Laser printer ideas, anyone?

[eliyahu]

@thread

i've been happy -- for the most part -- with my HP officejet j6480 for the past few years with my NG amiga boxes. yes, i need to use the third-party photosmart driver, and yes i use lpr.device to print wirelessly. but...

what i really want is a postscript-compatible laser printer that works with one of the built-in drivers included in OS3 and OS4. something where i simply set it up in the printers prefs tool and everything works. no fudging with margins, no weird mucking about. simple. hook up, plug in, select in the printers tool, and then it just works.

so. anybody here have a postscript laser printer they use with their miggies and are happy with them? i'm looking for suggestions. thanks!

-- eliyahu

[danbeaver]

Do you want to save the planet and print in Duplex?  Kill the planet and print in Color?  Merely maim the planet and have PCL compatibility?

Using the lpr.device (and Roadrunner) I have access to 3 printers on my network; the PostScript is a Dell 5130cdn  I do a lot of work (for "work") at home that involve printing and its heavy work load, color, duplexing, and networking are strong points.  I also bought it for $349 near new.  But no PCL with this one.

[aggro_mix]

Shouldn't any postscript compatible printer work with the built in postscript driver?

[danbeaver]

Shouldn't any postscript compatible printer work with the built in postscript driver?

Some printers require the host computer to do the PostScript conversion before sending it to the printer; however Eliyahu's question was to recommend a printer.

[gertsy]

HP Laserjet 4

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

HP Laserjet 4

Haha, I still have one of those!  Used it with my very first A500 and A1200, back in the early-mid '90s.  Later on I gave it to a friend, who I subsequently lost touch with, then 10 years later I randomly ran into her and she asked if I wanted it back.  Went on to use it as a backup printer for a few guys here in the office.  I've maxed out the memory, installed a fast NIC, and of course do all the basic maintenance (fuser, rollers, etc.), to keep it tuned up.

Well over 20 years old and still going strong.  I'd say it was the best money I've ever spent, but I got it for free from a school liquidation.  Double-win!  

[gertsy]

Ditto but from an ex Bank lease. Still going strong.

[danbeaver]

I also used an HP Laserjet 4 in the Fellows office in the 90's.  Solid B/W laser, non-duplex, and worked well with OS3.9.

[eliyahu]

Do you want to save the planet and print in Duplex?  Kill the planet and print in Color?  Merely maim the planet and have PCL compatibility?

Using the lpr.device (and Roadrunner) I have access to 3 printers on my network; the PostScript is a Dell 5130cdn  I do a lot of work (for "work") at home that involve printing and its heavy work load, color, duplexing, and networking are strong points.  I also bought it for $349 near new.  But no PCL with this one.

you're using the OS postscript driver with the dell, and it prints double-sided, color, etc., with no issues?

-- eliyahu

[danbeaver]

you're using the OS postscript driver with the dell, and it prints double-sided, color, etc., with no issues?

-- eliyahu

None in the past 3 years and the Dell Android app lets me print from my Asus tablet.

[danbeaver]

I was checking my Dell manual (and then display panel) and it is PCL compatible, so I suppose an HP laser driver from an Amiga could print on it;  I'll have to try this out when I get a chance.

[gertsy]

PCL or Postscript compatible?  If PCL there are different versions, so backward compatibility is sometimes a challenge.

[danbeaver]

It says it is both; if you need further information you can find it using a search engine: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dell+5130cdn+specifications+PCL%3F

[LyleHaze]

Interesting thread, and only a few months old. I can offer a bit of information.

I have not had a printer connected to my Amiga for many years, but I recently saw what looked like a really good deal, and I took the plunge. I purchased a HP Laserjet pro M251nw printer. It is marked as "refurbished", but as far as I can tell it's brand new, possibly with a firmware change after initial manufacturing. This is a color laser, with four separate toner carts. Interfaces include USB, Ethernet, and Wifi. I must say I am really impressed with the value. The cost was below $150 USD and the shipping was free.
But back to the Amiga part. The printer supports PCL3 and PCL6 (and PCL5 too, I think) and I saw we have a PCL3 inkjet driver available at the Depot.
Setting it up to work with AmigaOS 4.1 F.E. was very easy. Some of the software documents are a bit old, so I'll offer my own setup experience here.
I powered up the printer and identified our Wifi network, typed in the password, and it was on-line. I then went to our router and reserved the IP address so that the printer will always get the same address. I'm sure plugging in an ethernet cable would have worked just as well.

From aminet I grabbed lpr-dev.lha
I unpacked lpr-dev.lha, copied lpr.device to devs:, but there was no need for the included"OpenDevicePatch" file.
To configure lpr.device, I typed the following into a shell:
Setenv lpr.device HOST=192.168.0.189 RAW
Copy ENV:lpr.device ENVARC:

Obviously you'll want to use the address of your printer there.

At this point I tried the HP_PhotoSmart driver  from the depot, but I ended up not using it. Once I got things running, I found that this printer supports postscript directly, so the photosmart driver is not needed!

Open prefs/printer, Select Postscript, Always Init Printer, choose lpr.device port 0, and continue through the next few tabs setting things the way you like them. (Density 4 = 600X600, is a good choice for this printer)
Open Prefs/PrinterPS and make your choices there for default font and assorted details.. Don't forget to change graphics/shading to "color".

That's all there is to it. I can configure text any way I like, graphics look very nice in full color, and everything "just works".
A full-color laser printer for under $150 USD. I'm quite happy with the way this worked out.

Something I didn't expect: Typing the printers address into Odyssey brought up a nice browser-based interface for setup options and checking toner levels and such. The printer also includes a 3.5" color touch screen for basic controls, and a USB jack for printing PDF files straight off a USB stick. Lots more to learn, but it was really simple to set it up, and lpr.device was the only non-OS component needed to make it work.

Two thumbs up.

[danbeaver]

Did you change the DEVS:NSDPatch.cfg as suggested, or just go commando?