Any chance of HP LaserJet and overall improved printer support?

[danbeaver]

The HP 1010 Laserjet is an entry level Host Based printer which means that the computer must handle the composition of the output; while there is a Linux engine available for Debian (I don't know if it compiled for PPC), there requires the building of one specific for OS4 -- thus each "host based" printer would require its own OS4 printing engine.  

The other "standard" HP laser printers, both monochrome and color, work well for the Amiga using PageStream and FinalWriter with OS4 having GhostScript readily available for PDF files and such.  The HP InkJets are well represented too.  Networked printers work very well (I have a Dell 5130cdn, Samsung mono, and HP InkJet selectable with just a quick click on an IconX script).

These days even a color PostScript enabled laser printer can be had for not very much money and perhaps it is a good time to move up.

[azhoward]

I started a thing using scripts to print from Amiga to a Raspberry Pi or to any Linux box for that matter, but dropped working on it due to my use of Google Cloud Print. I was printing from an Icaros Desktop using Cloud Print. The Linux idea, and I'm just going from memory, was setting up a job that looks for the contents of a directory periodically and then lets CUPS do the work of taking a file that CUPS can process and then print. Basically, a Linux print server. The script on the Amiga side is AREXX and also looks for contents of a directory and sends it to the Linux directory. I was at a point where I wanted to intercept the print system to send to the server and was looking into netprint, but as I mentioned, I discovered Cloud print and due to other work stopped working on it. At any rate, as long as the Amiga can produce a file that CUPS or Cloud Print can translate and the printer is on a network, printing even to an inkjet is not beyond reality. By the way, the printer I use to print from Icaros (as well as 3 other devices) is a Canon MP620 and prints rather quickly with Cloud Print.

[vox]

The HP 1010 Laserjet is an entry level Host Based printer which means that the computer must handle the composition of the output; while there is a Linux engine available for Debian (I don't know if it compiled for PPC), there requires the building of one specific for OS4 -- thus each "host based" printer would require its own OS4 printing engine.  

The other "standard" HP laser printers, both monochrome and color, work well for the Amiga using PageStream and FinalWriter with OS4 having GhostScript readily available for PDF files and such.  The HP InkJets are well represented too.  Networked printers work very well (I have a Dell 5130cdn, Samsung mono, and HP InkJet selectable with just a quick click on an IconX script).

These days even a color PostScript enabled laser printer can be had for not very much money and perhaps it is a good time to move up.

Its not 1010 that is that bad, its standard entry printer, like 4L used to be back in 90s, we have CPU power to crash the needed job.

CUPS exists for PPC, and good idea, I will try it.

Which modern "standard" printer does reliably work? With what driver?

Well, colour LJs are down in price, but check the price of print, no thanks. I do live in poor country by European standards.

P.S.
Will CUPS be ported to MorphOS, once again overruning OS4 in certain areas?
http://bounties.morphzone.info/bounties/show/12

[amigakit]

The LJ1010 is not a good choice of printer at all.

A HP LJ1100 is a much better choice- it works with the Turboprint HP Laserjet 5 driver and third party toner is around 10 EUR.  You will need a parallel port for it though, we have got it to work on a Classic Amiga with Poseidon, Turboprint and USB to parallel converter.

[vox]

The LJ1010 is not a good choice of printer at all.

A HP LJ1100 is a much better choice- it works with the Turboprint HP Laserjet 5 driver and third party toner is around 10 EUR.  You will need a parallel port for it though, we have got it to work on a Classic Amiga with Poseidon, Turboprint and USB to parallel converter.

HP 1010 is economic, fast and takes very little space, so its a very good choice.

Other thing is that 1010 can be used on Amiga.

Now, what about printer sharing via LAN or Internet?

[amigakit]

Other thing is that 1010 can be used on Amiga.

I was not aware that there was any Amiga driver for it.

[danbeaver]

My guess is that there is no use arguing these points.  "All a hammer sees is nails."

[Duce]

The 1010 is a budget printer that relies heavily on the drivers of the host computer to do anything at all, which is why it's more or less a doorstop for Amiga users.  Don't blame the OS over a budget printer if the hardware vendor doesn't provide the software logic to drive the HW.  For the Amiga to support such a printer, extensive work would have to be done driver side for it to even work.  It's an old printer from years ago that was entry level when it was new.  Most of the mid range HP's, even the ones released today have no issues with MOS or OS4 in my experiences.  The 1010 is literally a $30 dollar printer these days.  The logic that drives said printer resides in the drivers/software that HP provides, can't fault MOS or OS4 for not doing that kind of legwork.  Reminds me much of the old Rockwell chipset modems that were pretty much paperweights unless you had the drivers/sw for them, which the Amiga never had, and I was one of the unfortunate fools back in the legacy Amiga days to buy one of those stinkers, only to find out it was effectively useless on my Amiga, lol.

I've had no issues with my mid range HP lasers or inkjets with any of the NG Amiga OS offerings, anyways.  My 8500 and LJ's work just fine on both MOS and OS4 via the built-in Ethernet ports on the printer, it's really just as simple as plug and play and point the OS at the proper IP for the printer.

The 1010 is literally a $30 printer:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Printers/HP-Deskjet/CX015A?HP-Deskjet-1010-Printer&bvrrp=8843/reviews/product/2/CX015A_BVEP_B1H.htm

[Cass]

I have an HP 1018, same problem here. I tried some OS4 workaround some time ago, no luck.
I got it working under 3.9/MiamiDX/Scripts from amiga side, and GhostScript+some other things that I don`t remember (like virtual printer pointing to GS) on the PC/XP side. It`s been a long time (2007) since I got it working with its limitations (3.x/TCP stack etc) but I think I wrote a detailed "How To", in Greek though...

