires)?
Thanks!
Karl
Well, Karl, I'm the programer of Studio and so somehow maybe biased, but
maybe some things that might be good to know about Super_DJ2 and Studio:
1. Studio is much more expensive than SuperDJC2. There are several reasons
for it:
– Studio comes with a real printed manual. Shiping this manual to the
US costs $5 each! Add another $8 for printing and another $5 for
writing…
– Studio is much more powerfull than SuperDJC2. Sure this development
has to be paid. You get a 24 Bit IFF (hopefully soon JPEG!) poster
print-from-disk program, PageStream drivers and more.
2. I do work VERY closely together with HP and not without reason Studio
supports the new DJ1200 and 4L since the 5 May (the day HP announced these
new printers). I do take great care in writing nice PCL and Amiga code.
3. Studio main issue is quality, reliability and speed. You get the custom
dither routines with Studio, allowing you to very precisly make use of the
color adjustment setting. Here is where Studio shines compared to
SuperDJC. For instance, you can adjust the brightness/colors of your
output without loosing any color details while other DJ drivers usualy
losse 1/3 of the color information.
4. There are many small things that usualy can go wrong using the Amiga
printer device, applications and special printer drivers ("moving" pages,
not well aligned dither matrices and more). Here again, Studio does fix
most of these problems while others don't!
Anyway, there are some limitations that affects both commercial drivers
with the features like color output and dither routines: programs using
their own dither and color adjustment routines usualy can't use the
drivers functions (though, normaly you don't need them in these rare cases
anyway). So far, programs that do not allow you to use the color
adjustment of the drivers are: PageStream, TruePrint, ADPro's PrefPrinter
Saver and the Studio picture printing program supplied with Studio
drivers. In these cases the commercial drivers adjustment routines are of
no use, though, every other functions (fast compression schemes…) are
still working…
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 6000 Frankfurt 50, Germany —
Thanks for the extra information on Studio, Wolf. A couple more questions,
though:
I have ADPro and am so far perfectly happy with its operation for image
processing, so I have no need ( I don't think ) for another program of
this type. So are you saying that if I use ADPro's PrefPrinter program,
most of the impressive features of both Studio and SuperDJC are lost? Can
I still adjust intensity? (Right now, I have to bump Brightness and Gamma
up so that 550C images are not extremely dark.) Would the improved mixing
of color and black cartridges be available through PrefPrinter?
In other words, given the restriction of using ADPro's PrefPrinter, how
do the two drivers stack up?
Karl
No, you can't use most of the features that come with WB drivers when you
use ADPro's PrefPrinter saver. All the color adjustment and dithering is
done by ADPro and the color adjustment of the WB driver may only interfere
(sometimes for good… sometimes for bad).
But you can set things like page/margin settings/shingling/depletion and
use these settings with ADPro. Also, these drivers use compression for
fast output (as said, here is where Studio shines… it's even better than
HP's own routine).
Anyway, I don't think it's worth getting any commercial driver if you only
use ADPro and no other Program with your DJ550C. Output may be slower and
have some minor stripes… paper might be flooded because of lack of
control over depletion… but unless you don't have problems… keep your
money. That's my personal opinion as poor student… as programer I surely
say get it 🙂
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 6000 Frankfurt 50, Germany —
Well, unfortunately, using ADPro doesn't allow me to use the black
cartridge during color dumps. That's the main drawback, as I can't get
dark blacks. Wish there was a driver I could throw in so that that would
be taken care of without starting over with a different package.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Karl
Karl –
> …Super_DJC2 with the 550C and good paper, and like the results when
> mixing black with color inks?
At 25% shingling, and with good paper, you should be able to print
graphics with black directly abutting color without problems, a good
example being a color bar chart with the bars outlined in black.
Ne experience with Studio.
For doing ordinary "print" printing, I would like easier access to
the printers features. Gerry Hull (author of the Super_DJ family) has
a "DJ_Helper" program for this, but it needs to be updated for the
550/550C. DJPrint.REXX is useful, but also needs to be updated.
Challeron,
I have had similar experiences using the HPPheripheral Forum's printer
driver for the 550C. Black letters dying on the right side, like the ink
level running low in the cartridge, switch to grayscale or B/W and it
prints fine and darker.
I'm looking at Studio Printer.
Chris
> looking at Studio Printer <
I would too, except that I can't believe the Happy People at HP would
be quite so willing to kiss off their "High Performance" braggadocio by
saying, "Wulp, duh, gee, too bad we can't write a driver, hyuk, hyuk".
Mr. Challeron 76420,1471
I just happened to run across this string of messages and would like to clarify
a few things. Going back to your original post,
>>instead I decided to lurk the HPPER Forum, and — lo and >>behold! —
Hewlett-Packard had uploaded a new Amiga-specific printer >>driver for the
"HP_DeskJet550C",
If you are referring to HPDJ55.lha, HP didn't upload this. I did. This was
a Better_Than_Nothing driver I found on GEnie, which I used before purchasing
Creative Focus's driver. I talked to the uploader to GEnie of that driver, he
had no info on it except that he got it off a local BBS. Both of us uploaded
the file in it's entirety, there was no other docs on it. I noticed the "faded
out" problem too on my prints, this problem is from that driver. HP has no
plans, as far as I know, to write a driver for the Amiga. A lot of Amiga users
have asked them already, and I would think they would want to, considering the
number of Amiga users who own or use their drivers, but alas, money talks… I
uploaded that file so other Amiga users would have at least something to use.
AmigaDos 3.0 may even have a better driver that this, I don't know, I'm using
2.04. Commodore, if anyone, should be the one making a 550c specific driver, in
MHO. Though the way HP cranks out new printers, they might have a problem
keeping up…
I am just a Amiga enthusiast, I have no connnections to any of the
companies you've mentioned in your post, except that I have purchased their
products like yourself. I find the Creative Focus driver to be very good, and
I was fortunate enough to purchase it for $35.00, the price he origanally
offered for it. Dr. Gerald Hull, the author of the driver, seems to be a
reasonable man, and he may be willing to sell you one for that price. (Then
again, he may not.) He does address any bugs that people find, and has already
released a rev for a problem with the magenta color on one of the intensity
levels. He strikes me as being very serious about tech support of his
products. Did you see AM550C.TXT in the HPPERI library? It is a text file I
uploaded from Creative Focus describing the drivers capabilities. I think I
also uploaded it in the AmigaUser forum, but I don't recall.
I know next to nothing about Wolf Faust's Studio driver, but from the
sounds of it, it too sounds very good. If I had heard of it first, I probably
would of purchased it; but since I have Creative Focus's driver, I doubt if
I'll get Studio.
Either way, I believe the drivers would be worth the "sacrifice to the Gods
Of Self-Publishing." I can see your resentment for discovering that more money
must be spent in order to get the printer to work right; I was fortunate enough
to be aware of the problem (of no driver from HP or Commodore) before I made my
purchase, so it didn't seem so bad to me.
Jeb Baker
Studio is not "a printer driver", it is printing software. This includes
printer drivers for ALL Hewlett-Packard printers (including the brand new
DJs and LJs), plus preferences programs for those drivers that extend the
Amiga's printing capabilities in a "legal" way — an extension to
Workbench printer preferences in other words. On top of that you get a
separate printing program that is very much TruePrint 24 (or the ADPro
Prefprinter saver).
It also supports most 24/48/64-pin Epson compatibles, and the Ricoh LP1200
in 400 dpi mode.
Jeff Walker – Just Amiga Monthly.
Is Studio available in retail stores? I haven't seen it locally.
…..Nancy
In Edmonton, AB, Canada
Studio is distributed in North America through a new company called
MacroSystem US. The name is not without reason. They mainly distribute the
stuff produced by MacroSystem Germany ("Retina" graphic boards, VLab
digitizer, Maestro audio digital i/o board, Studio…..). Because
MacroSystem US is mainly a distributor not dealer, I'm sure you will find
Studio in the retails stores once reviews are in the magazines (no store
does buy/sell anything withough seeing a review first). And if the reviews
are as good as the german once, they surely do…
MacroSystem US will hopefully soon be available on CIS with it's own
vendor forum. Anyway, I'm allays here for Studio users in case of
trouble…
Here's the adress, but you should ask you dealer. Usualy they have a much
cheaper price than the official distributor:
MacroSystem US
17019 Smugglers Cove
Mt. Climins
MI 48038
USA
Tel: 313-2630095
Fax: 313-2639639
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 6000 Frankfurt 50, Germany —
Thanks very much for your reply; I didn't know "HP_DeskJet550C" was
itself a 3d-party product. I may wait for C= anyway; most of my DTP stuff
is grayscale, very little color (and I can always CYMK-separate _if_ I
ever fall into a big contract). Hell, if the workload gets THAT good, I
may invest in a different printer altogether. 😎