[danbeaver]

Are there any programs out that will run on my Slide Rule?  It is a very inexpensive and energy efficient; and can be bought for less than $30!

[vox]

I was not aware that there was any Amiga driver for it.

My bad cant be used.

There are no official AmigaOS drivers since HP LJ 5 and that is something Trevor and Hyperion should care about, instead of joking about it. Dont you agree that is ridiculous as much as waiting months for Linux password, Linux retail CD, charging Linux, selling game without warning it doesnt work with OS4 at all, selling bare card that cannot stand in slot (Xena) and other smart moves I have been through alone.

http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1812

[vox]

My guess is that there is no use arguing these points.  "All a hammer sees is nails."

And these are nails in curfew. Point is not to buy new hardware - that is easy recommendation but to make through with what you have.

US prices don`t work for rest of the world.

Don`t blame me for unupdated OS. I am happy to report it works great under Linux on same hardware, as expected so its not Windows centric printer at all. :juggler:

[Duce]

Why on earth would Hyperion waste time coding drivers for a years old, $30 printer when a guy can just use a postscript printer?

Tell you what, if you manage to talk them (or the MOS folks) into that, tell them I'd also like full support for my Newton MessagePad and my Palm Pilot.

[vox]

Why on earth would Hyperion waste time coding drivers for a years old, $30 printer when a guy can just use a postscript printer?

Tell you what, if you manage to talk them (or the MOS folks) into that, tell them I'd also like full support for my Newton MessagePad and my Palm Pilot.

HP 1020 (my bad, seen the mark) is PostScript driver to best of my ability. Does the print to file old school magic and then using some sw to make it print to PCL works?

I am blacklisted within Hyperion with no ability to post messages at all (waiting for approval that almost never comes) so any of you is free to try to. There is MOS bounty assigned to do the CUPS, so I bet on them. With Hyperion - not even promised X1000 onboard driver isnt given months away from Amiwest.

[Castellen]

HP 1020 (my bad, seen the mark) is PostScript driver to best of my ability. Does the print to file old school magic and then using some sw to make it print to PCL works?

If the printer is indeed PostScript capable, then you're good to go because AmigaOS has good support for PostScript.  As others have said, it may not be PS compatible however.  I've just generated a couple of PS test pages in PageStream.  To test your printer, just copy the PS file to the printer, e.g. copy PS_test_colour.ps >PAR:

If it's PS capable, then you'll get a print of the test page.  If not, you'll get nothing, or garbage.


While I usually avoid these borderline political type discussions....

As others have said, it may be unreasonable for Hyperion and the MOS folks to spend the thousands of man-hours necessary writing dozens of custom print drivers to support various printers that use their own proprietary language when they could instead continue to focus on core OS functionality.  Obviously they have a finite resource in terms of software developers and of course they are wanting to use this wisely.  Printing via the PostScript standard is supported fine at present, hence it makes sense to use a PostScript compatible printer.

If anything, you could argue that printer manufacturers are at fault for not using the standard printer control languages which readily exist.  Or you could blame consumers for encouraging manufacturers to do such things by purchasing such non-conforming products.  PostScript was developed in the late 1970s to form a common language to talk to any printer, which is a brilliant idea and in theory eliminates the need for many combersome proprietary drivers, which seems to be the case with most low-end consumer grade printers.  You could hardly use the excuse that PostScript is too new on the block or not commonly known.  It's hardly the fault of Hyperion and MOS that printer manufactures decide to deviate from such standards.  The entire point of such standards is so that different bits of hardware can correctly communicate.  PostScript does exactly that as far as printers are concerned.

[vox]

If the printer is indeed PostScript capable, then you're good to go because AmigaOS has good support for PostScript.  As others have said, it may not be PS compatible however.  I've just generated a couple of PS test pages in PageStream.  To test your printer, just copy the PS file to the printer, e.g. copy PS_test_colour.ps >PAR:

If it's PS capable, then you'll get a print of the test page.  If not, you'll get nothing, or garbage.


While I usually avoid these borderline political type discussions....

As others have said, it may be unreasonable for Hyperion and the MOS folks to spend the thousands of man-hours necessary writing dozens of custom print drivers to support various printers that use their own proprietary language when they could instead continue to focus on core OS functionality.  Obviously they have a finite resource in terms of software developers and of course they are wanting to use this wisely.  Printing via the PostScript standard is supported fine at present, hence it makes sense to use a PostScript compatible printer.

If anything, you could argue that printer manufacturers are at fault for not using the standard printer control languages which readily exist.  Or you could blame consumers for encouraging manufacturers to do such things by purchasing such non-conforming products.  PostScript was developed in the late 1970s to form a common language to talk to any printer, which is a brilliant idea and in theory eliminates the need for many combersome proprietary drivers, which seems to be the case with most low-end consumer grade printers.  You could hardly use the excuse that PostScript is too new on the block or not commonly known.  It's hardly the fault of Hyperion and MOS that printer manufactures decide to deviate from such standards.  The entire point of such standards is so that different bits of hardware can correctly communicate.  PostScript does exactly that as far as printers are concerned.

Blame Canada.

Huh, OS with no real printing support in modern terms of it, is faulty OS.

I don`t have a PS, but since I need that kind of software, next $100 there you go ...

Expectation that manufacturer will do the drivers for such minor OS with no agreement, partenrship ...

Man that doesnt happen even for Linux. Nor Varisys and Acube do all their drivers for OS4.
Or ATI (AMD) does Radeon drivers for both.